A SHORT HISTORY OF THE 
UNITED STATES 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS 
ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN & CO., Limited 

LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. 

TORONTO 



A SHORT HISTORY OF 
THE UNITED STATES 



BY 

JOHN SPENCER BASSETT, Ph.D. 

PROFESSOR OF AMERICAN HISTORY IN 
SMITH COLLEGE 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
1918 

All rights reserved 



TENLEY / v'l" 



u\ 



COPTEIGHT, 19la, 

By the MAC.MILLAN COMPANY. 

Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 1913. 
Reprinted October, 1913 ; February, 1914; January, 1915; 
August, October, November, 1916 ; July, December, 1917. 



J. 8. Cushlng Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. 
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 



TRANS PER 
!>• O, PUBLIC LIEiJ. Ry 



t^' Ai *~? >'^ U f\ "^ 



703580 



PREFACE ^^ 



In this book I have sought to tell clearly and impartially the story 
of human achievement in what is now the United States, from the 
earliest traces of man's existence to the present time. Out of the 
multitude of facts which may be considered within the domain of 
American history, those have been recounted which seem best suited 
to explain the progress of the people as a nation. The influence of 
physical environment has been discussed in the opening chapter, 
which also deals with the primitive inhabitants. An attempt has been 
made to give the colonial period its proper unity and show in what 
manner the colonies were a part of the general British scheme of im- 
perial government. At the same time one must remember that it is 
American and not British history which concerns us, and for that 
reasor the narrative must not neglect the individual colonics. From 
the end of the colonial period the dominant interest is the progress of 
events which have to do with the common cause of independence, and 
after that with national development. 

Much thought has been given to the proper distribution of em- 
phasis between the various historical factors. Political institutions 
are the most conscious expression of the national will. They 
determine the form of the stofy which the historian has to tell. But 
social and economic conditions and the actions of leading men give 
color and contour to the figure and decide whether it be attractive or 
unattractive, vivid or unimpressive. This volume contains at inter- 
vals summaries of the habits and social progress of the people, while 
throughout it seeks to present the decisions of congress and adminis- 
trations in the matters which relate to the most important phases of 
popular welfare. It is believed that, if well done, it thus becomes in 
the most vital sense a social history. My aim has been to lay the 
necessary foundation for those who wish to pursue further the subject 
of American history in whatever phase they may be interested. 

In a work like this it is impossible to discuss new historical evi- 
dence. I have had to content myself with what has already been done 
by patient and faithful investigators. I have drawn from the results 
of their labors freely and gratefully. It has also been necessary to 
omit many things which I should have desired to include had greater 
space been allowed by the plan to which the book must conform. It 
seemed best to deal only with the main currents of history, and to 
follow these with considerable fullness rather than encumber the narra- 
tive with many details. If some of my readers are disappointed 



vi PREFACE 

through the omission of something they expected to find, I hope they 
will be consoled by finding that what has been attempted has gained 
in amplitude of treatment. 

The bibliographies at the ends of chapters are intended as an aid 
to those who wish to read further than this book can carry them. 
They are classified with respect to subjects, and while they are not 
critical, no book has been mentioned which does not contain useful 
information, although some of them must be perused with discrimina- 
tion. It is suggested that the investigator suppplement the informa- 
tion herein offered by consulting Larned, The Literature of American 
History (1902), Hart, editor, The American Nation, 27 vols. (1904- 
1908), as well as special bibliographies. The books mentioned under 
the caption, For Indepetident Reading, are popular rather than scien- 
tific, but they generally contain reliable information. It is hoped that 
they may be of value to students who wish to read American history 
during vacations and to others who read through their own initiative. 

Finally, the author's thanks are due to Professor Marshall S. Brown 
of New York University, who kindly read and criticised the completed 
manuscript, but who is in no way responsible for the errors herein 
contained. 

J. S. B. 

16 Rue Chalgrin, Paris, 



CONTENTS 



Chapter I. The Continent and its Early Inhabitants: 

Physical Factors in American History 1 

Natural Resources 4 

Early Inhabitants ........... H 

The Indians 13 

Indian Culture ........... 15 

Chapter II. The Discovery and Exploration of America : 

Events and Ideas leading to the Discovery 23 

The Achievement of Columbus 27 

Exploring the Coasts of the New World 31 

Exploring the Interior 37 

Chapter III. The First English Settlements in the South: 

The Gentlemen Adventurers 41 

The Beginning of Virginia ......... 45 

Better Times in the Colony . . . . . . . . . 50 

The Settlement of Maryland 52 



Chapter IV. The Settlement of New England 

The Plymouth Colony 

The Massachusetts Bay Colony 
The Settlement of Other New England Colonies 
New York under the Dutch .... 
Early Relations of the Colonies with England 



59 
63 
68 
72 
76 



Chapter V. Colonial Progress under the Later Stuarts, 1660-1689: 

Charles II and the Colonies ......... 80 

The Stuart Reaction ........... 88 

The Colonies under the Later Stuarts, 1660-1689 . . . . , 92 

Chapter VI. Colonial Development, 1690-1763 : 

Development of the Colonial Conflict ....... 99 

Typical Colonial Controversies ........ 101 

Georgia Founded 109 

Growth of New France . . . . Ill 

The French and Indian Wars 115 

The Last Conflict between the French and English in North America . 121 



viii CONTENTS 



PAGE 



•^Chapter VII. Social Progress in Colonies: 

The Conditions of Settlement 134 

Laboring Classes . 137 

Colonial Industry 140 

Trade 142 

Race Elements in Colony Planting 145 

Religion in the Colonies 148 

Education and Culture in the Colonies 153 

Local Government in the Colonies ....... 155 

Paper Money in the Colonies 157 

'Y' Chapter VIII. The Causes of the Revolution: 

The Principles at Stake 161 

Grenville's Policy 162 

Growing Irritation ........... 169 

Continental Organization and Attempts at Adjustment .... 176 



Chapter IX. The American Revolution : 

The Declaration of Independence ........ 186 

The Campaign around New York, 1776 188 

The Campaigns of 1777, Philadelphia and Saratoga .... 192 

The Alliance with France 198 

Minor Events in the North, 1778-1782 200 

The War in the West 203 

The Navy in the Revolution 204 

The Campaign in the South, 1778-1781 206 

The Treaty of Peace , . . 214 

Civil Progress during the Revolution 217 



Chapter X. The First Years of Peace, 1783-1787 

Financial Embarrassments ......... 222 

Industry and Trade after the War 225 

Forming a New Society 228 

The Western Lands 231 

Popular Dissatisfaction 235 



Chapter XI. Making the Constitution : 

The Articles of Confederation 238 

Moving toward a Stronger Union 240 

The Adoption of the Constitution 247 

Nationality and State Integrity in the Constitution .... 250 



CONTENTS ix 

PAGE 

Chapter XII. Washington's Presidency — A Period of Organiza- 
tion : 

The Work of Organization 256 

Financial Reorganization ......... 259 

Adjusting Foreign Relations 261 

The United States and the European War 266 

The Whisky Insurrection 267 

Political Development under Washington 269 

Chapter XIII. Adams and the Downfall of the Federalists : 

The Political Character of the Administration 276 

The Quarrel with France 278 

Overconfidence of the Federalists ........ 283 

Overthrow of the Federalists ......... 287 

Chapter XIV. Internal History and Foreign Affairs under 
Jefferson and Madison : 

Republican Reforms .......... 291 

The War with Tripoli 295 

The Purchase of Louisiana 296 

Dissension in the Republican Party ....... 300 

The Schemes of Aaron Burr 303 

Relations between England and the United States .... 306 

Jefferson's Reply to Europe ......... 309 

Chapter XV. The War of 1812: 

Origin of the War 313 

The Struggle for Canada 321 

Operations at Sea 326 

The British Campaign on Chesapeake Bay 329 

The War on the Gulf Coast 331 

New England Discontent 335 



Chapter XVI. Social Development: 
Growth of the West and Southwest 
Industrial Development .... 
Slavery made Sectional .... 
Religious Development after the Revolution 
Exploration in the Far West . 
Early Constitutional Interpretation 



341 
345 
350 
352 
355 
357 



Chapter XVII. The Last of the Virginia Presidents : 

Reforms of 1816-1817 ... 363 

Party Cleavage under Monroe . 367 



X CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The Acquisition of Florida ....... . . 368 

The Missouri Compromise 371 

The Monroe Doctrine 375 

The Election of 1824 , . . .377 

The Presidential Election of 1825 379 

Chapter XVIII. The Administration of John Quincy Adams : 

Party Formation under John Quincy Adams ...... 382 

The Tariff and the Development of Sectionalism ..... 384 

The Election of 1828 388 

Chapter XIX. Problems of Jackson's First Administration : 

The New President in Charge 392 

Internal Improvements Checker 394 

Division in the Jacksonian Party ........ 396 

The Election of 1832 403 

Chapter XX. Jackson's Presidency Completed : 

The End of NuUification . 407 

Jackson's " War " against the Bank 411 

Foreign Affairs ........... 415 

The End of Jackson's Presidency . 422 

Chapter XXI. Early Period of the Slavery Controversy, 1831- 
1850: 

The Antislavery Agitation 428 

Van Buren's Presidency .......... 432 

The Administration of Tyler 435 

The Maine Boundary and the Webster- Ashburton Treaty . . . 437 

The Annexation of Texas and the Occupation of Oregon . . . 438 

The Election of 1844 441 

Polk's Administration 445 

The Slavery Question in a New Form 450 

The Compromise of 1850 454 

Chapter XXII. Social and Industrial Development, 1815-1861 : 

Growth of Population and the Results 461 

The Influence of Great Inventions 463 

The Indians 465 

Social Development in the South 468 

The Development of Democracy in State and Nation .... 472 

The Progress of Education ......... 476 

Gold in California ........... 480 

The Panic of 1857 482 



CONTENTS xi 

PAGE 

Chapter XXIII. Events leading to the Civil War, 1850-1860: 

Overthrowing the Compromise of 1850 ....... 485 

The Struggle for Kansas 489 

A New Party and the Election of 1856 493 

The Dred Scott Decision 497 

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates 499 

The John Brown Raid , 502 

The Election of 1860 504 

Chapter XXIV. The Outbreak of the Civil War: 

War or Peace ? ........... 511 

Lincoln and Secession .......... 514 

Preparations for War .......... 516 

The Bull Run Campaign 518 

Relations with Great Britain . . ....... 521 

Chapter XXV. The Western Campaigns : 

A Bifurcated Invasion .......... 526 

Three. Preliminary Operations, 1861 ....... 526 

Grant's Campaign on the Tennessee, 1862 ...... 527 

Confederate Counter- Movement in Tennessee and Kentucky . , 529 

Vicksburg Captured 530 

The Campaign for Chattanooga ........ 532 

The Campaign against Atlanta ........ 535 

Sherman's March through Georgia and the Carolinas .... 539 

The War beyond the Mississippi ........ 541 

Chapter XXVI. The War in the East, 1862-1865: 

McClellan's Peninsular Campaign ........ 545 

Pope and Second Bull Run ......... 550 

The Campaign of Antietam ......... 553 

The Battle of Fredericksburg. ........ 555 

The Battle of Chancellorsville ........ 557 

The Gettysburg Campaign ......... 558 

From the Wilderness to Petersburg ....... 563 

The End of the War 564 

Federal Naval Operations ......... 569 

Chapter XXVII. Civil Affairs during the War: 

Enlisting Troops, North and South 572 



Federal Finances .... 

The Progress of Emancipation 

Political Parties during the Civil War 

The War Powers of the President . 

The Southern Problem and Southern Efforts 



574 
577 
581 
585 
586 



Xll 



CONTENTS 



Chapter XXVIII. Reconstruction — the National Side 

Two Possible Methods of Reconstruction 
"'■■ Lincoln's Plan of Reconstruction 

Johnson's Plan of Reconstruction 

Affairs in the South 

Johnson's Hopes 

The Fourteenth Amendment . 

The Reconstruction Acts of 1867 

An Appeal to the Supreme Court 

The Impeachment of President Johnson 



594 
596 
599 
601 
604 
607 
609 
611 
613 



Chapter XXIX. Reconstruction — the Southern Side: 

Social Conditions in the South 619 

Congressional Reconstruction in Operation ...... 622 

The Ku Klux Klan 627 

Triumph of the Southern Democrats ....... 630 

National Reconstruction under Grant ....... 633 

Interpreting the War Amendments ....... 635 



Chapter XXX. Party History, 1865-1877 
Political Conditions after the War . 
The Election of 1868 .... 
Foreign Affairs under Johnson 
Grant's Political Mistakes 
The Presidential Campaign of 1872 
Political Decay under Grant . 
The Election of 1876 .... 



640 
641 
643 
644 
648 
649 
652 



Chapter XXXI. Economic and Diplomatic History, 1856-1877 : 

Financial Reorganization ......... 660 

The Legal Tender Decisions ......... 663 

Industrial Progress .......... 664 

Resumption of Specie Payment ........ 668 

Diplomatic Affairs under Grant ........ 669 

Chapter XXXII. The Development of the Far West : 

The Rocky Mountain Region 676 

The Transcontinental Railroads 680 

Indian Wars ............ 683 

The Sioux War of 1876 687 

A New Indian Policy 690 

Chapter XXXIII. Political and Financial Readjustment, 1877-1881 : 

Hayes and his Party 693 , 



Course of the Democrats 



695 



CONTENTS • xiii 

PAGE 

The Bland- Allison Silver Coinage Law 697 

Resumption of Specie Payment . 6!fe, 

The Election of 1880 701 

Garfield's Short Presidency 703 



Chapter XXXIV. Political and Economic Reform, 1881-1897:,, 

Civil Service Reform 707 

Ballot Reform , .... 711 

Tariff Reform 712 

The Election of 1884 716 

Cleveland and his Party 719 

Tariff Reform under Cleveland 721 

The Republican Party in a New Stage 723 

The McKinley Tariff and the Surplus 724 

The Tariff Legislation of 1892-1897 727 



Chapter XXXV. Great Industrial Combinations: 

Combinations as Historical Factors 731 

Railroad Combinations 732 

Trusts ............. 736 

Bank Consolidation .......... 740 

Combinations of Laborers 741 



Chapter XXXVI. Last Phases of the Silver Movement : 

The Bland Law in Operation ......... 746 

The Last Years of Harrison ......... 748 

Cleveland and the Panic of 1893 753 

Selling Bonds to protect the Surplus 755 

The Bryan Campaign for Free Silver, 1896 758 



Chapter XXXVII. A New Phase of American Diplomacy : 

Importance of the Pacific ......... 764 

The Samoan Incident, 1887-1889 765 

The Fur Seal Controversy 767 

The Mafia Incident 767 

Relations with Chile . 768 

Hawaiian Annexation 771 

Chinese Immigration 774 

America and Japan ........... 775 

The Venezuela Boundary Dispute ... o ... . 777 



xiv CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Chapter XXXVIII. The War with Spain: 

Spain and Cuba . 782 

American Intervention 786 

The Work of the Navy 790 

Land Operations against Santiago ........ 795 

The Destruction of the Spanish Squadron ...... 799 

Reflections on the War in Cuba ........ 802 

Peace Negotiations 805 

Subsequent Relations with Cuba ........ 806 

Chapter XXXIX. Expansion and its Problems : 

The Philippines as an American Colony ...... 809 

An American Colonial Policy 813 

An Isthmian Canal ........... 814 

The Canal at Panama .......... 817 

Canal Construction ........... 821 

American Diplomacy in the Orient . . . . . . . 822 

The Alaskan Boundary 825 

The New Monroe Doctrine 826 

Chapter XL. The Administrations of Roosevelt and Taft: 

Roosevelt's Corporation Policy 829 

Roosevelt's Second Term 832 

Taft's Administration 837 

The Presidential Election of 1912 ........ 843 

Legislative Progress under Taft ........ 849 



FULL-PAGE MAPS 

FACING PAGE 

Physical Features of the United States . 9 

Early Explorations 30 

The North during the Revolutionary War 184 

The Northwest during the Revolution 202 

The Revolutionary War in the South 208 

The United States at the Close of the Revolution 216 

California and Mexico, 1846 448 

The United States during the Civil War . . . . . . .528 

Operations in the East ........... 550 

The Battlefield of Gettysburg 559 

The Transportation Problem of the South ....... 574 

The Far West 678 

Territorial Development [doiible page) ........ 792 

The Panama Canal 820 



MAPS IN THE TEXT 

PACK 

Bunker Hill and Boston 181 

Campaign around New York ......... 189 

Valley Forge, Philadelphia, and Brandywine 193 

The Saratoga Campaign . 196 

The Siege of Yorktown 213 

The Canadian Border ........... 322 

Washington and Vicinity . 329 

The Erie Canal ............ 366 

The Gulf Region' 369 

The Vicksburg Campaign 532 

Operations around Atlanta 537 

The Santiago Campaign ... c 797 



CHAPTER I 

THE CONTINENT AND ITS EARLY INHABITANTS 

Physical Factors in American History 

The history of the United States, like that of other countries, has 
been modiiied by physical environment. Nature has determined 
where man should begin to penetrate the continent, his 
routes of communication between the various portions of V^^ ^^' 
the country, and the resources out of which he has built Nature, 
up the national wealth. Climate has limited achievement, 
or aided it, the soil has determined the form of labor, and rainfall has 
marked out the area he inhabits. In some respects he has overcome 
natural conditions, but in most things he has had to conform his ac- 
tions to them. Speaking generally, nature has been favorable to man 
in the United States. Says Shaler: "There is no area, in either of 
the Americas, or for that matter in the world outside of Europe, where 
it would have been possible to plant English colonies, that would have 
been found so suitable for the purpose." 

The area of the United States, exclusive of Alaska and the island 
possessions, is 3,026,789 square miles, which is less than that of Europe 
by 725,000 square miles. Great irregularities mark the 
coast line of Europe and facilitate political subdivision. iE^®":*® ? . 
Our own coast line is relatively regular, and most of the unity, 
interior is one vast river system. The Appalachian Moun- 
tains are not a formidable barrier between the coastal plain and the 
interior, since they are easily penetrated in Pennsylvania and fall 
away entirely in Georgia and New York. The Rockies are much 
higher, but they were not reached before the day of railroads, and 
through means of this invention most of their difficulties disappeared. 
It has therefore happened that the people from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific constitute one nation. They are relieved of the burdens which 
opposing interests lay upon the powers of Europe, and the size of the 
country has given it great influence in international affairs. 

Through this extent of territory there is a wide range of climate, 
but the mean temperature is mild. The fact that a great plain extends 
from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean without the 
interruption of a mountain chain accounts for a wide varia- variations 
tion in temperature for a given point. Through this means 
mighty currents of heated atmosphere are carried far northward in 



2 THE CONTINENT AND ITS EARLY INHABITANTS 

summer and cold waves come far southward in winter. As a result, 
Arkansas, for example, has the winter climate of Edinburgh and the 
summer cHmate of Spain, while Minnesota has summers like those of 
Venice and winters as cold as those of Scotland. The Pacific coast, 
protected from the disturbing force of the currents in the interior of 
the continent, has a more stable climate ; but the Appalachians are 
not high enough to shield in a similar way the Atlantic coast. 

In all parts of the United States there is adequate rainfall except 
near the Rocky Mountains. An area beginning with the eastern slope 
of this range and extending westward to the Sierra Nevada 
range is deficient in this respect. A large part of it yields 
grass for ranches, but one fourth of it is entirely arid and makes a 
great desert with no vegetation except alkali plants and prickly 
shrubs. Much of this general region may be reclaimed by irrigation, 
and in 1902 Congress provided means of reclamation which will even- 
tually bring these parts within the area of fertile production. Two 
ocean currents modify the climate of the United States. The Gulf 
Stream on the east exerts an influence on the coast as far north as 
Cape Hatteras ; and the Japanese Current, sweeping down from 
Alaska, where its effects are marked, tempers the winters of all the 
Pacific slope north of Mexico. 

Means of water transportation are adequate. Harbors are nu- 
merous on the Atlantic coast, and rivers suitable for the ships of the 
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are so well distributed 
The Atlantic ^y^^^ jj ^ jjj^g were drawn from Maine to Florida parallel 
System. with the coast and one hundred miles inland, there would 
hardly be a spot east of it which was more than a day's 
journey from water transportation. This rim of coast received the 
first colonies, and its natural advantages made easy the introduction 
of civilization. The plain west of it is traversed by several large rivers 
which by offering means of communication and an abundance of 
fertile bottom land marked out the lines of advance for future settle- 
ments. This took the frontier to the Alleghanies, to pass 
The Passage which three easy routes might be followed ; one around the 
]V«ss*issiD i northern end of the range to the lakes, another around the 
Basin. southern end, and another through central Pennsylvania to 

the upper waters of the Ohio. The Iroquois Indians held 
back immigration by the northern passage foi many years, and the 
Creeks and Cherokees did the same on the south, so that the first 
English advance across the barrier was by way of the central route. 
The Mississippi basin, as the central portion of the continent is 
called, is entered from the sea by three great systems of 
Interior water communication. One conies from the north by the 

Courses. ^t. Lawrence and the Great Lakes and gives access to 
the very heart of the central north. Another is the Missis- 
sippi and its tributaries. Its northeastern branches approach within 



MEANS OF COMMUNICATION 3 

short distances of the streams which flow into the lakes of the north, 
and its western and northwestern tributaries penetrate the broad 
western plains. A third system is the Alabama, which reaches the 
sea through Mobile bay. Smaller than either of the others, it never- 
theless covers a large and important region north of the Gulf of Mexico. 
The currents of most of these rivers make it difficult for sailboats to 
come upstream, and the earliest transportation was by flatboat down 
the river; but the invention of steamboats in 1807 put the navigable 
rivers of the country entirely under human control. 

The Pacific slope differs from the Atlantic slope in both harbors and 
waterways. Only four of the former are important : Puget Sound, 
San Francisco, San Diego, and the mouth of the Columbia 
river, which is dangerous. The mountains approach so Harbors and 
near to the sea that the coastal plain is too narrow for large ^hJ pac°fic 
streams ; but in Oregon and southern California they recede Coast. 
enough to allow the exit of two great rivers which gather 
their waters in the high grounds of the interior. One of these is the 
Columbia, which flows through a fertile and well-timbered valley, the 
home of a numerous people ; the other is the Colorado, whose course 
is twisted through an arid region, which can only hope for develop- 
ment through irrigation. 

Certain physical features have materially aided in the construction 
of artificial means of communication. After roads, which with their 
bridges were early made by the settlers to facilitate travel, 
canals were next undertaken, usually in order to reach the 
interior beyond the heads of navigation of the rivers. They generally 
paralleled small streams whose shallowness made them unfit for navi- 
gation. Philadelphia interests, seeking to reach the rich western 
trade which had its gateway at Pittsburg, planned a canal over the 
mountains. Starting from Harrisburg it followed the Juniata river 
to the base of the Alleghanies, where it was forced to stop. On the 
other side of the range it was resumed along the banks of 
the Conemaugh and Alleghany rivers to Pittsburg. The ^^^ Route 
ridge between these two links has an elevation of 2491 feet 
and a width of forty-two miles. Uncompromising advocates of canals 
proposed a tunnel throughout the whole distance, but a railroad was 
built instead. There were other attempts to reach Pittsburg from 
the coast, but the line just mentioned was the most continuous water 
route that was utilized. Its disadvantages were many, and it was 
used chiefly for freight, passengers preferring the quicker journey over 
one of the several post roads to the upper Ohio. 

When Pennsylvanians developed this line of transportation they 
had their eyes on a competing system in New York. From the Hudson 
at Albany to Buffalo is only three hundred and sLxty- three miles. 
Much of the distance is traversed by the Mohawk river, and the 
highest elevation is only four hundred and forty-five feet above sea 



4 THE CONTINENT AND ITS EARLY INHABITANTS 

level. To the north are the Adirondacks and to the south the 
Catskills. The valley is nature's gateway to the West, and as 
early as 1785 plans were considered for a canal through 
The Central ^^ In 1825 they came to fruition when the Erie canal 
Route. w^s completed from Buffalo, on Lake Erie, to Albany, 

on the Hudson. It had two branches, one to Lake 
Champlain on the north and the other to Lake Ontario, at Oswego. 
It conducted the commerce of a large area to the port of New York. 
The results were striking. In 1826 nineteen thousand boats and 
rafts were carried down these New York canals to the Hudson. Ship- 
building sprang up on Lake Champlain, Buffalo became a 
Results of depot for the furs and other products of the Northwest 
struction. which formerly found outside markets by way of the St. 
Lawrence, and the settlement of the lands south of the 
Great Lakes was given a great stimulus. In 1825 the freight rate 
from Buffalo to Albany was eighty-eight dollars a ton : twenty-six 
years later it was less than six dollars. The lake region was thus made 
tributary to New York, and out of this fact grew the industrial su- 
premacy of that city. Up to this time Philadelphia was the leading 
American city : it fought hard to retain its supremacy, and its control 
of the best road to Pittsburg was an important factor ; but access to 
the lake region was worth more in the future development of the coun- 
try than reaching the Ohio valley. When railroads were invented 
these two passes were still of great importance. One line followed 
the Juniata to Pittsburg, and two were built across the level Mohawk 
plain to Buffalo, where the lack of steep grades makes operating ex- 
penses relatively low. 

Natural Resources 

Natural resources have affected the history of the United States as 
much as means of communication. No colony could prosper without 
something which it could export for the accumulation of 
Early im- wealth. For the earliest comers such articles were furs 
Fu^r^and° ^^^ ^^^' They were in ready demand in Europe and at- 
Fisheries. tracted the attention of hardy adventurers before the New 
World was seriously thought of as a place for colonization. 
Fur traders and fishermen established temporary stations on the coast 
in advance of permanent settlements, and thus called the world's at- 
tention to the resources of the continent. 

Furs abounded in all parts of America, but they were better in the 
colder parts. The earliest traders came into harbors, 
Fur Traders usually at the mouths of rivers, where the natives met to 
^n ^e* In-*^^ barter skins for goods. As the trade developed they went 
terior. up the rivers into the interior, generally establishing trad- 

ing houses at the heads of navigation, as at Hartford on 
the Connecticut, Albany on the Hudson, and Richmond on the James. 



FUR TRADE AND FISHERIES S 

Next, individual traders went out from these centers to remote parts, 
gathering the furs from the natives rather than waiting for them to be 
brought to the stations. In every case the advent of settlements was 
the signal for the disappearance of the trade. To-day when the whole 
continent is known to man, furs are found only in the frozen parts of 
the north, where the climate forbids ordinary pursuits. In the in- 
terior, as well as on the coast, the fur trader marched in advance of 
the frontier. He explored unknown parts and revealed to the settle- 
ments the portions best suited for habitation, he discovered the best 
means of penetrating the interior, and he established important re- 
lations with the Indians. 

Even earlier than the fur trader was the fisherman. The many 
indentations of the Atlantic coast abound in mackerel and salmon ; 
but more important still was the cod, whose proper habitat 
is the coasts of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. At the ^^^elop- 
coming of the colonists this fish was found as far south as Fisheries, 
the cape which now bears its name. It was then already 
well known in Europe ; for enterprising fishermen from England and 
France were taking it on the banks of Newfoundland many years 
earlier. "The knob headed, richly fat, and succulent codfish," as 
Weeden calls it, is probably the most popular of our food fishes. Its 
special advantage is its excellent keeping quality when salted and 
dried. With mackerel it was w^idely sold in the Catholic countries 
of western Europe, where fish was demanded for use on Fridays. The 
poorer cod and mackerel were sent to the West Indies, where planters 
bought them for their slaves. The New England fisheries developed 
rapidly from the first and became the basis of an important foreign 
trade. 

Taking the cod supported an important sea-going population. The 
eastern towns of Massachusetts — Boston, Gloucester, Marblehead, 
Salem, Ipswich — were the centers of the industry. With 
the establishment of fishing on the coast the cod disap- f^^-^^^L"^ 
peared in that region ; but the New Englander followed it cq^. 
north as far as the Newfoundland banks. A ship of fifty 
tons and a crew of seven were considered adequate for the business ; 
and if fishing were good, they might expect to take six hundred quintals 
a year. The men served for shares, and the owner of the boat got a 
share for his capital. A ship's company was selected for steadiness, 
agility of mind and body, and companionable qualities. The associa- 
tion was apt to be renewed from season to season, and it promoted 
the development of reliable and efficient cooperation. The fisheries 
bred sailors for the merchant marine and later for the navy. With 
the advance of the eighteenth century capital played a relatively larger 
part in the cod fisheries; larger ships were used, and wealthy 
men who furnished outfits became a chief factor in the in- 
dustry. Out of this form of fishing grew whaling, which the hardy 



6 THE CONTINENT AND ITS EARLY INHABITANTS 

New Englanders carried to the North, and South, Atlantic, and 
finally to Pacific waters. The trade in cod and mackerel had the pe- 
culiar advantage that it brought specie into the colonies at an early- 
day, when it was much needed. 

Another important resource in the United States is lumber. Forests 
originally covered the entire Atlantic coast and all of the Mississippi 
basin but the prairies, which occurred in restricted areas north of the 
Ohio and in a large territory from the Rocky Mountains to a line some- 
what west of the Mississippi. The Pacific coast itself is 
Forests and ^^jj wooded, but the rainless region from the Sierras to the 
Rockies is largely without forests. The settlers attacked 
the forests with avidity. Masts for all the shipbuilding countries of 
Europe, staves and lumber for the treeless West Indies, and naval 
stores from the Carolina pines were some of the first forest products. 
As the frontier was extended inward from the coast lumbering as- 
sumed better organized forms, saw mills lined the rivers, and forest 
products became of greater importance. From lumbering the col- 
onists quickly proceeded to shipbuilding, making excellent vessels for 
their own use and after a while for sale in Europe and the West Indies. 
As the frontier proceeded westward the attacks on the forests became 
most profligate. Thus a large part of the timber of the country was 
wastefully consumed before the people came to realize the importance 
of preserving it. 

In fertility the soil of the United States compares favorably with 
that of Europe. It is peculiarly rich in limestone, which is favorable 
to the growth of grain and grass. A large proportion of 
° ' the land is tillable, and even the mountain ranges of the 

Atlantic slope may be brought largely into cultivation through suffi- 
cient effort. There are few great swamps, the Dismal in North Caro- 
lina and the Everglades in southern Florida being the only consider- 
able ones on the Atlantic coast. The openness of the country made 
settlement easy in the early stages, and it has facilitated the extension 
of the frontier through the interior. 

All the territory north of the Susquehannah and half of that north 
of the Ohio was once in the grasp of a great glacier. The effects were: 
I, to leave the soil full of stones which must be removed 
PeriS^"^ before it could be cultivated successfully. This was par- 
ticularly true of New England, where, it is estimated, an 
average of thirty days' labor was necessary to clear of stones each 
acre of land ; 2, Glaciers leave behind them a tough clay soil which 
requires years to bring it into profitable production, but 
The New when once subdued it is not easily exhausted. Shaler 
England asserts that he has never known this kind of soil to be- 
come worn out through cultivation. The Indians were 
not able to subdue the New England soil, and they were, therefore, 
not numerous enough seriously to impede the early attempts at colo- 



SOILS AND THEIR PRODUCTS 7 

nization. The whites succeeded better, but the difficulty was so great 
that agriculture progressed slowly in that region. Many of the people 
turned to other forms of industry, especially to trade and, in later years, 
to manufactures, for which their excellent water-power was adapted. 
This struggle with nature, it is believed, has also stimulated thrift, 
self-restraint, and resourcefulness in the inhabitants ; and the estab- 
lishment of manufactures has promoted town building. The social 
results have been important. 

In the South, on the other hand, the tillable soil was fertile, though 
more easily exhausted. It was also abundant and cheap, so that the 
settlers had a tendency to take up large holdings. To work 
these plantations it was necessary to have a permanent q°\^^^ 
labor supply, persons who would not become landowners 
themselves in the presence of the unusual opportunity for acquiring 
farms. No such laboring class could be had from Europe, but it 
could be found in Africa, and the result was negro slavery. Slave 
plantations became the rule, and they were so profitable that manu- 
facturing was excluded, trade was reduced to simple forms, and the 
South was given almost wholly to agriculture. 

In the Northwest the prairies were easily and rapidly settled. Im- 
migrants quickly became rich farmers. Never was the American 
frontier more prosperous and more democratic. Cities j ^h w t 
were built rapidly, and railroads, commerce, and all the 
other forms of a complex society were suddenly reared upon the 
luxuriant state of agricultural prosperity. In California a favorable 
soil and an equable climate have united to support a great fruit raising 
industry. 

The lands adjacent to rivers have played an important part in the 
history of the country, especially on the Atlantic coast and in the 
lower Mississippi basin. They were most accessible to the 
early inhabitants and had greatest fertility. They were ^^^ Land' 
the first lands reduced to cultivation, and when they were 
occupied the settlers turned to the tributary streams, where the bottom 
lands were less extensive. When the black borders of this drainage 
skeleton were taken up and made arable, the higher regions between 
them were attacked. The best plantations were the river plantations, 
and because their owners were rich, and could afford to own large 
tracts, here were found the large plantations. This was somewhat 
true of the Connecticut, and essentially true of the Hudson and of all 
the Southern rivers. 

Raising their own food has never been a problem for Americans, 
since all parts of the continent are fertile enough for that, -. , „ . 
— and the colonists, once past the initial scarcity due to ^°°^ 
difficulty of adjustment to a new location, had no anxiety 
on this score. They were more concerned with having some staple 
crop for export which should serve as the basis of wealth. New Eng- 



8 THE CONTINENT AND ITS EARLY INHABITANTS 

land could promise little in this respect. Some corn, vegetables, and 
beef could be spared from home consumption, but high freights to 
Europe forbade sending them thither. The West Indies and the fish- 
ing stations of the North offered but a small market, and the middle 
colonies were competitors for it. With the increase of transportation 
facilities much grain was sent abroad from the latter colonies, the 
precursor of a trade which with the development of the West has 
become a great factor in our industrial life. 

Three staple crops developed in the colonial period ; tobacco in 
Virginia and Maryland and rice and indigo in South Carolina and 
Georgia. Late in the eighteenth century sugar became a 
staple in Louisiana. All were profitable and facilitated 
the rapid development of the regions in which they were grown. 
After the invention of the cotton gin in 1793 cotton became the lead- 
ing staple of the country. It was grown throughout the South below 
Virginia and Kentucky from the foothills of the Alleghanies to the 
Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico. With the development of the coun- 
try many other crops have become vastly important. Of them wheat 
and corn are of first rank and must be called staples in a large part 
of the Mississippi basin. 

In the days of settlement Indian corn was a most prevalent food 
supply. Besides having excellent nourishing qualities, it was more 
easily cultivated in newly cleared ground than any other 
grain. Following the custom of the Indians, the colonist 
removed the undergrowth from the forest, killed those trees he did not 
care to uproot, and dropped the seed in the spaces between stumps and 
dead trunks. European wheat could not have grown or been har- 
vested under such conditions. Corn has, also, these other advantages ; 
it remains uninjured on the stalk for weeks after it is ripe, it keeps well 
in indifferent barns, its grain is excellent food for man and many of the 
domesticated animals, and its fodder is good winter forage. More- 
over, it grows well in all parts of the country, whereas wheat cannot 
be raised with profit in most of the Southern states. 

The mineral resources of the United States, which are abundant, 
were little exploited before the revolution. In that period men were 
satisfied to clear land, build roads, and develop trade, 
Deposfts. naturally the first tasks to be done in a new country. Our 
revolutionary period happened to coincide with one of the 
turning points in the world's industrial history. The steam engine, 
the blast furnace, and power machinery came into existence at nearly 
the same time. Following them came a great demand for coal and the 
metals used in ordinary forms of industry, and the rapid 
Iron ^^ development of manufactures in the early part of the nine- 

teenth century gave an added impulse to the process. The 
mining of coal and iron on a large scale opened the new period. When 
these two minerals are found together and close to water transporta- 



^ 



DISTRIBUTION OF COAL g 

tion they furnish the basis of great industrial activity. They 
represent enormous values in themselves, they support a large body 
of laborers, and they enter so extensively into modern production 
that many manufactories are sure to spring up in the neighborhood. 
The result is rich and densely settled areas, numerous cities, and the 
various important influences which naturally accompany them. 
Most parts of the United States are near coal deposits, but the richest 
coal-bearing area is that lying chiefly on the western slope of the Al- 
leghanies extending from northern Alabama in the southwest to 
southern New York in the North. This belt at the southern part is 
about thirty miles broad, but near the northern end it spreads out in 
a great bulb reaching from Cumberland, Maryland, to Newark, Ohio. 
The deposit in most of the region is bituminous, but in the northeastern 
part, near Scranton, Pennsylvania, is a rich anthracite field, an area 
of four hundred and seventy-two square miles, which surpasses in 
mineral wealth any other region of the same size in the world. 

The anthracite coal fields were discovered in 1790 by a hunter whose 
strange stories of stones that burned in his campfire attracted atten- 
tion. Investigation revealed on the Mauch Chunk a hill of excellent 
coal fifty feet high with a surface of forty acres. It was long before 
the people came to understand the use of anthracite, or Discovery of 
"stone coal." Tradition relates that when it was first Anthracite, 
offered for sale in Philadelphia in 181 2 purchasers were unable to 
burn it and drove the seller out of town for a swindler. Another 
story is that an iron manufacturer not long after this tried to use it 
in his furnace. All the forenoon he poked at the fire to make it burn, 
but had no success. Finally he closed the furnace door in disgust 
and went to his dinner. On his return the coal was burning brightly ; 
he had left the drafts open, and the accident is supposed to have 
revealed the secret of the use of anthracite coal. At any rate, this fuel 
has been widely used in America from about 1825. 

Most of the Alleghany coal fields are bituminous. The best por- 
tion of them is around Pittsburg, where there are, also, good deposits 
of iron ore and limestone necessary for iron smelting. Other 
rich portions of the general field are in eastern Ohio, West distribution 
Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, northern Georgia, and Deposits. 
Alabama. Another considerable bituminous coal field is 
the Central. It lies in Indiana, Illinois, and western Kentucky, with 
sporadic deposits in some of the neighboring states. Its total area is 
fifty thousand square miles, and the block coal which it yields is very 
satisfactory for furnaces. In the Rocky Mountains are much lignite 
and some bituminous coal. On the Pacific coast are moderate deposits 
in California, Oregon, and Washington ; and recent investigation has 
shown valuable deposits in Alaska. 

The coal supply of the United States is greater in proportion to the 
national area and more accessible than that of Europe. We have one 



lo THE CONTINENT AND ITS EARLY INHABITANTS 

square mile of coal for every ten square miles of surface : Europe has 
one for one hundred and eighty-eight. Besides this, our seams are 
thicker and nearer the surface. In industrial endurance we are, there- 
fore, likely to surpass any other continent, except Asia, where China 
has immense beds. These coal beds bring the Orient into the range of 
world politics, and are apt to bring our own Pacific coast into close 
relations with that part of the world in the future. 

Iron ore was worked in most of the colonies before the revolution. 
At that time furnaces were fired with charcoal, which was plentifully 
obtained from the forests. Most of the enterprises were 
small. There were smelting furnaces, bloomeries for the 
production of wrought iron, and hammers for making bars ; and the 
total output gave the colonists a large part of their iron implements, 
and iron in some forms was sent abroad. 

Roebuck's invention in 1760, by which coal was used in blast fur- 
naces, and the introduction in 1790 of the steam engine to operate the 
blast caused a revolution in iron mining. Charcoal furnaces were dis- 
carded, and the iron industry in the United States was confined to the 
regions which yielded mineral coal. Western Pennsylvania became 
a very important center of the industry, and northern Ohio in the 
Cleveland region, where the rich ores from Lake Superior could meet 
by water transportation the coal from the Alleghany coal region, 
became not only noted for the earlier forms of iron working, but it 
became the home of many factories established to produce the articles 
in which iron is the chief material. The same thing may be said 
of other regions, as West Virginia, eastern Tennessee, and northern 
Alabama. The Alleghany and Central coal fields, and the regions 
contiguous to them, seem, therefore, to be one of the most important 
underlying physical factors of our history, and one which will probably 
gain influence in the future. 

Coal oils are abundant in the upper Ohio valley and are found in 
paying quantities in other regions, as Kansas, Nebraska, and Texas. 
In regions where there has been little geological disturbance 
they accumulate beneath the surface in great lakes. There 
is, also, in the Ohio valley and extending eastward into Virginia, an area 
of oil-bearing shale as large as the states of New York and Pennsyl- 
vania combined. It is one hundred and fifty feet deep and ten per 
cent of it is oil. If satisfactory means can be found to extract this 
product, it will become a vast resource when the oil deposits proper are 
exhausted. 

Gold in lodes is found on the Atlantic coast from Newfoundland to 

central Alabama. Before its discovery in California in 1849 it was 

mined profitably in the southern part of this eastern belt, 

but the greater productiveness of the western fields has made 

it nearly unprofitable to work the eastern mines. All the Cordilleran 

region contains gold, and its discovery in California led to great results. 



EARL^' MAN IN NORTH AMERICA ii 

Very rich mines have been opened in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, 
Utah, and other neighboring states. The last notable gold area dis- 
covered in America is the Klondike fields, opened in 1897. Although 
they are in Canadian territory access to them is through Alaska, and 
the historical results in that territory have been important. In 1859 
two prospectors, Comstock and Jenrode, found a rich silver 
region on Mount Davidson, at what is now Virginia City, 
Nevada. Rapid developments followed, other regions were discov- 
ered, and it was at length seen that in Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, 
New Mexico, Utah, Montana, and Wyoming were vast deposits. 
This development, with the progress of gold mining, gave a strong 
stimulus to the settlement of the mountain region. Railroads were 
built, the Indians were pressed back, states were created, and impor- 
tant industrial and political consequences followed. 

The natural conditions in the United States which most affect 
manufactures are factory power and labor supply. In the earliest 
times the most important form of the former was water- „, 
power. In New England the coastal plain is narrow and power, 
comparatively precipitous. Here water-power is excel- 
lent, and it was utilized long before the revolution. The coming of 
steam power lessened New England's advantage in this respect, but 
did not remove it entirely. As the coal supplies are reduced, water- 
power, whose force is constant, must tend to recover something of its 
former superiority. South of New England the coast plain becomes 
wider and the rivers have less fall. In the Carolinas the plain is so 
level and the evaporation through the long summers so great that 
water-powers are not very important, and only on the largest rivers 
is there a constant supply throughout the year. Generally speaking, 
the region between the Appalachians and the Rockies is level, and good 
water-power is scarce ; but there are exceptions, the most notable 
being Niagara Falls, where there is great possibility for service. That 
part of the Pacific coast which lies between the Coast Range and the 
Sierra Nevada Mountains has good water-power. The Willamette 
near Portland has a fall of forty feet which produces energy equal 
to a million horsepower. 

Early Inhabitants 

The most recent investigations have tended to show that man existed 
in England, Germany, and Java either within or before the glacial 
period, the basis of the contention being the discovery of 
very early skulls. His earliest authentic traces in America ^^^^^ skull, 
do not point to so remote a period. We have, however, 
a disputed claim, which, if conceded, would give the American man a 
very early origin. In 1866 workmen digging a mine-shaft in Calaveras 
county, California, reported the discovery of a human skull in gold- 
bearing gravel of what is generally held to be the pliocene age, although 



12 THE CONTINENT AND ITS EARLY INHABITANTS 

some geologists have made it as late as pleistocene. The existence of 
human life at so early a time was so improbable that a dispute at once 
arose as to the genuineness of the discovery, with the result that 
most authorities rejected the claim because the skull was found by 
untrained persons, or concluded that it was either intruded into strata 
artificially or that the strata themselves were irregular. The reported 
discovery in 1913 of a skull in pliocene strata in Sussex county, Eng- 
land, would, however, if confirmed by experts, give some support to 
those who defend the Calaveras skull. 

Another claim is that the presence of man in the glacial period, or 
immediately afterwards, is shown by finding stone implements fash- 
. ioned by man in river drift along the Delaware river and 

in Ohio and Minnesota. This claim is also disputed, the 
supposition being that the implements found were intruded from the 
surface at a much later period. The controversy over this matter 
has been long and warm, but the defenders have found a valuable 
ally in Volk, whose recent investigations have enabled him to say that 
the existence of man on the Delaware in the glacial period cannot be 
doubted. 

A surer basis of reasoning is the skulls found in 1902 at Lansing, 
Kansas, in a silt stratum on the banks of the Missouri. Two opinions 
arose as to their antiquity. One held that they were de- 
ing Skulls, posited in the glacial or post-glacial period and were cov- 
ered by debris which the river brought down from the 
melting glaciers. Others held that they were deposited much later 
and were covered with silt by the shifting currents of the Missouri. 
The second view is more conservative, and has been generally accepted. 
By it the Lansing skulls have been in position not less than one thou- 
sand, and possibly thirty thousand, years. Investigation shows that 
the skulls are those of American Indians. Eliminating .the claims 
not universally received, they seem to be the earliest evidence of man 
in America. 

In various parts of the United States are earth mounds of great 
antiquity. Some are conical, others elongated, others pyramidal, and 
others are irregularly shaped. The first class are usually 
Builders " burial mounds : the uses of the others are not known. Some 
persons have been able to discern in the irregular ones a 
resemblance to certain animals, as the Serpent Mound in Adams 
county, Ohio. They are so far superior in construction to the works 
of the Indians whom the whites found in North America, that it was 
thought that they were made by a distinct race. This conclusion is 
now generally discredited. It is agreed that they are of Indian origin, 
although they probably were created by a superior and now forgotten 
branch of that race. 

Of similar interest are the " Cliflf Dwellers," so called from the nature 
of their dwellings, placed on inaccessible ledges on the steep sides of 



THE INDIANS CLASSIFIED 13 

canons in the southwest. They lived chiefly in the Mesa Verde re- 
gion of Colorado, where their houses vary in size from one room to 
more than a hundred. The buildings were evidently made 
in secure places to protect the occupants from the attacks jj ',, „ 
of stronger, though less civilized, enemies who roamed the 
plains. Their walls were of stone, and in the ruins are found evidences 
of a culture more advanced than that of most of the Indians. It was 
formerly assumed that the "Cliff Dwellers" were a distinct race, but 
it is now believed that with the Pueblo Indians, the ancient Mexicans, 
the Mayas of Yucatan, and the early Peruvians, they were only more 
highly cultivated branches of the one original American race which 
survives in the Indians. 

The Indians 

There has been much speculation about the origin of this race, but 
no theory advanced has been free from serious difficulties. The only 
point definitely received is that at one time northeastern 
Asia and northwestern America "formed one culture jn^fans" 
area" ; but it cannot be asserted that the Americans came 
from Asia or that the Asians came from America. Future investi- 
gation may give more satisfactory results, but in a field where so 
much is doubtful we are for the present forced to suspend judgment. 

Although there is unity of general characteristics, there are striking 
variations in the Indians, and it has become the rule to group the tribes 
by these variations, the most notable of which are in cul- 
ture, physical characteristics, and language. Linguistic Classifica- 
differences are most easily observed, and language is taken Indians, 
as the basis of the groups, or families, as they are called. 
But this kind of variation does not always coincide with the others, 
and sometimes we find a small number of Indians remotely settled from 
those to whom by language they seem to be closely related. On this 
basis the United States Bureau of Ethnology divides the Indians 
north of Mexico into fifty-nine families, the most important of which 
are: 

I. The Algonquian Family, inhabiting Canada from Hudson's Bay 
southward and extending west as far as British Columbia, and in the 
United States covering all New England, New Jersey, Delaware, east- 
ern Pennsylvania, most of Maryland and Virginia, and practically 
all of the Ohio valley, with the Northwest as far as the upper waters of 
the Mississippi. Among them were the Algonkins proper, Pequots, 
Narragansetts, Mohegans, Powhatans, Pamlicos, Dela wares, Shawnees, 
Miamis, Kickapoos, Illinois, Fox, Cheyennes, and Arapahoes. Here 
one sees the irregularity of the geographical distribution of tribes 
linguistically related. The Algonquian group on the north Atlantic 
coast was divided from the central body by the Iroquoian family, which 
persistently held the country between Lake Erie and the Hudson, and 



14 THE CONTINENT AND ITS EARLY INHABITANTS 

far south were the Pamlicos in North Carolina, while much farther 
west, beyond a vast country occupied by a Siouan stock, were the 
Cheyennes and Arapahoes. By what means the sporadic tribes be- 
came isolated from the great mass of the family is not known. 

2. The Iroquoian Family, whose chief group lived in New York and 
western Pennsylvania, on both shores of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, 
and on the St. Lawrence as far as Quebec. There were two southern 
groups, not connected with one another or with the northern group : 
one was the Cherokees in the southern extremity of the Appalachian 
Mountain chain, and the other comprised the Tuscaroras and Notto- 
ways in eastern North Carolina. Of the northern group the tribes 
of greatest historical significance were : the Mohawks, Oneidas, Sene- 
cas, Onondagas, and Cayugas, — generally called "The Five Na- 
tions," — and the Conestogas, Eries, and Wyandots or Hurons. 

3. The Muskhogean Family, who occupied most of Georgia, the up- 
per strip of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and that part of Tennessee 
lying south and west of the Cumberland. The chief tribes were the 
Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Seminoles, Alabamas, and Apalachis. 

4. The Siouan Family, the chief group of which lived west of the 
upper Mississippi and throughout most of the Missouri valley. It 
included the Dakotas, Omahas, Winnebagos, Crows, lowas, Mis- 
souris, and the Osage Indians. An eastern group lived in the western 
Carolinas, where their principal tribe was the Catawbas. A small 
sporadic tribe, the Biloxis, lived on the Gulf coast east of the mouth of 
the Pearl river. 

5. The Caddoan Family, whose home on the Gulf west of the mouth 
of the Mississippi extended northward so as to cover most of Louisiana, 
the eastern half of Texas, and the southern parts of Arkansas and 
Indian Territory. The historically important tribes were the Caddos, 
Pawnees, and Wichitas. 

6. The Shoshonean Family, living in western Texas, New Mexico, 
Colorado, northern Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Oregon, and parts 
of Wyoming and Montana. Its notable tribes were the Shoshones, 
Comanches, Paiutes, and Utes. 

7. The Shahaptian Family, living chiefly in southern Washington. 
Their important tribes were the Nez Perce, Umatillas, and Walla 
Wallas. 

8. The Salishan Family, whose home was in northern Washington 
and British Columbia, and whose chief tribe was the Spokanes. 

9. The Athapascan Family, who lived chiefly on the northern Pa- 
cific coast from British Columbia to Alaska, and extended into the 
interior so as to fill up the McKenzie valley. But there was a de- 
tached group in western Oregon, another in California, and still 
another in New Mexico and parts of Arizona and Texas, where lived 
the long remembered Apaches and Navajos. 

10. The Eskimauan Family, living in Arctic regions from Greenland 



INDIAN SOCIETY 15 

and Labrador on the east to the region beyond the Aleutian Islands on 
the west. They are divided by localities into Greenland, Labrador, 
Central, Alaskan, Aleutian, and Asiatic. 

The classification includes, also, a large number of very small fam- 
ilies, more than thirty of which are upon the Pacific slope. It repre- 
sents with reasonable accuracy the distribution of the more important 
historic families at the time they came within the knowledge of Euro- 
peans. The distance at which some detached tribe is located from the 
mass of the family indicates how far the Indians must have wandered, 
searching for good hunting grounds or impelled by struggles with other 
tribes. The dialectic differences between separated portions of the 
same family seem to indicate the lapse of long periods since sep- 
aration. 

The Indians had little capacity to subdue nature. Hunting and 
fishing were ever the chief means of subsistence of most of the tribes, 
and, except in a few quiet groups of the warm Southwest, 
agriculture was subsidiary to these natural supplies. Where J.^^^'^i!" 
so much depended on outside resources habits varied sification. 
widely with environment. Not only means of support, 
but the character of the houses, and to some extent social and religious 
ideals, were modified by external conditions. Thus it happened that in 
the area occupied by one of the large families there were apt to be wide 
variations of culture, and classification by culture would give different 
groups from the linguistic divisions. It is only through recent inves- 
tigations, largely by the United States Bureau of Ethnology, that 
enough has been learned about the languages of the various tribes to 
make a trustworthy classification on that basis, which is accepted as 
most fundamental. 

Indian Culture 

The Indians lived in tribes, and most tribes were divided into clans. 
The basis of clan unity was kinship, although some members came in 
by adoption. Each clan had a totem, some animal or plant 
to which the members stood in special relation, and by 
whose name it was known, as "Wolf," "Bear," or "Turtle." Some 
believed themselves descended from the totem, others had no such 
idea. Marriage within the clan was strictly forbidden, usually under 
penalty of death. The wife retained membership in her own clan, 
and as her children took her clan, they had no clan-relation with their 
father's clan. This was the only kinship the aborigines knew anything 
about. They did not inherit the father's movable property, but took 
that of the mother. His possessions, if he left any, went to his own 
clan kindred. They could not go to his brothers' children, since they 
would follow the clan of their mothers, but passed to his sisters' chil- 
dren, who alone of his mother's children could be kin to him. If a man 
were killed, his clan held the murderer's clan responsible, either taking 



i6 THE CONTINENT AND ITS EARLY INHABITANTS 

"blood revenge," or demanding money instead. For one member to 
kill another member of the same clan was exceedingly shocking to the 
Indian's feelings, and they were loath to punish him with death, 
since that involved the shedding of a fellow member's blood. In 
some tribes the difficulty was obviated by first outlawing the mur- 
derer, after which he could be dealt with. The clan was the strongest 
knit of the social units, and its position was fundamental in Indian 
society. It had a kind of sanctity through blood, as is illustrated by 
the fact that some clans had the privilege of furnishing chiefs to the 
tribes. 

The clan had two kinds of leaders, a sachem and a chief. The former 

had civil function in times of peace, being judge and administrator of 

the ancient customs. He was elected by consent of the 

Til A 

Sa hem ^^^^ members and might be deposed by the same authority. 

The office was permanent, and must be filled from the men 
of the clan as soon as there was a vacancy. Adults, men and women, 
had the right to vote for a sachem, and the choice usually fell on a 
brother of the deceased, or the son of a sister, never on a son of the 
former incumbent. The other clans in the tribe must approve of 
the chosen candidate, and he must be inducted into ofiice with ap- 
propriate ceremonies in which the entire nation was represented. 
As head of his clan he sat in the council of the nation. As there was 
one sachem for each clan, and as the clans were long established 
divisions of a tribe, the number of sachems was limited. For 
example, there were eight clans in the Tuscarora tribe of the Iroquoian 
family ; they were called from their totems the " Grey Wolf," " Bear," 
"Great Turtle," "Beaver," "Yellow Wolf," "Snipe," "Eel," and 
"Little Turtle." Each had its sachem, and together they were the 
most distinguished men of the tribe. 

The chiefs were chosen for military purposes, and on account of 
some special quality or work. The office was not necessarily contin- 

uous, and the existence of a vacancy did not demand a new 

election. The number of chiefs varied with the size of the 
clan, in some modern tribes being one for each fifty persons, although 
this proportion is believed too high for ancient society. The chief 
was elected by the clan, which could depose him for unworthy conduct. 
The sachem was the exponent of clan kinship, the chief represented 
individual prowess. In some tribes there was a head chief, one of 
the sachems whose ability pleased the tribe. His functions were con- 
fined to the intervals between the meetings of the tribal council, and 
were not important. 

The clan and the tribe each had a council. Of the former all the 

free adult members of the clan, men and women, were con- 
Council sidered members. It elected and deposed sachems and 

chiefs, decided what should be done to avenge or condone 
the murder of a clan member, adopted new members, and regulated other 



INDIAN WARFARE 17 

matters pertaining essentially to the group. It was extremely demo- 
cratic, and as the lowest unit of government gave tone to the delibera- 
tions on affairs too large for its jurisdiction. There was also a tribal 
council, composed of all the sachems and chiefs within the tribe. It 
decided upon matters touching the entire tribe, as relations with other 
tribes or with the whites. Any freeman might attend its meetings and 
speak his sentiments there : even the women might be heard through 
an orator whom they chose to speak for them ; but the decision was 
left to the council. The Iroquois, and possibly some other tribes, 
required that a vote of the council be unanimous. 

In some of the large organizations there was a brotherhood, or 
phratry, a third group which was between the clan and the tribe. It 
was composed of clans, usually three or four. Its function „,. „ . 
was social and religious. In the celebrated ball games ^^^^ ™ 
the two sides would represent two brotherhoods. Disputes 
between two clans could be appealed to a council of sachems and chiefs 
from all the clans in the brotherhood. In the funerals of prominent 
men the brotherhood took conspicuous part, but its governmental 
functions were never well developed. 

Naming children was strictly regulated because it bore directly 
on clan organization. Each individual had two names within his 
life, one received at birth, the other at maturity ; that is, at 
sixteen at eighteen years of age. Certain names were persons, 
peculiar to certain clans, and vi^ere not given to children of 
other clans. In some tribes a youth was required to go on the war- 
path and earn his new name by an act of courage or prowess. This 
new name must be approved by the tribal council. An adult might 
change his name if he could get a chief to announce it in council. 
.When a man was elected sachem or chief he took a new name selected 
for him by the council. 

In conferring names, and in many other affairs, the authority of the 
clan or tribe was very great ; but in beginning war much was left to 
the individual. Perhaps it is wrong to speak of the begin- 
ning of war. Strictly speaking, wars between the tribes -^ar.*"^ 
never ended, except those which resulted in alliances. An 
interval of several years might elapse between outbreaks of hostilities, 
but within that time each side considered itself in a state of conflict 
with its enemies. The old men, remembering former trials, might 
prefer peace, but the young men were apt to desire to fight. Under 
such circumstances the latter would form a war party under some 
chieftain of known ability, there would be a war dance, and immedi- 
ately the party would march against the enemy. Each member would 
take a pouch filled with Rockahominy, which was parched corn 
pounded into flour. Between Indian tribes there were usually broad, 
uninhabited zones, and the hostiles might, therefore, be many miles 
away. The Catawbas in upper South Carolina had for hereditary 



1 8 THE CONTINENT AND ITS EARLY INHABITANTS 

enemy the Delawares, in the Delaware valley. The war party, 
painted so their mission might be known, marched through this neutral 
zone supporting themselves on game and fish until they were in the 
enemy's country, where no fires must be made lest the smoke reveal 
the approach of the warriors. Now they relied on the Rockahominy. 
So accustomed were they to fasting that two spoonfuls of it moistened 
with water and swallowed in haste was sufficient for several hours' 
nourishment. If they could surprise the foe, they struck quickly and 
returned with scalps and captives to their home to await some re- 
taliating blow from the injured tribe. While such a war party was out, 
the rest of the tribe might remain at their peaceful occupations. But 
when the war was general and all the fighting men were out, they were 
formed into war bands in the same way, each led by some noted brave 
under whom the warriors desired to serve. 

The most distinguished group of North American Indians was the 
Six Nations of the Iroquoian family, five of whom lived through most 

of our colonial period in western New York, and the other, 
Nations. ^^^ Tuscaroras, in North Carolina. After suffering much 

from their enemies they established early in the fifteenth 
century a well-knit confederacy, with a common council and a strongly 
aggressive policy. They proved themselves the scourge of surrounding 
tribes. Their ancient enemies were the Algonkins of Canada and New 
England. They became friends of the white men in New York, and 
played an important part in the operations against the French of 
Canada, who early incurred their resentment by helping the Algonkins. 
A kindred southern branch, the Cherokees, played an important part 

in the early history of Tennessee and the region south of it. 
Tribes. Further southward were the Creeks and other members of 

the Muskhogean family, very numerous, and for a long 
time they held back whites in the Gulf region. A large number 
of tribes classified as the Siouan family lived in the northern Mississippi 
basin and were represented by some branches on the upper Potomac 
and in the Piedmont region of the East. They were especially de- 
pendent on the buffalo, and followed it westward before the advance of 
the whites. At the middle of the nineteenth century they were in 
the vast Missouri valley, and their representatives, Cheyennes, Arapa- 
hoes, and the Sioux, offered fierce resistance to the whites in the pe- 
riod immediately following the Civil War. 

The white settler's contest with the savage for territory divides it- 
self into well-marked stages. The first colonies, weak and isolated, 

soon came into conflict with some neighboring small tribes 
fndfan Re- ^^° feared the loss of their land. The Pequot war in New 
sistance. England and the Virginia outbreak of 1622 are illustrations. 

The victory of the whites in these earliest struggles gave a 
respite ; but as their settlements extended inland a larger number of 
Indians became alarmed, a stronger combination was formed, and a 



INDIAN THOUGHT ig 

sterner struggle ensued. For example, see King Phillip's war in New 
England, the Tuscarora war in North Carolina, and the Yemassee 
struggle in South Carolina. Another defeat convinced the savages of 
their weakness, and there followed another period of peace until the 
Indians found external allies. On the north it was the French who 
helped them, and several bloody wars were fought before this combina- 
tion was broken. On the south outside aid came from Spain, though 
not openly, and the Indians themselves were numerous enough to be 
formidable. But the whites were now so well planted that the result 
was beyond question. From this time Indian wars were frontier 
struggles, the savages resisting their inevitable fate, sometimes stim- 
ulated to it by the designed oppression of white men and mixed breeds 
who wished an opportunity to seize Indian lands. In this way war 
has run over the land from ocean to ocean, extinguishing some tribes, 
greatly depleting others, and forcibly converting the remainder from 
nomads to agriculturalists. 

In the Indian's character were some of the best and some of the 
worst qualities. In warfare he was stoically indifferent to his own suf- 
fering and also to that of his enemies ; he was true to friends 
and truculent to foes ; he was brave in battle, but he stalked character, 
his enemies as he hunted wild game, and murdered them by 
stealth if he could. When it was necessary he was abstemious, at 
other times he was gluttonous : his virtues and vices were those of the 
savage. His pathetic passage across the page of history has appealed 
to the idealist, but his cruelty and vindictiveness awakened horror 
in most of those who encountered him. 

His intellectual development was slight. The most advanced tribes 
had no system of written language higher than picture writing, which 
reached the stage of symbolism in Algonquian tribes, and 
was rudely hieroglyphical in Mexico and Yucatan. His ^^^^ 
body of tradition, preserved orally, was limited ; and his 
music, chiefly religious, was lacking in harmony, a rhythmic chant with 
complex structure, designed to fire the will rather than please the ear. 
In decorative art he was most successful ; for although he knew nothing 
of higher forms, his designs for ornamental pottery, basketry, and 
weaving had a quiet beauty which appeals to the best modern taste. 
The same quality appears in the simple beauty of many o^his myths. 
His religion was animism, a belief in the existence of numerous 
spirits. He was apt to stress most the importance of the spirit he 
attributed to the thing most influential in his life, as the j^^jj j^^^ 
sun, the rain, or the moon. The tribes of the plains gave 
high place to the spirit of the buffalo. The name manitou, or mystery, 
was used by the Algonquian tribes for spirits, and it has become a 
general term. The early travelers and missionaries spoke of the belief 
in a "Great Spirit," single and invisible, but ethnologists have found 
no evidence that the Indian had such an elevated ideal. He believed, 



20 THE CONTINENT AND ITS EARLY INHABITANTS 

however, that man had a soul — some tribes thought he had several 
— and that he Hved after death in a "happy hunting ground." Some 
Indians buried their dead, others cremated them, and others preserved 
them as mummies. A man might make a manitou his friend, and if so 
he became a shaman, or medicine-man. He could now, through the 
aid of his manitou, drive away the evil spirit which was thought to 
inhabit a sick person. He accomplished the work by singing, dancing, 
and physical manipulations. Frequently the patient recovered : if 
he died, it was said that he was possessed by a manitou stronger than 
that of the shaman who treated him. In the more advanced tribes 
of the Southwest there were associations of shamans to preserve the 
secrets of their cult, among which were religious ceremonies. 

Recent comparative studies have thrown much light on Indian 

mythology. It reveals no well-defined idea of creation. Most of the 

stories sa}^ that the earth once differed from its present con- 

y ogy. (^jjJqj^^ ^j^(j j-]^^^ j^gj^ Q^j^^ animals then lived and talked 

together and were the prey of great monsters. There was no daylight 
or fire, and poverty and misery ruled the world. Finally came a 
beneficent person who reformed tribes, taught man to improve his 
habits, and gave him certain inventions. His work of betterment 
done, he departed to come again. The Messianic quality of this per- 
sonage probably suggested the idea that the Indians had a belief in a 
"Great Spirit"; but he was only a culture hero, and not altogether 
an admirable one ; for although he worked for others and had superior 
intelligence he was sometimes a sharp trickster and was frequently 
made ridiculous by his opponents. 

The houses of the Indians were sometimes communal and some- 
times designed for single families. Of the former the best type is 
the long house of the Iroquian tribes. It was made of 
bark and poles, and inner partitions divided it into several 
compartments. A door at each end and openings in the partitions 
gave an open passageway from one end to the other. In each alter- 
nate opening in the partitions was a fire pit with a hole in the roof 
above. One family occupied one compartment, and one fire thus 
served two families. Around the walls of the room were hurdles made 
of small poles, covered with mats and skins. By day they were 
benches and by night beds. Sometimes the houses were large and 
round, with one great fire pit in the center, at which the partitions 
converged, making triangular compartments. 

In a part of our Southwest, Mexico, and Central America the In- 
dians lived in pueblos, the Spanish word for villages. These were 
p great communal houses several stories high, the front wall 

of each story dropping back so as to make a terrace. In 
the modern pueblos doors are made in the walls, but formerly the 
interior was reached through holes in the flat roofs, or floors, of the 
terraces by means of ladders which were taken up at night or when 



THE INDIANS AND CIVILIZATION 21 

there was danger of intruders. The building material was either 
adobe or rough stones laid in clay mortar. When the whites entered 
the Southwest there were about sixty-five of these houses there. They 
were the usual type of Mexican dwelling, and the imaginative Spaniards 
who first saw them described them as palaces. In Yucatan they 
achieved a degree of massiveness and ornamentation which indicates, 
perhaps, the highest point of development in Indian architecture. 
Tribes of different linguistic stock adopted this kind of house, and the 
term Pueblo Indians has been used for all of them. It ought to be re- 
membered that it has no family significance. 

Contact with the white man made it necessary for the Indian to 
adopt civilized habits or perish. In ordinary social evolution this 
change would have required many centuries. Stimulated 
by the liberal government of the United States the more '^^^ Indians 
advanced tribes have made progress, the less advanced whites, 
have caused disappointment to their well wishers. The 
Cherokee and Muskhogean tribes have shown greatest power of 
assimilation, both in their eastern homes and in the now obliterated 
Indian Territory, where they resided for seventy-five years. They 
show, also, a slight gain in population, which cannot be said of most of 
the Indians who formerly lived on the western plains and who have 
been gathered into reservations under government supervision. In 
contact with civilization the Indian is abnormally susceptible to dis- 
eases, particularly smallpox, measles, and tuberculosis. The use of 
spirituous liquors is also especially harmful. The males generally 
are averse to manual labor, and agricultural progress has often meant 
more idleness for the men and more work for the women. Idleness 
breeds bad habits, which retard racial progress. 

In 1500 there were about half a million Indians in North America, 
the great majority being in what is now the United States, where, by 
the best estimates, there are now, iQii, only 322,715. In 
the latter number are included 101,287 in the five civilized conditions. 
tribes, including freedmen and intermarried whites. Dur- 
ing the last half century the Indian population seems to have been 
about stationary. The Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, 
and Seminoles now included in Oklahoma are the five civilized 
tribes. They are self-supporting and prosperous. In 191 1 the total 
federal appropriation for Indians was $10,452,911. In this year 
$9,381,232 was spent on Indian education. 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

For physical features see : Farrand, Basis of American History (1904) ; Whitney, 
The United States (1889); Shaler, Physiography of North America (in Winsor, 
Narrative and Critical History, 1884); and Ibid., The United States of America, 
2 vols. (1897). See also the articles on "North America" and "United States 
in Mill, International Geography (1900). 



22 THE CONTINENT AND ITS EARLY INHABITANTS 

On means of communication see: Brigham, Geographic Influences in American 
Hisiorv (1903), more geographical than historical; Semple, American History 
and it's Geographic Conditions (1903), many facts poorly arranged; Russell, Rivers 
of North America (1898) ; Willis, The Northern Appalachians (1895) ; and Hayes, 
The Southern Appalachians (1895). Besides Shaler, The United States of America, 
and Farrand, Basis of American History, just mentioned, a good treatment of 
natural resources is Patton, Natural Resources of the United States (1899). 

On American archaeology see Thomas, Introduction to the Study of North American 
Archaeology (1898) ; and Moorehead, Prehistoric Implements (1900). On the same 
subject also consult Farrand, Basis of American History, mentioned above. 

On the Indians, valuable works are : Brinton, The American Race (1891) ; Dellen- 
baugh, North Americans of Yesterday (1901) ; Powell, Indian Linguistic Families 
(U. S. Bureau of Ethnology, Seventh Annual Report, 1891) ; Farrand, Basis of 
American History (1904); and Thomas, hidians of North America (Vol. II of 
History of North America, Lee, Ed., 1903). 

For Independent Reading 

Dellenbaugh, North Americans of Yesterday (1901) ; Parkman, The Oregon Trail 
(1849) ; Matthews, Navaho Legends (1897) ; Brinton, American Hero Myths (1882) ; 
Grinnell, Pawnee Hero Stories (1889) ; and Lewis and Clark, Journals (in several 
editions). 



CHAPTER II 
THE DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION OF AMERICA 

Events and Ideas Leading to the Discovery 

The first recorded contact of Europe and America was by way of the 
north. In 874 a Norse colony settled in Iceland and made it a center 
of culture and prosperity. Two years later a ship blown 
out of her way returned to Iceland with the story of a great j^^^ ^ 
body of land to the westward. For a hundred years no 
efforts seem to have been made to investigate the report, but in 9S3 
Eric the Red, exiled from the island for manslaughter, solved the 
mystery, and named the newly discovered country Greenland, be- 
cause he thought a good name would attract settlers. A colony was 
planted, the remains of which are still visible, and in the year 1000 
his son, Leif Ericsson, arrived from Norway with missionaries to con- 
vert the country to Christianity. Vague reports were in circulation 
of a great land to the west, and he set out to explore it, coming after 
a time to a slaty shore, which he skirted southward for days, until he 
came at last to a pleasant place where a river ran out of a lake into 
the sea. He brought his ship into the haven and explored the country. 
It abounded in timber and "wild wheat," probably oats; and one of 
the crew, who came from the vine-growing portion of Europe, dis- 
covered grapes still hanging in the autumn sunlight. Leif, thinking, 
no doubt, that a good name would benefit this land as much 
as that of his father, called the place Vinland. An attempt 
to colonize Vinland now followed, and several voyages were made 
thither within the next twelve years. All ended disastrously. The 
place was too remote for successful exploitation, and the deeds of the 
adventurers survived only in the sagas, a part of the heroic achieve- 
ment of the Norse past. To the people of the time and to those who 
succeeded them the newly discovered land was not part of a great 
continent, but only an indefinite No Man's Land beyond the myste- 
rious seas. It was probably what we now know as the shores of Nova 
Scotia, although some students identify it with the New England 
coast and point out Martha's Vineyard as the particular spot. 

About 1390 two Venetian brothers named Zeno were 
employed by the Earl of the Orkneys and Caithness in di- gf^he^rT 
recting his navy. They were skillful sailors, helping to con- 
quer the Shetland Islands, and about 1394 they made a voyage to 

23 



24 THE DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION OF AMERICA 

Greenland. Stories of a great land to the west were brought in by fish- 
ermen, and a few years later the younger brother, with the earl himself, 
sailed to discover it. The story goes that they found land some days' 
sail beyond Ireland, and that the earl remained to explore it. Zeno 
wrote an account of his adventures, which, with some letters and a 
map, were preserved in the family palace in Venice. In 1558 all that re- 
mained of them was published by a descendant, the map confessedly 
improved by the editor. The text, much of which is lost through 
neglect, was probably altered to suit the then recently acquired 
knowledge of the New World. It is impossible to say what Zeno 
discovered, but he may well have fallen upon some part of the North 
Atlantic coast, to encounter which was easy if one only sailed long 
enough west of Ireland. 

Neither of these explorations served to bring the American continent 
within the knowledge of Europe, because (i) the lands discovered 
were not believed to be parts of a vast mainland, (2) the discoverers 
were not strong enough economically to develop the new lands, and 
(3) it was, after all, not a new continent that the Old World was look- 
ing for, but a new way to an old one. The voyage of Columbus really 
discovered America, but before it was made several things prepared 
the way. 

The most important was the disaster which overtook the trade 
between Europe and the East in the second half of the fifteen century. 

Spices, silk, perfumes, dyes, precious stones, and other 
^f *o""''t'T oriental goods were brought west by three principal routes. 
Trade. ^'^^ ^^^ ^Y water along the southern shore of Asia to the 

Red Sea, thence by caravan to the Nile, and finally to 
Alexandria. Another was a middle journey by caravan and rivers 
through Persia and Syria to Acre, Antioch, and other Syrian ports. 
A third was by river, caravan, and interior seas to the Euxine, where 
Constantinople was the chief terminus of the trade. To these cities 
came merchants from Italy, France, and Spain, purchasing the eastern 
goods and passing them on to the interior and northern towns of 
Europe. Most aggressive were the traders from Venice and Genoa. 
From each eastern town they secured privileges of trade with perma- 
nent quarters in which they were ruled by their own laws and protected 
by their own home governments. These quarters, with their in- 
habitants, became the outposts of a valuable industrial life. Both 
towns also owned many colonies on the ^Egean Islands. In 1453 the 
Turks seized Constantinople and began to take all the ports of the 
East, until in 15 17 Cairo was taken and Egypt became a Turkish prov- 
ince. Each step in the conquest was followed by trade restrictions. 
High tariffs were levied, privileges were curtailed, and the island pos- 
sessions of Venice and Genoa were seized by the conquerors. These 
disasters were felt by all the Mediterranean merchants, and stimulated 
a general desire for another way to the East. 



INTEREST IN THE EAST 25 

Such a route, if discovered, must be by sea, and it must begin at the 
Straits of Gibraltar. For centuries the ocean beyond this point was a 
sea of terror on which sailors dreaded to venture. North 
of the straits the coast was known as far as Scotland and Effects of 
Scandinavia : south of it men sailed as far as Cape Non, of^^now?- 
about seven hundred miles. The compass and the astrolabe edge, 
slowly came into use on the Mediterranean during the 
fifteenth century and enabled the mariner to sail confidently when 
either land or stars were not in sight. The renaissance of science by 
the middle of the fifteenth century dominated the minds of learned 
men and was beginning to reach the more independent spirits in navi- 
gation and other practical arts. Before such a process the sea of terror 
became merely a part of the unknown, and as such invited discovery. 

The first attempts to penetrate its mysteries were made by Por- 
tuguese. On the east coast of Africa, south of Egypt, tradition then 
located the native Christian kingdom of "Prester John," ,. 
whose power and wealth were much exaggerated in the jojjn- 
popular imagination. African traders in Morocco told 
about interior towns from which roads ran southward to a southern 
sea into which flowed a river great enough to be compared to the Nile. 
To pass from Cape Non to the region of Abyssinia seemed possible, 
and, since it would open a water communication to India, it would 
be profitable. It was Portugal's fortune to have the man who 
could lead in this work. 

Prince Henry the Navigator was a younger son of John I. Without 
family responsibilities or hope of the crown he could follow the prompt- 
ings of a scientific and adventurous disposition. In 14 19 
at Sagres, on Cape St. Vincent, he established a home and ^^^y^ 
drew around him a group of intelligent mariners, geog- 
raphers, and map makers. His father, brother, nephew, and great- 
nephew, four generations of kings, supported his work and carried it 
on after his death in 1460. The first results were unimportant. The 
Madeiras and Azores were rediscovered, explored, and colonized, but 
the timid captains were afraid to get far away from the shore, and 
Cape Boyador, under the Tropic of Cancer, was so dangerous that for 
a long time none dared pass it. But in 1434 Gil Eannes, bolder 
than his colleagues, sailed far out to sea, doubled the perilous point, 
and proved that the "Sea of Darkness" was safe. 

Progress was now more rapid. Year after year an additional por- 
tion of the desert coast was observed, until finally, in 1445, Dinis Fer- 
andez passing at last the glinting sands, came to a green 
point which he called Cape Verd. A fertile country now Explored, 
appeared, peopled by "Moors," or negroes, some of whom 
were taken to Portugal, where slaves were in demand. It was the 
beginning of a trade which threatened for a time to defeat the further 
exploration of the coast. One expedition after another sent to make 



26 THE DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION OF AMERICA 

discoveries came back with nothing but slaves. In 1455 Cadamosto, 
passing the Cape Verd Islands, sailed so far into the Gulf of Guinea 
that it was believed the southern extremity of Africa was turned. His 
mistake was soon known, and the explorations were pushed on, more 
slowly after the death of Prince Henry, 1460, until at last in 1487 
Bartholomew Diaz sailed past the Cape of Good Hope. The mutiny 
of his crew forced him to return to Portugal, but the world now knew 
that Africa could be circumnavigated. The Portuguese discoveries 
were important because they made explorations popular, created a 
school of bold navigators willing to attempt any seas, and at last 
brought men to the fabled East, tales of whose wealth up to that time 
fascinated the European imagination like a fairy dream. They en- 
larged the world's knowledge of geography, but threw little light upon 
the question of the earth's shape. 

The theory of the sphericity of the earth was held by Aristotle, who 
died in 322 B.C. He drew his conclusion from the circular shadow of 

the earth on the moon in eclipse and from the varying al- 
Revived Be- titude of stars, and he announced that one common ocean 
S^heridt probably united Spain and India. A century later Eratos- 
of the Earth, thenes in Alexandria applied mathematics to this idea and 

calculated the circumference of the earth, making it four- 
teen per cent, too large. Other Greeks, probably very many, accepted 
sphericity, but it was rejected by the early Christian church, which 
had its own idea of the cosmos. Arabian scientists kept the spark of 
knowledge alive through many centuries, and Roger Bacon in the 
thirteenth century incorporated it in his Opus Majus, whence it was 
abstracted by Pierre d'Ailly for his Imago Mundi (1410). The last 
was a widely read work in the day when explorations and all kinds of 
new knowledge were exceedingly popular. Astronomers and many 
others at the end of the fifteenth century were ready to accept the 
theory independently of the voyage of Columbus. Martin Behaim, 
a German geographer, in the very year Columbus made his memorable 
voyage, and without the discoverer's knowledge, made a copper globe 
with the known lands described on it. In calculating the circumfer- 
ence of the earth the astronomers made a mistake, estimating it at 
three fourths of its real magnitude. The result was to make China 
seem six thousand miles nearer Europe than it really is, a fortunate 
error. 

A better knowledge of the East also helped to prepare the way for 
the discoveries of Columbus. In the later thirteenth century three 

Venetian merchants named Polo went to Cathay, or China, 
Tiie Story of f^j. ^-j-g^^jg^ Qne of them, Marco Polo, became a favorite of 
Polo. the ruler, or Grand Khan, and remained many years at the 

court, where he had opportunity to learn about the extent, 
geography, and wealth of the country. In 1295 the three returned 
to Venice with great quantities of gems. In 1298 Marco wrote an 



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 27 

account of his adventures, calling it The Book of Ser Marco Polo. 
Before this time China was believed to be bordered by immense 
marshes, but he declared that it was washed by a vast ocean and that 
within this ocean lay Cipango, or Japan, a great island rich in gold 
and cities. The book fired the imagination of Europe, heightened 
the charm of the East, and stimulated the hope of reaching the East 
by sea. If the earth were a globe, why might not the ocean west of 
the Straits of Gibraltar be the same as that east of Cipango ? 

Thus through the merchants' desire for a western way to the East, 
through improvements in navigation, through the slowly evolved 
conviction that the world was round, and through the better acquaint- 
ance with the geography of China, the time was come when some 
adventurous man would compass the unknown by making a path from 
the Straits of Gibraltar to fabled Cipango. The scholars believed 
this possible but had not the courage to attempt it. Navigators had 
courage to accomplish it but had not the mind to believe in it. Chris- 
topher Columbus had the requisite skill and faith. He had also the 
persistence and endurance necessary to carry him successfully through 
the initial stages of an enterprise which the world could not understand. 

The Achievement of Columbus 

Columbus's father was a wool- worker, but the boy early became a 
navigator. An age which knows as ours how poor boys of mind 
become prominent will understand how he turned to the 
most progressive vocation then open to .him. He learned ^ Educa- 
Latin and read diligently the geographical books of the coiumbus. 
day. He was attracted to Portugal, where he married 
into the family of a prominent navigator. He sailed as far north as 
England, possibly to Iceland ; and he lived for a time on the island 
of Porto Santo, north of Madeira. We do not know how he came to 
believe he could reach China by the west, but we know he mastered 
all available knowledge on the subject. When he read in a book that 
the frigid and torrid zones were uninhabitable, he confuted it in the 
margin on the ground that the Portuguese sailed through the torrid 
zone and found it inhabited, while the English and the Norse visited 
the frigid zone. It was sound reasoning to set observation against 
tradition. But when tradition favored him he accepted it. He saw 
in the apocryphal book of Esdras that only one seventh of the surface 
of the earth was water : had he been an equally sound reasoner he would 
have withheld judgment until some one observed the quantity of earth 
and water. But Esdras suited his theory, and he accepted the state- 
ment without question. The error tended to make him^ think it was 
but a short distance from Europe to his goal. 

While in Portugal, about ten years before his famous voyage, Co- 
lumbus learned that Toscanelli, a noted Florentine astronomer, had 



28 THE DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION OF AMERICA 

announced the possibility of sailing from the west to the east. He 
wrote to the Italian, asking for instructions, and received in reply a 

copy of a former letter by the astronomer in which the possi- 
Columbus bility of the fact in question was asserted, but no directions 
caneiii! ' ^^^ making the journey were given. In fact, they could not 

have been given in the existing state of information about 
the western seas, for these seas were not explored. Toscanelli perhaps 
gave Columbus confidence in his ideas, but all the information in his 
letter was to be found elsewhere. 

Whatever the source, Columbus, when in Portugal, had the convic- 
tion that his project was feasible. He talked so much about it that 

he got the reputation of a boaster, and when he applied to 
Efforts to King John II for a ship to test his idea, he was turned aside 
ance ^^'^ ' ^^ ^ dreamer. It was then 1484, and he betook himself to 

Spain, where for seven years he urged his plans with little 
prospect of success. In the interval he sent his brother, Bartholomew, 
to London to see if help could be secured there. It has been said that 
Bartholomew gained a promise from Henry VII, but it was given after 
the king and queen of Spain relented. It was really the queen who 
gave the assistance. She was induced to do so by her former confes- 
sor, Juan Perez, and by the treasurer of Aragon, Luis de Santangel. 

To make his voyage, Columbus had three ships fully manned. The 
expense was assumed by Isabella, who in her own right was sovereign 

of Castile. The money, 1,000,000 maravedis, $59,000, 
Columbus s gggj^g ^Q have been borrowed on the queen's security. The 

old story that she pledged her jewels is now generally dis- 
credited. Columbus was made an hereditary grandee and admiral of 
Castile, with the right to govern the new lands he should discover. 
He and his heirs were to have one tenth of all the gold and silver he 
should find, and they might pay one eighth of the expenses of fitting 
out any expedition and take a similar portion of the profits thus se- 
cured. Letters of introduction to the rulers of the East were also fur- 
nished, and with these in his pocket the stern discoverer, raised from 
the rank of adventurer to that of great lord and friend of sovereign 
princes, embarked his unwilling crew of less than one hundred men. 
August 3, 1492, in the early morning, the three ships, the Santa Maria, 

Pinta, and the Nina, stood out to sea from the port of 
parture ' Palos, sailing first to the Canaries. The first was the largest, 

and alone, of the three, had a deck. Her tonnage is esti- 
mated at one hundred to two hundred and eighty, and that of her 
companions at one hundred and forty and one hundred respectively. 
A great event never depended on frailer agencies. 

Stopping at the Canaries to refit, the fleet sailed again on September 

6. Fear seized the hearts of the crew as they saw the land 

disappear on the eastern horizon. They were steering 
into seas hitherto unexplored, under the orders of a visionary, and 



AMERICA DISCOVERED 29 

were full of dismay. Columbus kept a diary of all that happened, re- 
porting it to the queen ; but for the sailors he kept another log in 
which he shortened the distance sailed. No storms were encountered, 
and the trade winds blew him steadily westward. Scowling at first, 
the crew at length became sullen, and finally, October 10, threatened 
to throw the admiral overboard. To none of these difficulties would 
he yield : "He had come to go to the Indies," he said, "and he would 
keep on till he had found them with the aid of our Lord." It is well 
to remember that Columbus's greatness consisted, not so much in his 
original idea, as in the determined spirit in which he risked his life to 
execute it. 

On the evening of October 11 lights were seen in the darkness and 
soon the roar of the surf was heard. At dawn a low green shore was 
before them, an island which the natives called Guanahani, 
and which the pious Columbus renamed San Salvador, f-oveiv^' 
Its identity is lost, but the best guess is that it was Watling's 
Island, one of the Bahamas. It was inhabited by naked savages with 
whom the admiral conversed by signs. They reported a great king- 
dom to the south, and he turned in that direction, discovering Cuba, 
which he thought the mainland of India. The natives he called 
Indians, and the term has persisted to this day. He was impressed by 
seeing them drawing smoke through tubes made from the leaves of a 
certain plant, and noted that the natives called these tubes tobaccos. 
Sailing along the eastern half of the north coast of Cuba he came at 
length to Hayti, which he called La Isla Espanola, whence Hispaniola. 
It proved an ill-fated country, for on its shores he lost his best ship, 
the Santa Maria. 

Columbus's thoughts now turned to Spain, and leaving forty-four men 
to establish a Spanish post, learn the language of the natives, and 
plant food crops, he departed early in 1493. Storms har- 
rassed his return, but March 15 he cast anchor at Palos. spa^ ° 
All Spain echoed with his praise, and news of the discovery 
quickly ran throughout Europe. Many people doubted if the new 
lands were really India — among them the king of Portugal, who said 
plainly they were only a part of Guinea, discovered by the Portuguese 
and confirmed to his crown by papal bulls and by a treaty with Spain 
in 1480. A serious quarrel might have followed, but Spain appealed 
to the Pope, Alexander VI, a Spaniard, and May 3 and 4 he issued 
two bulls dividing the new lands between the two countries. An 
imaginary line was authorized one hundred leagues west of the Azores 
and Cape Verde Islands, all the lands discovered east of it being given 
to Portugal and all west and south of it going to Spain. 
The arrangement was not satisfactory, and it was modified I ^ Papal 
by another bull, September, 1493, and by a treaty between 
Spain and Portugal, 1494, by which the line of demarcation was fixed 
at three hundred and seventy leagues west of Cape Verde Islands. 



30 THE DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION OF AMERICA 

Columbus's reports occasioned great enthusiasm in Spain, and 
many expeditions were planned. Most of them ended in disappoint- 
ment, but the work of exploration was forwarded. The 

t^*^° J-*- kins and queen were delighted with their admiral and sent 

Expedition. ,.'^.,^.^ ,» ., ,. , 

him forth m September, 1493, with seventeen ships and 

thirteen hundred persons, gentlemen adventurers, laborers, soldiers, 
and missionaries, to plant a Spanish colony. The settlement was to 
be under the admiral's absolute authority. A town was laid out in 
Hayti and called Isabella. Gold mines were found in the interior, and 
the neighboring natives, always submissive, were ordered to work them 
and bring in a certain amount of gold each month. A native chieftain, 
despairing of complying with the order, offered instead to cultivate 
a large tract of land for the benefit of the whites ; but Columbus re- 
jected the plan because he knew that gold alone would be valued in 
Treatment Spain. He saw that if he could not satisfy this desire 
of the he would have no support at home. The harsh meas- 

Natives. ^j-gg jjg ^qqI^ with the Indians reduced the native popula- 
tion of the island by two-thirds in three years. When he went to 
Spain in 1496 many of his returned companions declared that there 
was no gold in Columbus's Indies ; but the admiral managed to pro- 
duce enough of the precious stufT to satisfy the sovereigns that ex- 
plorations should continue. A portion of the natives were cannibals, 
and Columbus suggested that permission be granted to take these 
to Spain for slaves. He probably hoped by this means to support 
the explorations, as the negroes from Guinea supported the Por- 
tuguese enterprise ; but Ferdinand the Catholic was not willing to 
authorize the enslavement of the natives. Nevertheless Columbus 
and others sent Indian slaves to Spain, where they were generally 
liberated. Spite of the efforts of the government, enslavement was 
practiced in the colonies, until most of the natives of the West Indies 
disappeared. 

After 1496 Columbus made two voyages, one in 1498 and another in 
1502. On the former he steered far southward, hoping to pass all 

obstructions, reach the Indian ocean, and circumnavigate 
F^'^tiT^^ the globe. To his surprise he encountered a great body of 
Voyages. land, about which Marco Polo said nothing, sailing past it 

for days in a westward direction. A sailor let down a bucket 
at one point and found the water fresh. It was from the mouths of 
the Orinoco river, and Columbus rightly concluded that so great a river 
must flow out of a vast continent. He spoke of it as another world, 
never doubting, however, that the land discovered to the northward 
was part of India. His fourth voyage was made to find a passage 
between this new continent and the old. The journey was delayed 
by great storms, but steering a more northerly course, he came at 
length to the coast of Honduras. He sailed south about twelve 
hundred miles past the Isthmus of Panama, whose narrowness he did 




^^^^rait uf Magellan 
"^^'Caiu- florn 



MAP OF 

EARLY EXPLORATIONS 



WilU.m^Engra.ingOo.. N. T. 



90^ LoDgitude tJO^ West from 3Q^ Greenwich 0° 



DEVELOPING THE COAST-LINE 31 

not suspect, and returned to Spain in 1504 after many hardships. He 
died two years later, May 20, 1506. 

Columbus was most successful as an explorer. Here one needed 
courage, persistence, intelligence, and faith in a mission ; and he had 
them all. As an administrator he was not successful. He 
was sensitive, arbitrary, unyielding, and severe. Low-born ^i^^ppi- 
and a foreigner, he could not govern Spanish noblemen columbus. 
without friction. His appointment to command colonies 
was unwise and brought him much sorrow. Numerous bitter enemies 
sprang up among those whom he tried to rule, and their denunciations 
cut his sensitive spirit deeply. The greatest indignity he suffered was 
when in 1500 he was sent back to Spain in irons, charged with mal- 
feasance. The spectacle aroused the sympathy of Spain, and the 
king and queen ordered his release. But his political authority in the 
New World was annulled, and his monopoly in discovery was limited. 



Exploring the Coasts of the New World 

Spain, Portugal, France, and England shared the labor of exploring 
the world Columbus discovered. Stopped by its position across the 
pathway to India, their mariners turned northward and 
southward in search of a way to the Orient. Thus every T^o Phases 
gulf and bay of importance was explored until at last Cape °ion.'^^ °'^^' 
Horn was passed and the spice islands reached across the 
vast Pacific. Then they took up the task of exploring the interior, 
led on by a consuming hunger for precious metal. The rest of this 
chapter deals with explorations by sea and land. 

In this work Spain took the lead. Hayti, colonized by Columbus, 
furnished a base for expeditions to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico 
and the Caribbean Sea. Cuba, first circumnavigated in 
1508, was immediately thereafter conquered and colonized j'^j"!^^"^' 
by Velasquez, and furnished a new and more westerly base. Lookout. ^^^ 
Columbus's third voyage, 1498, developed the coast line 
for nearly three hundred miles west of Trinidad, and his fourth, 1502, 
revealed the shore from near the Cape of Honduras past the isthmus 
to the Gulf of Uraba. In 1499 Hojeda, accompanied by Amerigo 
Vespucci, sailed for America on an important voyage. He reached 
the coast near Paramaribo, in Surinam, and sailed west to a point near 
the terminus of the third voyage of Columbus. North of Honduras, 
around to the south of Florida, explorations were made by various 
persons from 1508 to 1522, and during the same period other Spaniards 
explored the Atlantic coast as far north as Cape Lookout, in North 
Carolina. This hollow coast line from Trinidad northward to North 
Carolina, with the islands between, was looked upon by Spain as hers 
by right of discovery, and the claim was generally allowed. 



32 THE DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION OF AMERICA 

To her also belongs the honor of discovering Brazil and the region 
south of it. In 1499 Vicente Yaiiez Pinzon sailed for America. 
. Driven out of his course by a great storm he crossed the 

equator and made land some distance south of it. Then 
turning north he followed the coast for two thousand miles, past the 
mouth of the Amazon, until he set out for home with the wonderful 
news of a vast continent not hitherto mentioned in any then known 
account of the East. Before he could reach Spain another adventurer, 
Diego de Lepe, setting out later than Pinzon and returning earlier, 
reported a similar discovery in the same region. He reached a point 
as far south as Cape St. Augustine, in Brazil. Amerigo Vespucci 
is believed to have accompanied de Lepe. Spain had no advantage 
from these two important voyages ; for Brazil was east of the famous 
papal dividing line. 

The appearance of Vespucci in this narrative is interesting because 
his name was given to the New World. This came, as we shall see, 
„ . from a piece of fraud committed, not to get the honor of 

V6SDUCC1> • - 7 o 

naming the continent, but to create the impression that he 
first discovered it. He was born in Florence, became a man of busi- 
ness, and in 1492 went to Seville as an agent for the commercial house 
of the Medici. He became connected with the navigators, whose ships 
he fitted out, and finally decided to accompany them on some of their 
voyages. He made four journeys across the ocean, but was the leader 
of none of them. His fame rests on his faculty of writing and on his 
willingness to exaggerate his importance in the affairs he describes. 
He later wrote two letters, in one of which he described his first voyage 
and in the other all of the four. These letters were widely published 
and created the impression that the writer deserved to have South 
America bear his given name. 

Vespucci says that he made the first voyage in 1497, that he sailed 
along the northern coast of South America, and by mentioning no 
other person as commander of the expedition he gives the 
liabilitT^' impression that the leadership was his. After much in- 
vestigation and reasonable deduction it is generally con- 
ceded that he antedated the expedition by two years in order to place 
it before that of Columbus in 1498, that he really made it in 1499 in 
company with Hojeda, who was sole commander, and that his de- 
scriptions of the places discovered are almost exactly those of this later 
voyage. His second journey was made in 1500. Again he omits the 
name of the commander but says that he himself commanded one of 
the ships. The latter statement is doubted because it is not sup- 
ported by the fairly complete naval records of the time. His third 
and fourth voyages are not important, being made to places admittedly 
already discovered. 

Vespucci's letter describing his third voyage was published in Latin 
in 1503 with the title Mundus Novus. It is the first published Latin 



THE WORLD CIRCUMNAVIGATED 33 

account of the new continent south of what was still supposed to be 
India. Columbus's letter describing his discovery of 1497 was not 
published in Latin until 150S, whereas Vespucci's sec- 
ond letter, in which all his alleged discoveries were des- .. Amerka!" 
cribed, was published in Latin in 1507. The story of the 
Florentine, therefore, first pubHshed in the language of learned men, 
alleged to belong to the year n;497, and told in an attractive style, 
created the false impression that he and not Columbus discovered 
the great unknown mainland, and in his honor the name "America," 
from the Latin form of his Christian name, was given to that region — 
but not at first to the region north of the Isthmus of Panama.^ The 
order of development is something like this : first we have "America" 
south of the isthmus and "India" north of it ; next, "America" south 
of the isthmus and "North America" north of it finally; "South 
America" in the south and "North America" in the north. The first 
person to use the name "America" — although others earlier used 
" Mundus Novus " for South America — was Martin „, ,^ 
Waldseemiiller, a professor of geography at St. Die, who ^luiier. 
in a book of his own published Columbus's second letter in 
1507. Thoroughly under the influence of Vespucci's narrative he 
described this newly discovered land and added, since " Americus dis- 
covered it, it maybe called Amerige; in other words, the land of Amer- 
icus, or America." He said further that he preferred the form "Amer- 
ica," since both Europe and Asia were named for women. A map 
which accompanied his book used the name, which was soon in gen- 
eral popular use in most of Europe outside of Spain, where the term 
"Indies" was used long after its absurdity was recognized. Wald- 
seemiiller later changed his mind about the name, and in a map which 
he made in 15 13 substituted the term "Terra Incognita" ; but it was 
too late to overtake the error of 1507. 

But one more discovery was now needed to make the New World 
stand in clear relief before the eye of the old — and that was made by 
Magellan in 1 5 19-15 2 2. Although a Portuguese, he sailed 
under Spanish authority with five ships manned by un- Djscoveryf 
willing and mutinous crews. He spent the first winter on 
the eastern shore of South America, forty-nine degrees south, where 
the climate was like that of Newfoundland. Here he put down a 
mutiny by his individual courage, and in the spring resumed his jour- 
ney. October 21, in the Antarctic spring, he entered the straits which 
now bear his name — a channel from two to five miles wide and three 
hundred and twenty-five miles long. Its last half passes between 
high rocky banks with impressive mountains on each side. The little 
fleet passed through fearsomely, not knowing what mysterious terror 
the next league ahead might present. At length the cliffs receded and 

1 The arguments in this connection are admirably given in Bourne, Spain in America, 
ch. vii. 

D 



34 THE DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION OF AMERICA 

the straits opened to a broad ocean which Magellan called "Mare 
Pacificum." He struck out boldly to the northwest, and after much 
suffering came at last to the rich islands of the East. He was killed 
in battle with the natives in the island of Matau, one of the Philip- 
pines. A single ship survived the perils of the sea and reached Spain, 
having proved the truth of Columbus's dream. 

Next to Spain, Portugal took prominent part in American explora- 
tions. Her West African voyages throughout the fifteenth century 
Portuguese gave her a prestige which the immense activity of Spain at 
Explorations, the close of the century threatened to discredit. Spurred 
Vasco da by this thought she sent out Vasco da Gama in 1497. He 
Gama. went first to the Cape Verde Islands, then striking into the 

great South Atlantic, sailed without signs of land till he came to thirty 
degrees south latitude, when he turned to the southeast, and after a long 
time reached the coast at a point one hundred miles north of Cape of 
Good Hope. His course represented two sides of a triangle, to cover which 
he took ninety-three days, out of sight of land ; whereas Columbus 
on his first voyage took only thirty-five days from the Canaries to 
Guanahani. Passing then around the cape, which had been unvisited 
since Bartholomew Diaz was blown past it in 1487, he sailed on to 
India, where, indeed, the lands of spices and gems lay before him. 
His return to Lisbon brought the glow of old-time pride to the hearts 
of his compatriots. It shows in a letter the king sent to Ferdinand and 
Isabella, announcing that a Portuguese captain had reached the real 
India where there were real pepper and real rubies. 

In 1 500 another Portuguese navigator sailed into the unknown seas, 
going as boldly into the north as da Gama went into the south. This 

was Caspar Corte-Real, who sailed many days and found 
Reals ^"^ ^' "^ IsiT^d which was very cool and with great woods," but 

not otherwise described. In 1 501 , with three ships he sailed 
for the same coasts. One of the vessels was lost with the com- 
mander aboard, but the others returned with fifty captive Eski- 
mos. Surviving stories and contemporary maps show that he 
visited Labrador and explored Newfoundland. In 1502 his brother, 
Miguel Corte-Real, went out to find the lost Caspar and was 
himself cast away. A year later the king sent out an expedition to 
find the two brothers, but it was futile. These northern explorations 
are only geographically important : Portugal founded no territorial 
claims on them. 

More important were her attempts on the Brazilian coast. In 
1500, a few months before Caspar Corte-Real sailed, one of her cap- 
_ . J tains, Cabral, with thirteen ships dropped down to the Cape 

Verde Islands, and, like da Gama, stood thence out into the 
ocean. But he turned farther west, where the ocean is narrowest, and 
reached land in eighteen degrees south latitude and took possession in 
the name of Portugal. He sent one ship to report his discovery and 



WORK OF THE CABOTS 35 

with the others sought to pass beyond this land to India. Storms im- 
peded his progress and he was forced to turn back- 
While Spain and Portugal explored and acquired portions of the 
New World, England, through no inclination of her own rulers, ex- 
plored and secured title to the portion she was later to r h E 
colonize. John Cabot, born in Genoa, but a naturalized piorations. 
citizen of Venice, after unsuccessful attempts in Spain and jq^^ cabot. 
Portugal, came to England, where the king, Henry VII, in 
1496 gave him such lands as he might discover beyond the sea to hold the 
same in the English name. In a ship no larger than Columbus's Nina, 
with a crew of eighteen, he sailed in May, 1497, '^'^^1 four hundred leagues 
west of Ireland come to land, probably Newfoundland. He skirted 
the coast southward for three hundred leagues and returned to Eng- 
land, where the thrifty king rewarded him with a gift of ten, and an 
annual pension of twenty, pounds. A year later be sailed on a second 
voyage the detailed results of which we do not know ; but from various 
sources it seems probable that on this exjDedition he explored the At- 
lantic coast from Long Island to South Carolina. With this voyage 
he disappears completely ; probably he perished on it. He was not an 
educated man, like Columbus, and the English were not interested 
in discoveries. Accordingly we have in England only the barest 
documentary evidence in regard to the voyages. Both this meager 
record and the fact that English explorations were not notably con- 
tinued show how little interest our mother country had in the lands 
beyond the sea. But the agents of the Spanish and Italian govern- 
ments then in England felt a lively interest. They reported to their 
superiors all they heard about Cabot's achievements, and from this 
source we get most of our scanty information. 

John Cabot had a son, Sebastian, for thirty-six years Chief Hydrog- 
rapher of Spain and after that adviser in matters of navigation to 
the English admiralty. He was highly esteemed by his 
contemporaries and posterity. An inscription on his Qg^Q^ '" 
picture and another on a map which he made in 1544 assert 
that he was with his father when, in 1497, land was discovered in the 
north. Sebastian talked freely in Spain to persons who have reported 
his words. From these three sources grew the impression that Sebas- 
tian was a great discoverer. Some of the statements in the story are 
contradicted by the scant contemporary records which refer to John 
Cabot, and the result is a lowering in later years of the fame of the son ; 
but it is impossible to come to a satisfactory conclusion in the matter. 
England forgot the Cabots for a century. But in the days of Raleigh 
and Hakluyt she recalled them to mind, and these voyages became the 
basis of her claim to the North Atlantic coast. 

France, through the efforts of two men, took part in American ex- 
ploration. In 1524 Giovanni da Verrazano tried to find a passage to 
India by the northwest. It is difficult to determine from his narra- 



36 THE DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION OF AMERICA 

tive how much of the Atlantic coast he explored ; but it seems that 
he entered New York harbor and the Hudson river and penetrated 

Narragansett Bay, after which he sailed north as far as 
French Ex- ]S[ewfoundland. In 1534 Jacques Cartier, a Breton, sailed 
p ora 10 . ^[^Yi two ships on what proved a more important vcyage. 
Verra- ^ explored the Gulf of St. Lawrence and was forced 

home by stormy weather. Next year he came agam to 
the same place, took up his labors where he suspended them in 1534. 
and went up the St. Lawrence as far as what is now Quebec. Then 

he took rowboats, with which he reached the Indian vil- 
Cartier. j^^^ ^^ Hochelaga at the site of Montreal. The rapids 

which here stopped his search for a passage through the continent were 
later called "La Chine" in ridicule, it is said, of his attempt to find 
China through this river. Cartier's exploration was the basis of 
French title to Canada. It was followed in 1541 by an attempt to 
plant a colony, Roberval having the command and Cartier showing 
the way. A fort was built near Quebec, but the Indians drove off the 
garrison, and killed or discouraged the colonists so that they gladly 
escaped to France. 

The earliest maps after the discovery of America show us how Eu- 
rope gradually came to realize the shape of the new continent. The 

first preserved was by Juan de la Cosa (1500). He was 
Early Maps. ^^.^^^ Columbus in 1492 and 1493, and with Hojeda in 1499. 
He was informed about the other discoveries and accounted for them 
on his map. He shows the coast line of North and South America 
in the shape of a great letter U which lies on one side. The discoveries 
of Cabot represent the upper leg and the Spanish discoveries in the 
northern part of South America represent the lower leg. The curved 
interior takes the place of the shores of the Gulf of Mexico and the 
Caribbean Sea, within which the Antilles are correctly placed. North 
and south of the terminus of each leg the shores go off at right angles. 
Opposite the upper one and well out in the ocean he places the land 
discovered for Portugal by Corte-Real, not knowing it was nearly 
identical with Cabot's discovery. These Spanish, English, and Por- 
tuguese lands are located with approximate correctness, but the lines 
which connect them, the inner curved part of the figure, were drawn 
without experimental knowledge, probably by guess. 

A map made for Cantino, an Italian envoy in Portugal, about 1502, 
adheres more closely to known facts. Unknown parts of the coast 
are entirely blank, the northern part takes a vertical position, Florida 
and the shore north of it comes into a semblance of itself, and the same 
is true of South America from the Gulf of Uraba to the Tropic of 
Capricorn. A map by Stobnicza, 1512, has the parts of coast line 
omitted from the Cantino map, and one by Waldseemiiller, 15 13, gives 
an outline of the two continents with a suggestion of accuracy. A 
French globe, about 1527, shows Asia connected with South America. 



SPAIN IN CENTRAL AMERICA ^^ 



Exploring the Interior 

The second stage of exploration was directed into the interior and 
it went hand in hand with colonization, Spain taking the lead. First 
Hayti (1494) and then Cuba (1508) were settled. These 
two islands soon developed a number of vigorous Spanish- Spanish Ex- 
born grandees who were willing to attempt adventures on theTnterior" 
the unexplored mainland. Such a one was Hernando ^ortez 
Cortez, who in 15 19 sailed to conquer Mexico, the wealth 
and advanced culture of which was previously reported to the whites. 
He took with him five hundred and fifty Spaniards, two hundred and 
three Indians, one negro, and sixteen horses. He destroyed his ships 
when he landed at Vera Cruz, and announced to his men his determina- 
tion to conquer Mexico or die. At that time the Mexicans expected 
the return of a culture hero, Quetzalcoatl, who, tradition said, would 
come back to bless the people. Some of them considered the arrival of 
the Spaniards the fulfillment of the prophecy. Cortez was quick 
enough to use this opportunity, but his main reliance was his sword. 
His firearms, armor, and horses gave him an advantage, but the vast 
numbers of his enemies would have outweighed it had he been less 
capable or his enemies been well united. He forced his way to the 
Aztec city of Mexico, where the superstitious natives received him 
darkly. Fearing an outbreak he seized Montezuma, the Mexican 
ruler, and when the capital flew to arms withdrew for the time and 
established a siege which was finally successful. After two and a half 
years of severe struggle he and his little army were masters of Mexico. 

Another explorer of the interior was Balboa. He was a bankrupt 
planter who left Santo Domingo secretly to escape his creditors, 
and joined an expedition which was trying to plant a col- 
ony near the Isthmus of Panama. Small, ugly, and poor, he 
nevertheless was born to command and was soon the leading spirit 
in an otherwise failing enterprise. By his resolution he resisted all 
attempts to supplant him and finally perfomied a feat which made 
him famous. When some Spaniards were disputing over a bit of 
gold, an Indian told them he could show them a great water over 
which came quantities of the yellow metal. Balboa remembered the 
words, and with about two hundred Spaniards set out to find this sea. 
His march of forty-five miles was through a tropical tangle of jungle 
to penetrate which required the labor of eighteen days. At length 
he neared the sea. Halting his men he climbed the last impeding 
ridge so that he alone might first see the object of his search. Then 
this bankrupt adventurer, stern ruler of men, heartless betrayer of 
benefactors, and relentless victor over his personal enemies, knelt 
and thanked "God and all the Heavenly Host who had reserved the 
prize of so great a thing unto him, being a man but of small wit and 



38 THE DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION OF AMERICA 

knowledge, of little experience, and lowly parentage." Thus it was 
that Balboa discovered the Pacific Ocean in 15 13. 

More interesting but less significant historically were the explora- 
tions of Ponce de Leon in 15 13. Twenty years of adventure in the 
Ponce de West Indies had developed him into a great captain. 
Leon. He finally set out to find Bimini, a land in which the 

Indians said there was much gold and a fountain of perpetual youth. 
On Easter Sunday he discovered the mainland, which he called Florida, 
from Pascua Florida, the Easter season. He landed at St. Augustine 
harbor, and thence explored the coast southward until he passed the 
extremity of the peninsula. The name "Florida" was later used by 
Spain for the coast as far north as the Chesapeake Bay. 

Another explorer was de Narvaez. In 1527 he sailed from Spain 
for Florida with a colony of six hundred persons. Desertion and 
shipwreck reduced these to four hundred, most of whom 
landed in the western part of what is now Florida some- 
where north of Tampa Bay. Indian reports of a great town lured 
them into the interior, where they were surrounded by vast numbers 
of savages and forced back starving to the coast at Pensacola Bay. 
They built boats, converted their horses into food, made sails from 
horsehides and from their own clothes, and sailed — not for Cuba, 
but westward, where they hoped to join their fleet. In this they were 
disappointed : one by one their rude boats were destroyed : de 
Narvaez was drowned; and the remnant, now fifteen, took refuge 
with the Indians, who first beat them and then discovered that they 
were medicine-men. For five years they managed to keep in favor 
with the savages, passing from tribe to tribe in great honor. Finally 
four men, all who were left of the six hundred whom de Narvaez 
brought out nine years earlier, reached the city of Mexico. One 
of them was Cabe?a de Vaca, historian of the expedition, whose 
journal makes a thrilling narrative. He described the interior of the 
continent in glowing terms and gave a stimulus to later disastrous 
attempts at exploration. 

One of the victims of this exaggeration was Hernando de Soto, 
who having gained a fortune in Peru with Pizarro was made governor 
j^ g of Cuba and ruler of Florida, which he was to explore 

and colonize at his own expense. May 30, 1539, he 
landed at Tampa Bay with over six hundred and twenty men. He 
spent the summer and winter near the coast, and in the spring marched 
northward, across Geo^-gia, South Carolina, and part of North Caro- 
lina. He crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains in the last-named state 
near the point where rise the highest peaks of the Appalachian system, 
then turning south again reached southern Alabama in October, 
1540, always looking for "some rich country," fighting several battles 
with the Indians, and suffering much from hunger and sickness. 
De Soto learned that a fleet awaited him on the coast, but concealed 



CORONADO'S MARCH 39 

the fact from his men and marched again for the interior. He wintered 
in northern Mississippi, and moving on in the spring came on May 8, 
1 541, to the Mississippi near Memphis. He crossed and spent the 
summer exploring what is now Arkansas. He encamped, and in 
the spring would have gone farther into the west if his men and horses 
had not failed him. Broken spirited, he fell sick, and May 21, 1542, 
he was buried in the river he had discovered. His adventures took 
three years. His followers built boats and escaped down the river 
and along the coast to Mexico. De Soto gave his fortune and his 
life to this enterprise and the result was expressed in the extension 
of geographical knowledge for the benefit of the world at large. 

In Mexico at this time a story was circulated of seven cities which 
an Indian had visited, each as great as Mexico City. The narrative 
of Cabefa de Vaca seemed to confirm it ; and the excitable 
imagination of the adventurers seized it with avidity. 
A friar sent to investigate returned, saying he came in sight of one 
of the cities, probably the pueblo of Zuni, and preparations were 
made for a conquest of this wonderful region, believed to be as rich 
as Mexico. Francisco de Coronado was appointed to lead the colony. 
He set out in 1540 With eleven hundred men, Spaniards and Indians; 
but he left the mam body on the north shore of the Gulf of California 
and went into the interior with fifty horsemen. He took Cibola, 
which proved to be a pueblo without treasure. Not discouraged, he 
ordered up the main body and struck into New Mexico. He went 
as far as the border of Oklahoma, and with an advance guard arrived 
at the center of Kansas within nine days' march of the point to which 
De Soto at that very time had penetrated in Arkansas. He found 
pueblos and Indian villages, but no treasure, and returned to Mexico 
in 1542 with the loss of only a few of his followers. Thus from 15 13 
to 1542 Spain explored Florida, Mexico, and the region north of the 
Rio Grande, discovering their real character and opening the way 
for colonization. 

Such was the work of Cortez, Balboa, Ponce de Leon, Narvaez, 
de Soto, and Coronado. They were strenuous men, sparing neither 
themselves, their followers, nor the natives, whom they Spanish 
plundered, enslaved, and slew with great cruelty. Through Colonial 
their efforts Spain in fifty years, from 1492 to 1542, explored Power, 
and held a vast region. Nor was gold-seeking their only interest : 
agricultural colonies ciuickly followed the adventurers ; and their 
strength is shown by the part they contributed to further explora- 
tions. No other colonizing nation in America did so much in so short 
a time. Had not the wars of Phillip II, soon to begin, paralyzed 
Spanish industry and checked emigration to the colonies, it seems 
likely that a very strong Spanish empire would have been established 
from Florida to the mouth of the Orinoco. 



40 THE DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION OF AMERICA 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

The discovery of America has been described in many books. Among them 
the most available for American students are : Harrisse, The Discovery of North 
America (1897), scholarly and ample; Fiske, The Discovery of America, 2 vols. 
(1892), brilliant in style but disproved in some of its points by later writers ; Bourne, 
Spain 'in America (1904), the most reliable as well as the best written one-volume 
treatise on the subject in Enghsh; Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of 
America, 8 vols. (1888-1889), vol. II deals with the period of discovery, especially 
valuable for references; and Channing, History of the United Slates, vol. I (1905). 

On the Norse discoveries see: Reeves, Finding of Vineland the Good (1890), 
and Storm, Studies on the V inland Voyages (trans., 1889). 

On Columbus see: Harrisse, Christophe Colomb, 2 vols. (1884); Vignaud, 
La Vie de Colomb avant ses Decouvertes (1905); Thacher, Christopher Columbus, 
3 vols. (1903-1904) ; Winsor, Christopher Columbus (1892) ; Markham, Life of 
Columbus (1889), for the general reader; and Irving, Life of Columbus (1828- 
1831), the most widely read book on the subject, and still in demand. 

Among contemporary Spanish works the following are important: The Life 
and Actions of Admiral Columbus, ascribed to his son, Ferdinand, most valuable 
for the period after the discovery when it follows the journals of Columbus (trans, 
in Chur hill, Voyages, 1744-1746, and Pinkerton, Voyages, 1808-1814) ; Las 
Casas, Hisloria de las Indias, 5 vols, (about 1525, published 1875-1876); Peter 
Martyr, De Orbo Novo (about 1555); Oviedo, Historia General y Natural de las 
Indias, 4 vols. (ed. 1851-1855); Herrara, Historia General de las Indias (1828- 
1830); and Navarrete, Coleccion de las Viages y Descubrimientos, 5 vols. (1825- 

1837)- 

On Spanish explorations see Bourne, Fiske, and Winsor, as described above, 
for brief accounts in English, and Navarrete for a reliable Spanish source. On 
English voyages of exploration see Hakluyt, Principall Navigations, etc., of the 
English Nation, 16 vols. (Edinbiu-gh ed., 1 885-1 890) ; Harrisse, John Cabot . . . 
and Sebastian his Son (1896) ; Weare, Cabot's Discovery of North America (1897) ; 
Dean, chapter on Cabot in Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, vol. Ill (1884) ; 
Markham, Letters of Vespucci (1894); Helps, Life of Cortez, 2 vols. (1871) ; 
Guillemard, Life of Magellan (1891) ; Bourne, ed.. Narratives of De Soto, 2 vols. 
(1904); Winship, ed.. Journey of Coronado (1904); and Smith, Cabeca de Vaca 
(1866). Important general works on Spanish settlements are: Lowery, Spanish 
Settlements, 2 vols. (1901, 1905) ; Helps, The Spanish Conquest in America, 4 vols. 
(Oppenheim, ed., 1900-1904) ; and Bancroft, History of Central America, 3 vols. 
(1886-1887). 

On the French explorations of the coast line see : Harrisse, Les Corte-Real et leur 
Voyages (1883); Murphy, The Voyage of Verrazzano (1875); Parkman, Pioneers 
of France (1865); and Gafifarel, La Floride Franqaise (1875). 

For Independent Reading 

Markham, Life of Columbus (1892) ; Irving, Life of Columbus (1828-1831) ; 
Fiske, Discovery of America, 2 vols. (1892) ; Bourne, Spain in America (1904) ; 
and Payne and Beazley, eds., Voyages of Elizabethan Seamen (1907), extracts 
from Hakluyt. 



CHAPTER III 

THE FIRST ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS IN THE SOUTH 

The Gentlemen Adventurers 

NoTraNG shows better the rapid progress of Spanish colonies than 
the fact that England became interested in colonization through 
depredations on them. Captain John Hawkins, of _. 
Plymouth, Devonshire, did much to open this phase of geameif/^ 
English history. Negro slaves were in demand in Spanish Hawkins. 
colonies, and although foreigners were forbidden to trade 
there, he determined to get access to the market. In 1 563 he arrived in 
Hayti with three hundred negroes, whom the planters, not knowing the 
king's law, or disregarding it, gladly purchased. He loaded his 
ships with produce, and sailed for Europe, sending two of them to 
Spain, where they were promptly seized by the authorities. His 
courage rose with opposition, and he soon reappeared with another 
cargo. When the timid colonists hesitated to purchase, he landed an 
armed force, and frightened off the officials, whereupon the slaves 
were sold. The king — it was Philip II — now sent a fleet to enforce 
the laws. It found Hawkins, recently returned from a third voyage, 
safe in the harbor of Vera Cruz, whose defenses he had seized. He 
hesitated to appeal to force and agreed to admit the Spanish com- 
mander to the harbor on the promise of immunity from attack. 
The pledge was broken, the English being cut to pieces by the superior 
number of their opponents. Two ships escaped, one commanded 
by Hawkins, the other by his nephew, Francis Drake. 

Both men were henceforth implacable enemies to the Spaniards. 
They became the center of a group of hardy captains who dealt 
Spanish ships many a blow, and who at last united to 
overthrow in 1588 The Invincible Armada which Philip 
sent against England. Their most notable single adventure was when 
Drake in 1578 in The Pelican sailed around South America, took 
great quantities of gold from unwary Spaniards, explored the west 
coast to the forty-eighth parallel, and circumnavigating the globe re- 
turned to England to be knighted for his success. These adventures 
revived English interest in America and promoted colonization. 

Hawkins and Drake had many imitators. One of them, Sir Hum- 
phrey Gilbert, in 157S received from Queen Elizabeth a patent grant- 

41 



42 THE FIRST ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS IN THE SOUTH 

ing him power, civil and proprietary, over all lands which he might 
colonize not held by a Christian prince. He wished to discover a 

northwest passage to China, and believed that a colony 

in America would be a useful base for his explorations. 
In the same year he went out with seven ships, one commanded 
by his half-brother, Walter Raleigh, then twenty-six years old. The 
expedition encountered the Spaniards, and soon returned to England. 
In 1583 Gilbert sailed to Newfoundland to plant a colony there, but 
he was lost in a storm and his expedition failed. He was a model 
knight and Christian, and his last known words shouted from the deck 
of his little ship, then battling for life in the waves, — "The way to 
heaven is as near by sea as by land," — have often been repeated by 
Englishmen. 

Walter Raleigh took up his dead brother's work, the queen issuing 
a new charter, and in 1584 he sent two ships under Philip Amadas 
_ and Arthur Barlowe to explore the Atlantic coast before 

attempting to plant a colony. With an eye on the rich 
Spanish galleons, which English captains were accustomed to plunder 

on sight, they first sailed to the West Indies, then turning 
oedU'on" northward came to the coast near Cape Lookout, North 

Carolina, and skirting the shore found an inlet which 
does not now exist, and so came in July through Pamlico Sound to 
Roanoke Island. The rich vegetation, the abundance of fish, and the 
friendliness of the natives delighted them, and they returned with 
wonderful stories of what they saw. They reported an abundance 
of grapes, which abound in that locality to this day ; and they found 
something — probably the persimmon — which they took for the 
date. Their written description of the place was designed to enlist 
the efforts of future adventurers, please the queen, and increase the 
glory of their employer. Elizabeth was enough gratified to confer 
knighthood on Raleigh, and to call the country Virginia in token of 
her unmarried state. 

In 1585 Raleigh sent Ralph Lane, a brave, tactless captain of 
infantry, with a hundred men to land at Roanoke Island, make a 

better investigation of the interior, and select a site for 
pedition ^' ^ permanent settlement. He explored Albemarle Sound, 

went up the Roanoke river until he realized that it was not 
a northwest passage, and heard from the Indians of Chesapeake Bay, 
which he properly concluded was better suited than Roanoke Island 
for the proposed colony. His abrupt manner brought him the hostility 
of the Indians, his supplies were soon gone, and when in 1586 Sir 
Francis Drake came to the coast, after a profitable cruise in the West 
Indies, Lane was glad to embark for England. A few days later 
Sir Richard Grenville touched at the place with supplies and recruits. 
He left fifteen men with food to hold the country in the name of the 
English and sailed off to the West Indies to capture Spanish treasure. 



EFFORTS OF RALEIGH 43 

Raleigh now prepared to plant a permanent colony. May 8, 1587, 
he sent out three ships with one hundred and fifty colonists, twenty- 
five of whom were women and children. The commander 
was John White, who was with Lane in 1 5 85 and who showed pgdition^" 
his confidence in the enterprise by bringing with him 
his own daughter, Eleanor, and her husband, Annanias Dare. White 
was to pick up the garrison left by Grenville and plant the "Citie of 
Raleigh in Virginia" on the Chesapeake. But arrived at Roanoke 
the hired captain refused to go farther, and when White and the men 
of the colony were on shore, put their effects on land and sailed away 
with two of the ships. A more resolute explorer than White, as 
Cortez or De Soto, would have gone on board, overpowered the cap- 
tain, and taken the ships to their proper destination. 

The island was inaccessible from the sea and its soil was poor. 
The colonists soon became discouraged and urged White to return 
to England for supplies. Late in August he set sail in 
the one ship at the disposal of the settlers, leaving behind Colony "^ 
him a granddaughter, Virginia Dare, born August 18, 
the first offspring of the English race in what is now the United States. 
England at that moment was expecting the arrival of the Spanish 
Armada, and a strict embargo was laid on shipping. White was 
forced to remain in the country, and it was not until 1591 that he 
came, in a hired ship, to ascertain the fate of the colony. The island 
was deserted, the fort was in ruins, and the only evidence of the fate 
of the colonists was the word "Croatoan" carved on a tree. It was 
the name of a friendly tribe of Indians dwelling near Cape Hatteras. 
Before his departure it was agreed that if the colonists removed they 
would carve the name of their place of refuge on a tree, and if they 
went in distress a cross was to be added. As no cross appeared. White 
took courage. He would have gone to Croatoan, but the captain 
of the fleet, fearful of storms, would not delay, and spite of later 
efforts of Raleigh to find them, the colonists were never seen again 
by white men. The settlers at Jamestown, planted twenty years 
later, learned from the Indians that the people of Roanoke went to 
the Indians, but were later massacred through the agency of Pow- 
hatan. The Indians added that four men, two boys, and one maid 
were saved by a friendly chief. If so, they were probably adopted 
into the tribe according to the Indian custom.^ 

The enterprise at Roanoke Island wasted Raleigh's fortune, and 
the colony itself was a failure, but he kept up his interest 
in Virginia, saying in 1602 when about to be sent to the of^o^nokr 
Tower, "I shall yet live to see it an English nation." island. 
He did, indeed, at Roanoke Island plant the seed which 

'The claim that the mixed breeds of Robeson county, N. C, formerly known as Scuffle- 
tonians, recently called "Croatans," are descended from the "Lost Colony" is unsup- 
ported by evidence and highly improbable. 



44 THE FIRST ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS IN THE SOUTH 

produced fruit at Jamestown. His failure contained a lesson and 
showed the place at which success would be found. His faith in the 
expansion of English power was communicated to others, the pathetic 
fate of his colony hung over the imagination of his countrymen, 
and the cause of colonization was not forgotten. 

Raleigh's misfortunes showed that planting a colony was a large 
work and that it demanded the support of many people. He, indeed, 
realized this, and in 1589 assigned to a group of " Associ- 
o pera on. ^^^^yy ^j^^ right to establish a colony in Virginia. Among 
them were ten men who were later connected with the Virginia 
Company. One of them was Richard Hakluyt, who in 1584 presented 
the queen with A Discourse of Western Planting, a little book of 
arguments to show why Elizabeth ought to encourage colonies. 
The appeal failed completely. English sovereigns never expended 
money in founding or nourishing colonies in America. Among 
Raleigh's "associates" was Thomas Smythe, a prominent merchant, 
and either he or his son by the same name was treasurer of the Virginia 
Company. In 1603 Raleigh was convicted of treason and the assign- 
ment of 1589 became null. 

The English opinion of Virginia at this time came from the reports 

of Raleigh's captains and was influenced by the Spanish experience 

in Mexico and Peru. The popular imagination added 

Exaggerated j^u^h to these already exaggerated impressions. A 

Virginia. favorite comedy of the day, "Eastward Ho," gives the 

following exposition of Virginia in 1605: 

"Seagull. A whole country of English is there, bred of those that were left 
there in '79 [1587]; thej^ have married with the Indians . . . who are so in love 
with them that all the treasures they have they lay at their feet. 

" Scapelhrift. But is there such treasure there, Captain, as I have heard? 

"Seagull. I tell thee gold is more plentiful there than copper is with us; and 
for as much red copper as I can bring I'll have thrice the weight in gold. Why 
man, all their dripping pans . . . are pure gold ; and all the chains with which 
they chain up their streets arc massy gold, all the prisoners they take are fettered 
in gold; and for rubies and diamonds they go forth on holidays and gather 'em 
by the seashore to hang on their children's coats, and stick in their children's 
caps, as commonly as our children wear saffron-gilt brooches and groats with holes 
in 'em. 

"Scapelhrift. And is it a pleasant country withal? 

"Seagull. As ever the sun shined on : temperate, and full of all sorts of excellent 
viands ; wild boar is as common there as our tamest bacon is here ; and venison 
as mutton. And then you shall hve freely there, without sergeants, or courtiers, 
or lawyers . . . Then for your means of advancement, there it is simple and not 
preposterously mixed. You may be an alderman there and never be scavenger; 
you may be any other officer and never be a slave. You may come to preferment 
enough, ... to riches and fortune enough, and have never the more villany nor 
the less wit. Besides, there we shall have no more law than conscience, and not 
too much of either; serve God enough, eat and drink enough, and enough is as 
good as a feast." 



COLONY-PLANTING UNDER JAMES I 45 



The Beginning of Virginia 

Various adventurous sea captains were on the American coasts 
early in the seventeenth century, and they probably gave the impulse 
which resulted in renewed efforts to people the country. 
Two whose names stand out are George Weymouth and London 
Bartholomew Gosnold. They offered their ships and their *"°™^^°^ 
services and tried to get others to raise funds to send oyth com- 
out colonies. They succeeded in enlisting the support pany. 
of a number of gentlemen and merchants, and applied 
to the king for permission to plant two colonies, — one in the south, 
where Raleigh's efforts were spent, and one in the north, in a region 
whose resources of fur, timber, and fisheries had attracted the atten- 
tion of Weymouth and others. The request was granted, and April 10, 
1606, two groups of "adventurers," one resident in London and the 
other in Plymouth, Bristol, and other towns, were authorized to plant 
the "First Colony" and the "Second Colony" respectively. The 
London Company, as the first group came to be called, was to plant 
between the thirty-fourth and forty-first degrees of north latitude, 
and the Plymouth Company between the thirty-eighth and forty- 
fifth degrees ; but it was provided that when one colony was estab- 
lished the other should not be placed within a hundred miles of it. 
Each was to have jurisdiction over a region one hundred miles square, 
fifty on each side, north and south, of its first settlement, and one 
hundred into the interior. Various privileges were granted to each, 
among them authority to open mines, grant lands, coin money, 
defend themselves against intruders, and import certain articles for 
seven years without duty. 

Raleigh's grant said little about the government of the colony 
he should plant, the inference being that this was a matter left largely 
in the hands of the proprietor. The grants of 1606 show 
a better developed idea of a colonial system. The colony The King's 
was to be a national undertaking, dependent, not on v*®* ° 
parliament, but on the king. He created the charter oovern- 
and reserved for himself the ultimate jurisdiction over ment. 
the colonial government. He also issued "instructions," 
in which was established or modified the internal constitution of the 
proposed colony. His direct representative was the superior council 
of Virginia, consisting of thirteen members appointed by the king. 
Virginia, as then conceived, was an immense domain in which could 
be established eight seacoast colonies, each one hundred miles square. 
The government now devised was to apply to the First and Second 
Colonies, and probably to all others to be set up in Virginia. 

Within the colony was to be a resident council of not more than 
thirteen members, appointed temporarily by the superior council 



46 THE FIRST ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS IN THE SOUTH 

in London. It was to choose its president annually, and its func- 
tions were four: (i) to make ordinances in matters not touching life 

and members, such ordinances to be in keeping with 
Sithin°thr* ^^^ "instructions" and with English law, and to be in 
Colony. force until repealed by the king ; (2) to sit as a court of 

justice ; (3) to appoint minor ofhcials ; and (4) to exercise 
the functions of local administration. The "instructions" also estab- 
lished the Church of England and prescribed exile for persons preach- 
ing against it. There was to be a Cape Merchant, or treasurer, to 
receive the goods sent to the colony and to sell those sent home. 
He was to administer the common store, to which every man's produce 
should go for five years. The inhabitants were to have the personal 
and property rights of British subjects, and trial by jury was not to 
be denied. 

The Second Colony, sent out by the Plymouth Company, sailed 
August 12, 1606. It was a small oq^edition and was taken by the 

Spaniards. The failure did not discourage the Company, 
Colony on ^ ^^lo next year sent one hundred and twenty settlers to 
bgc, the mouth of the Kennebec. A bitter winter and other 

hardships discouraged them, and they returned to Eng- 
land in 1608. 

The London Company, moving more slowly, sent forth a larger 
number of adventurers. December 20, 1606, they sailed from London, 

one hundred and twenty men, without women and children, 
Settlers. ^^ three ships. The Sarah [Susan] Constant, The Goods peed, 

and The Discovery. Captain Christopher Newport, a seaman 
experienced in the war against the Spaniards, commanded the expedi- 
tion on the sea and was instructed to remain two months in Virginia 
making explorations. He carried a mysterious sealed packet, to be 
opened twenty-four hours after he made land, containing the names 
of the all-powerful seven who should make the governing council. 
Several men of high birth and pretensions were on board, and during 
the four months the little fleet took to pass first the Canaries, then to 
the West Indies, and thence northward to the Chesapeake, there was 
much speculation and some heart-burning in anticipation of the assign- 
ment of the coming honors. One man aboard was Captain John 
Smith, a veritable soldier of fortune, without family connections 
to speak of. He had real ability, but was probably aggressive and 
boastful. He drew to himself a group of supporters, which displeased 
Edward Maria Wingfield, a proud man of high birth, who charged 
Smith with plotting mutiny, and got him put in irons for the rest of 
the voyage. April 26, Old Style, they sighted the Virginia capes and 
named them Henry and Charles after the two sons of their king. 
Before them was Hampton Roads, and beyond that a great river 
which they called the James. Seeking to reach it they were impeded 
by shallows, till at last they found the channel close to a spit of land, 



VIRGINIA SETTLED 47 

which in gratitude they called Point Comfort. At last the sealed 
packet was opened. The three captains of the ships, Newport, 
Gosnold, and Ratcliffe, with Wingfield, Smith, and two others were 
to be the council. Wingfield's ascendancy was complete ; he was 
elected president, but Smith, though given his liberty, was not allowed 
to sit in the council. 

The colonists now divided into two parts ; one explored the river 
and bay and the other proceeded to lay out a town. The site was a 
peninsula thirty-two miles from the mouth of the lames, ^ 

T9.fii6SLOwn 

large enough for a town and some fields. It was connected 
with the mainland by a narrow neck and was easily defensible. 
Though lying low, it was as high as most of the bank up to that point. 
The channel cut the southwest end and made a low bluff so that the 
ships could be tied up to the shore. Here a fort was constructed, 
with a church and a storehouse. In the rear of these was laid out 
a little street along which huts were built. The town was named 
Jamestown. June 15 the fort was completed, and the colonists felt 
safe against the Indians. A week later Captain Newport returned 
to England. He carried a quantity of pyrites which he took for gold. 
He valued it so highly, that arriving on the English shore he dared 
not leave his ship and proceed to London, lest the precious stuff be 
stolen. 

Virginia presented a fair appearance to the colonists. The great 
oaks, pines, and cypresses, with grapevines as large as a man's leg, 
showed the fertility of the soil. The great sturgeons 
in the river, the luscious oysters on the rocks, mussels c^^rms 
with pearls in them, flowers in the woods, strawberries 
twice as large as those of England, and many other things filled with 
admiration the imaginative gentlemen adventurers. They roamed 
through the woods in ecstasy. Every new bird, every shady nook 
carpeted with flowers, every fine view of river or grassy marsh, brought 
forth expressions of delight, as we may see from the writings of several 
of the more bookish members of the colony. It would be interesting 
to know what the laborers thought, who came to convert all this 
forest beauty into patient, corn-growing fields. The Indians at this 
time no longer looked on the whites with wonder. Spanish and 
English ships had inflicted enough cruelty to place war in their hearts. 
The Paspaheghs controlled the region and resented the intrusion at 
Jamestown. No treaty was offered them, and they would have 
destroyed the intruders had they found an opportunity. 

The sultry August days brought disaster. Gentle George Percy 
describes the situation with pathetic briefness. "The sixt day of 
August," he says, "there died John Asbie, of the bloudie 
Flixe. The ninth day, died George Fiowre, of the swelling, l^^^°^^e 
the tenth day, died Wflliam Bruster Gentleman, of a 
wound given by the Savages, and was buried the eleventh day. The 



48 THE FIRST ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS IN THE SOUTH 

fourteenth day, Jerome Olikock, Ancient [i.e. Ensign], died of 
a wound. The same day, Francis Midwinter, and Edward Moris 
Corporall died suddenly." Thus runs the account throughout 
August, closing with this, "Our men were destroyed with cruell 
diseases, such as Swellings, Flixes, Burning Fevers, and by warres ; 
and some departed suddenly; but for the most part, they died of 
meere famine. ... It pleased God, after a while, to sende those peo- 
ple which were our mortall enemies, [the Indians] to relieve us with 
victuals, as Bread, Corne, Fish, and Flesh in great plentie; which 
was the setting up of our feeble men : otherwise we had all perished." 
This fortunate succor came from Powhatan, who lived on the York 
river, and from Indians south of the James, who were pleased to give 
food for trinkets. Captain John Smith going to them for trade. 

The starving settlers turned against Wingfield, who could think 
of no better means of meeting the difficulties than to husband the small 
store of food until help arrived from England. The 
Services of resourcefulness of Smith now attracted attention, and he 
John Smith, ^as admitted to the council. Soon afterwards this 
body deposed the president and placed Ratcliffe in his 
place. Smith then became the most active man in the colony. He 
was sent out to trade with the natives, and besides securing food won 
their respect, so that even the Paspaheghs became friendly. January 8, 
1608, Newport, returning with supplies and no recruits, found the 
colony safe, although the numbers were reduced to 40. He was ordered 
by the Company to bring back a valuable cargo, and three months 
were spent in getting lumber to fill his ships. The time should have 
been given to clearing the forest for grain. As it was, when planting 
time came only four acres could be put into cultivation. A hundred 
would not have been too much. In August disease and famine reap- 
peared and the population was reduced to 50. Then Newport reap- 
peared, and precious time and strength must be given to the preparation 
of his cargo. Under such circumstances the arrival of a "supply" 
was a questionable benefit. In 1608 Smith became president, and 
when all the other councillors died he would not appoint successors, 
but ruled alone. The people accepted him, and in the spring of 1609 
he got 40 acres into cultivation. He also erected better houses and 
dug a well, at that place a work of a few hours. Although a physician 
was among the colonists, the brackish river had for two years furnished 
the drinking water. 

In the autumn of 1609 Smith returned to England, and the winter 
which followed was termed "the starving time." The population, 
" Th <? largely increased by recent arrivals, was reduced from 

ingTime." " 5°° ^^ ^°- Some of the sufferers were tempted to canni- 
balism, and one desperate man threw his Bible into the 
fire, crying, "There is no God in heaven!" When Sir Thomas 
Gates, a new governor, arrived in the spring he decided the experiment 



GAINING EXPERIENCE AT JAMESTOWN 49 

was a failure and embarked the whole company for England. Before 
he left the river he encountered still another governor, Delaware, 
with supplies and recruits. All returned to Jamestown, where the 
situation became a little better. 

In 1609 the government by council was abandoned and a governor 
appointed with practically the authority of military law. Such a 
man was Delaware, who was too mild to be a despot. 
In 161 1 he returned to England, remaining governor till Councils 
his death in 1618, and ruling Virginia through a deputy. Abolished, 
governor. In this capacity came Sir Thomas Dale, 
1611-1616, as bitter a tyrant as ever held office in America. There 
was much to excuse his harshness. He found on his arrival that no 
crops were planted, although the planting season was past. The 
men's chief occupation was bowling in the streets, the houses were 
falling in pieces, and the Indians were defiant. He turned on New- 
port, who had continually deceived England about the state of the 
colony, pulled his beard in public, threatened to hang him, 

and asked " wheather it ware meant that the people heere ^^ ^^ 

.,• • • 1 1 1 r 1 )) TT 1 1 trovernor. 

m Virgmia shoulde feede upon trees. He set the colo- 
nists to digging sassafras roots and hewing cedar for the profit of the 
Company. The spiritless inhabitants did not resist, but fled to the 
woods : when he took them he burned them at the stake. For steal- 
ing food some were hanged, and one was tied to a tree to starve. 

The food was bad, either because the contractors cheated the Com- 
pany, or because provisions spoiled in transit. There was much com- 
plaint, and Dale devised a scheme of relief. He distributed 

small lots of land to the people, and all who had come as /y*" a^^°^ 
11 • 1 r T • r 1 °' Land, 

laborers were given one month of the year to raise food 

for themselves. Another group, probably all who were not laborers, 
were called farmers and given three acres of land each, for which 
they paid to the company each year seven and a half barrels of corn 
and one month's labor. It was exorbitant rent, but when men di- 
rected their own labor they worked as much in one day as formerly 
in a week. 

The large number of gentlemen adventurers who came to the colony 
had a bad effect. They came hoping to find gold as Spanish gentle- 
men had found it in Central America, but they were 
nevertheless honestly desirous of building up the enter- .^ ® ^ Serv- 
prise. Unaccustomed to labor they did not readily take 
up the hard work of clearing the fields, and despair, disease, and 
death found them an easy prey. Not used to superior authority 
they turned to intrigue. On this group fell Dale hke a thunderbolt. 
He had no troops to enforce his orders, but his iron will served instead. 
Hardened soldier that he was, he found it the most difficult task of his 
life. When he left Virginia in 1 6 1 6 the days of illusion were passed and 
the colonists realized that the chief thing was to develop the agri- 



50 THE FIRST ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS IN THE SOUTH 

cultural resources of*-<a fertile country. They then numbered 350 and 
were well supplied with cattle and hogs. It was within this period 
that the possibilities of tobacco were discovered. Virginia now had a 
profitable money crop, great estates became possible, and the early 
aristocratic impulses of the settlers might reassert themselves. 

Better Times in the Colony 

Meanwhile the London Company cast off its early enthusiasm. 
The public-spirited gentlemen who founded it soon ceased to con- 
tribute to its support. Threatened with failure, its friends 
Changes in attempted to make it a national trading company. The 
pany °™' clergy lent their influence on missionary grounds, with 
the result that the membership grew to 765, only 225 of 
whom were of the gentry. A share cost twelve pounds and ten 
shillings, and in 161 2 the king permitted all important business to be 
transacted by a majority of the stockholders. Now appeared at the 
quarterly meetings a group in support of the king's ideas and a popular 
party who declared that prosperity would not come to the colony 
until self-government was granted. Such a suggestion was abhorrent 
to James I, but the misery under the king's plan was evident and the 
liberals triumphed in 1618. They were ably led by Sir Edwin Sandys, 
ever the friend of liberal ideas. 

Sir George Yardley, governor, arrived at Jamestown April 19, 
16 1 9, announcing the permanent end of common property and the 
beginning of self-government. Each colonist was to 
Q, . have an assignment of land — one hundred acres for 

those who came before 1616 and fifty for those who came 
afterwards. The laws were to be made by an assembly composed of 
a governor and six councillors appointed by the company and two 
representatives elected by each town, hundred, or plantation. The 
governor and council had executive functions, assigned land, sat as 
a high court of justice, and composed the upper house of the assembly. 
The most honorable position in Virginia next to the governor was the 
councillor. The representatives made the House of Burgesses, or 
lower house. The assembly was to make laws not contrary to English 
laws and subject to veto in England. In the main, this was the frame 
of government for Virginia and the other royal colonies until the 
revolution. 

Tobacco was now worth five shillings a pound in London, but the 
price fell rapidly. One man on cleared ground could raise, in 1649, 
about 2000 pounds. Fifty acres of land, known as a 
Annulled ^^^^ right, was given to each adult immigrant who 
settled in the colony, and fifty to a master for each serv- 
ant. Sir Edwin Sandys, the Company's treasurer, worked inde- 
fatigably to bring people to a country where wealth and liberty were 



FALL OF THE COMPANY 51 

promised, and his success was marked. But the^ourt party intrigued 
against him. They convinced the king that Virginia was a nest of 
sedition, and he set himself to defeat the reelection of the treasurer. 
"Choose the devil if you will," he said to the stockholders, "but not 
Sir Edwin Sandys." This warning was too plain to be mistaken, and 
the liberal faction elected the Earl of Southampton, as progressive as 
his predecessor. James's suspicions were not allayed, and many 
advisers incited his anger, among them the Spanish minister, Gon- 
domar, who resented the intrusion of the settlement into what he 
considered Spanish territory. In 1623 one of his tools published a 
paper called "The Unmasking of Virginia," bitterly attacking the 
company and the colony. James sent a biased commission to Virginia 
to investigate, and on its report brought suit to annul the charter. 
All the past misfortunes were laid at the door of the London Company, 
and June 16, 1624, the Company fell, Virginia passing into the hands 
of the king. He probably intended to undo the liberal reforms, but 
he died within a year, and Charles I, more friendly than his father, 
allowed them to continue. Thus the first law-making assembly es- 
tablished in America remained as a model for the colonies not yet 
created, and liberal government under royal supervision became 
firmly rooted in our life. 

The governors sent by Charles were no worse than those sent by 
the Company. They had frequent quarrels with the assembly, which 
became the defender of colonial rights against the royal 
prerogative. Sometimes the council sided with them. Governors 
and in 1635 it even deposed Governor Harvey, who tried 
to lay taxes without an act of assembly and to remove ofificials by his 
mere word. He was promptly restored by King Charles, who re- 
sented the unmaking of a governor. But the king was greatly beset 
by his own enemies, and vacillated from party to party. He soon 
sent a liberal governor, and then changing again, sent in 1642 a sup- 
porter of the royal prerogative. Sir William Berkeley, destined to 
rule long in Virginia. Berkeley was a stout aristocrat and a sup- 
porter of the king's prerogative, but he was honest, and his adminis- 
tration was a period of economic prosperity. 

Planting the first permanent colony cost the English stock dearly. 
When it ceased to exist in 1624 the London Company had expended 
200,000 pounds, equal to $5,000,000 in American values of to-day, 
and from this large expenditure the return was very slight. In the 
same period it sent to Virginia over 14,000 persons, nearly 13,000 
of whom died from exposure and disease. But in spite of this waste 
of money and life the first lessons of colonization were learned for the 
benefit of colonies to be established in the future, and Virginia re- 
mained a permanent home of white men. 

Two Indian wars fell heavily on the colony within the early period 
of its existence, one in 1622 and another in 1644. Eoch marked an 



52 THE FIRST ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS IN THE SOUTH 

attempt of the natives to save their land from the occupation of the 
strangers. Before the first of these attacks relations with the savages 
were peaceful, owing in the first instance to the exertions of Captain 
Smith and after that to the good will of Powhatan, head chief of a 
confederacy which included at least thirty-four tribes. His good will 
was much influenced by his daughter Pocohontas, who probably saved 
the life of Smith, made many visits to Jamestown, and finally married 
Rolfe, one of the colonists. In 1618 Powhatan died, and his able 
brother, Opechancanough, who disliked the English and wished to 
expel them before it was too late, began to plot war. In March, 
1622, the tribes generally went on the warpath, and swept through 
the outlying plantations with a trail of blood. Nearly 400 persons 
perished, and the planters who survived the first attack fled to the 
older settlements. They were compelled to leave their cattle behind, 
which, with their homes, were destroyed. As soon as the spring crops 
were planted the whites divided in bands and took a terrible vengeance. 
For twenty-two years there was peace. But Opechancanough, at last 
the head chief, only waited an opportunity. In 1644 there was civil 
war in England, and he thought the expected moment was at hand. 
Old and blind as he was he acted with energy, and in two days over 
300 settlers were slain. Again the whites took up arms, and in 1646 
the aged head chief himself was taken and killed. In this struggle 
the savages lost heavily and were forced to make a treaty by which 
they retired from the region between the James and the York rivers. 
Thenceforth tidewater Virginia had peace. 

The Settlement of Maryland 

In 1609 the London Company's jurisdiction was fixed at 200 miles 
north and south of Old Point Comfort, and it was to extend westward 

through this region to the Mississippi. The Jamestown 
Dhdded settlement was not thought to have jurisdiction over all 

this area; for in 1619 the Company granted privileges 
to the Pilgrims from Leyden, which, but for the unfavorable voyage 
of the Mayflower, would have resulted in a coordinate colony near 
the Delaware. With the fall of the Company, 1624, all Virginia again 
became the king's, and soon afterwards he cut off from it two great 
proprietary provinces. One, lying on the south of Virginia proper, 
he gave to Sir Robert Heath, 1629, who did not improve it, and the 
other was given to George Calvert, Lord Baltimore, who thus became 
the founder of Maryland. 

Calvert was a member of the London Company and a 
^^L^d*'^* favorite with the king. In 1625 he announced himself 
Baltimore. ^ Catholic, resigned the principal secretaryship of state, 

and gave himself up to colonization. His first attempt 
was in Newfoundland, but it failed through the cold climate, and he 



MARYLAND PROJECTED 53 

turned to Virginia, asking in the first instance for a grant of the 
lands between the James river and Albemarle Sound. To this 
request the friends of Virginia objected, and he was satisfied with a 
grant north of the Potomac, extending as far as the fortieth degree of 
latitude. To the colony, the charter of which was signed June 20, 
1632, the king gave the name Maryland, in honor of his queen, Hen- 
rietta Maria. 

By the Maryland charter a government was created less liberal 
than that of the London Company. The model on which it was 
formed was the County Palatine of Durham, in northern 
England. The proprietor, Baltimore, was to have in ^^® ^°^~. 
the colony the same authority as the Bishop of Durham Ma^iand!^ 
had in the county, of whom the old motto of law ran, 
Quicquid Rex habet extra, Episcopus habet intra. Thus the proprietor, 
besides having possession of the land, was the head of the adminis- 
trative, judicial, and military functions. The legislative function had 
no place in the system in force in Durham, and in this respect the 
Maryland system was more liberal ; for it provided that the proprietor 
might make laws in keeping with those of England "with the advice, 
assent, and approbation of the freemen or the major part of them or 
their representatives." The inhabitants were thus to have a share in 
law making, but the proprietor could have the initiative and might 
exercise a veto. By the charter the church of Maryland was to con- 
form to the laws of England, and the right to nominate clergymen was 
reserved to the proprietor. He was to hold his estate at only a nom- 
inal rent, and without taxes to the royal treasury. 

George Calvert, first Lord Baltimore, died as his charter was about 
to be signed, and Maryland passed to his son, Cecilius, a wise and 
liberal-minded man. He proceeded with the work of 
colonization, and in October, 1633, sent two ships with xoier'ati'^n 
twenty gentlemen and about two hundred laborers to 
make the first settlement. With them went his brother, Leonard, as 
governor. He and most of the gentlemen were Catholics, and most of 
the laborers Protestants. In a country as strongly anti-Catholic 
as England it behooved the Cal verts to be tolerant, but there is no 
reason to think that the liberty of conscience which they granted in 
Maryland did not arise from their sense of justice and liberality. 
At any rate, at a time when Virginia drove out non-conformists and 
Massachusetts persecuted Roger Williams, Maryland was the home 
of religious freedom. Toleration attracted to Maryland people of 
varying religious belief. Unfortunately, they were not so liberal as 
the proprietor, and when strong enough began to persecute one an- 
other, until civil war at last appeared in the colony. 

English Catholics suffered much from the laws against their faith, 
and it was thought that they would gladly seek an asylum in America. 
They were fined for not attending the established church, keeping 



54 THE FIRST ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS IN THE SOUTH 

arms in their houses, educating their children abroad, maintaining 
CathoHc schoolmasters, and converting Protestants to Catholicism. 

They might not be legally married by their own clergy. 
Would the serve as executors, or be buried in their own church- 
Migrate? yards. Fines were collected from them persistently : even 

James I, who had sympathy for their faith, took thirty- 
six thousand pounds a year in this way. For these reasons Catholics 
were deeply discouraged. But when Baltimore's charter was at 
length signed. King James was dead, and the English church seemed 
tending toward Catholicism. Laud was establishing high church 
practices and harrowing the Puritans, and the new king was giving 
willing approval. So hopeful were the Catholics of better times in 
England that the expected emigration did not occur, and Baltimore, 
who wished to see the colony grow, was the more willing to receive 
settlers of other faiths. 

The first colony entered Chesapeake Bay late in February, 1634, 
giving thanks to Providence for bringing them through many 

storms. They were struck with admiration for the 
The settle- Potomac, "in comparison with which the Thames seemed 
Mary^s. " ^ rivulet." Near its mouth was a tributary which they 

called St. George : nine miles up its course they laid out 
a town and called it St. Mary's. The site was occupied by the Indians. 
Mindful of Captain Smith's experience in Virginia the Marylanders 
resorted to trade, and for some axes, knives, cloth, and hoes purchased 
the village. The neighboring savages were weak, and, suffering much 
from the Susquehannas, who lived near the mouth of the river which 
now bears their name, received the whites gladly, and were converted 
to Christianity by the Jesuits. Leonard Calvert took up the work of 
establishing his colony in an orderly manner, profiting by Virginia's 
experience. The Indian fields were put in corn and tobacco and 
other land was cleared, the location selected was dry and healthy, and 
land was assigned individually from the first. The delusion of gold- 
hunting never troubled the colony. The result was that the first 
year a shipload of corn could be sent to New England to exchange 
for salt fish. Maryland was planted without a "starving time." 

February 26, 1635, the colonists held an assembly. They were 
not authorized to do it by the proprietor, but thought the charter 

gave them permission. They sent a number of laws to 
Independ- England, where Baltimore disallowed them because he 
Assembly! intended to have the initiative in law making. Three 

years later he sent a body of laws which were submitted 
to a second assembly. He now learned how little the right of initiating 
law is worth when the representatives are in a bad humor ; for the 
assembly was overwhelmingly against his code. Baltimore was a 
wise ruler and would not press his point. He authorized his brother, 
Governor Calvert, to allow the assembly to make laws as they desired, 



SOCIAL CONDITIONS 55 

to be in force till he should pass on them in England. The proprietor 
tried again in 1649 to introduce a system of law favorable to his pre- 
dominance, and failed again. In 1650 Maryland was given a legis- 
lature with two houses, one composed of representatives and the other 
of the councillors and persons specially summoned by the governor. 

Baltimore learned in another way that the feudal ideas of the 
Stuarts could not be grafted on society in America. In pursuance of 
his grant he created manors consisting of one thousand 
or more acres. The lord of the manor was authorized Short-Liyed 

1.1 , I'll-- . • ^ J Manorial 

to hold manor courts, to which his tenants might come system. 

and vote under his direction. The tenants consisted of 

English laborers who might soon become farm owners. They felt 

the impulse to freedom which inhered in a society the natural basis of 

which was the ability to work. They took control of the lord's courts, 

held local popular meetings, and in a short time the Maryland manors 

disappeared. 

The Jesuits themselves felt the force of democracy. They were 
much interested in the experiment and used the opportunity to ac- 
quire large tracts of land, — some from the proprietor 
and some from the Indians, who trusted them. They checked!^ ^ 
began to talk of the supremacy of the church law over the 
proprietor and assembly. Lord Baltimore was a true Catholic, but 
he was not intolerant, and he realized that if the Jesuits obtained 
control, public opinion in England would demand the destruction of 
this cherished asylum for his fellow-believers. He sent an agent to 
Maryland to check the extreme Catholics there. The Jesuits re- 
sented this and talked of excommunication. The proprietor then 
took decisive action. In 1641 he issued new regulations to control 
the granting of land, and one provision was that lands should not be 
granted in mortmain; that is, to religious societies. In the same 
sagacious spirit he sought to restrain religious disputation between 
the two religious groups, and in 1643 he went so far as to send notice 
to New England that all creeds would be protected in Maryland. 
All these efforts brought slight increase of population. Protestants 
preferred to settle in one of the Protestant colonies and Catholics 
were not going to America in large numbers. The most notable ac- 
cession was the removal of more than one thousand Puritans from 
southern Virginia to escape Berkeley's strict regulations. 

Virginia did not relish the loss of what she considered her territory 
north of the Potomac. In 1630 she sent one cf her chief citizens, 
William Claiborne, to England to try to defeat Balti- 
more's plans. He did not succeed, and returned to Vir- Controversy 
• • • 1 1 1 1 TT !• 1 . 1 i • over Kent s 

gmia m a mood to make trouble. He lived at what is island. 

now Hampton, Virginia, but was engaged in the fur trade 

on the northern shores of the Chesapeake, and had a trading station 

with a fort and a small garrison on Kent's Island, within Baltimore's 



56 THE FIRST ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS IN THE SOUTH 

grant. Governor Leonard Calvert held that it ought to fall under 
Maryland jurisdiction, and the terms of the charter supported him. 
But Claiborne held that as it was settled under Virginia authority 
before the charter was issued it ought to remain under that juris- 
diction. When, therefore, Calvert called on Claiborne to submit 
to Maryland, the latter refused and Virginia supported him. Rival 
fur traders stirred up feeling at St. Mary's, and August 5, 1635, they 
seized one of Claiborne's pinnaces. The Virginian was a high-spirited 
man and retaliated, blood being shed on both sides. Neither party 
cared to go further, and for nearly three years there was no more 
trouble, Claiborne continuing most of the time to trade in Maryland 
in defiance of Calvert. He was confident of his position, and in 1637 
went to England on business. Governor Calvert then sent a force 
which surprised Kent's Island by night and forced its inhabitants to 
submit to his government. The following year Claiborne was at- 
tainted of treason by the Maryland assembly, and one of his followers 
was hanged for having committed manslaughter in one of the recent 
encounters. At the same time royal commissioners decided that the 
disputed island belonged to Lord Baltimore. Claiborne submitted 
unwillingly and bided his time. He had lost his island, but he found 
a means of annoying Maryland. 

From 1630 to 1650 Englishmen were divided into a king's party and 
a parliamentary party. The old court party of the London Company, 

still intriguing for the restoration of their charter, favored 
Maryland |-]^g king, who in 1630 sent John Harvey to rule Virginia 
PoUtics'by* ^^ ^^^ interest of the royal prerogative. The former 
Virginians. supporters of Sandys and Southampton were still active 

and were very strong in Virginia, where Claiborne was 
one of their leaders. In 1635 they deposed the governor and sent 
him to England with charges of misconduct. Lord Baltimore 
was a supporter of the king and a friend of John Harvey. He used 
his influence with Charles and got the deposed governor restored ; 
but in 1639 the king felt the need of the liberal party and replaced 
Harvey by Wyatt, whom he removed in 1641 to make room for Sir 
William Berkeley, a thorough royalist. The popular party in Vir- 
ginia followed these movements closely and identified Baltimore 
with their enemies. When, therefore, the king and parliament were 
at last at war, 1642, they thought the time had come to strike Balti- 
more in Maryland. Although they were not willing to oppose Charles 
in Virginia, they were willing to urge the Puritans of Maryland to 
strike at his friend, the proprietor of that province. Claiborne saw 
in it an opportunity to recover his property, and in 1645 landed on 
Kent's Island and tried to get the inhabitants to join him in an attack 
on the proprietary government. They would not follow him, not 
because there was no discontent in Maryland, but because they did 
not want to take up Claiborne's quarrel. 



MARYLAND CONTROVERSIES 57 

This discontent came to the surface in 1644 when Edward Hill, 
member of the popular Virginia party, appeared in Maryland to per- 
suade the Puritans to return to their old homes south of 
the James. They did not heed him, but persuaded him to ?|^^ ^" ''^ 
espouse their cause against the Catholics. They or- ^f^^J 
ganized a Protestant assembly, and elected Hill governor, 
in the absence of Governor Calvert in England. But at this juncture 
Calvert returned, and finding his province in revolt got a body of 
soldiers from his brother royalist, Governor Berkeley, and made 
prisoners of Hill and his assembly. Six months later Governor 
Calvert died. He tried to pass the governorship to a Catholic and 
royalist, but affairs in England were ordered otherwise. 

In England the king's cause was now desperate, and astute Cecilius 
Calvert was looking for means of appeasing Parliament. The vacant 
governorship was just the opportunity ; he gave it to 
William Stone, a Virginia liberal and a Protestant, and p f.^^^, 
began to think of laws for religious liberty. Stone's first Baltimore. 
assembly passed the famous Toleration Act of 1649, pro- 
tecting all who professed faith in Jesus Christ. It was honestly 
meant by the proprietor, but it was needed in order to protect the 
Catholics under a government thoroughly Protestant. Baltimore's 
reversal of policy created disgust among his old English friends, and 
Charles II in exile ordered that he surrender his government because he 
adhered to the Parliamentarians. This was an impotent thrust, and he 
used it as a good argument when his enemies tried to get Parliament to 
seize the province on the ground that it was a nest of Romanism. 

In 165 1 Parliament, now completely under Cromwell, sent com- 
missioners — one of them being the ubiquitous Claiborne — to reduce 
to obedience Virginia, Maryland, Barbados, Antigua, 
and Bermuda. The islands submitted at once, Virginia ^"^^^ °^ 
made no resistance, and in 1652 Maryland also submitted, tants. 
Baltimore's property rights were maintained, but he lost 
the government, though Stone remained in office under the parlia- 
mentary government. He was friendly to the proprietor, and in 
1654 tried to get him recognized as head of the government under 
Parliament. This aroused the resentment of the commissioners, and 
Claiborne appeared with a Virginia army, deposed Stone, appointed 
commissioners in his stead, and disfranchised the Catholics. A new 
assembly was strongly Puritan and toleration was cast to the winds. 

The deposed governor appealed to force, the Catholics and some 
Protestants fighting under him for the proprietor and liberty of con- 
science. He marched against the Puritans in 1655 and 
sustained a complete defeat at Providence. The Vir- Last^^es?. 
ginians now felt that they might reunite Maryland to 
their own colony. They sent a petition to England urging that the 
proprietary government be abolished and that the two colonies be 



58 THE FIRST ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS IN THE SOUTH 

made one. Baltimore's wise concessions to Puritans now bore fruit. 
He completely defeated his enemies ; and the government forced a 
settlement which left him in control of Maryland according to his 
charter and placed the Act of Toleration beyond question. With 
this settlement ended Virginia's interference with Maryland affairs 
and her hopes of recovering that province. At this time Baltimore's 
colony contained 8000 inhabitants on both sides of the Chesapeake 
as far north as the mouth of the Susquehanna. 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

The best general authorities are : Channing, History of the United States, vol. I 
(1905) ; Osgood, The A merican Colonies in the Seventeenth Century, 3 vols. (1904-1907) ; 
Tyler, England in America (1904); Avery, History of tlie United States and Its 
People, 7 vols. (1905 — ) ; Doyle, English Colonics in America, 5 vols. (1882-1907) ; 
Fiske, Old Virginia and Her Neighbors, 2 vols. (1900) ; and Eggleston, The Beginners 
of a Nation (1897). 

The leading original sources are : Records of the Virginia Company of London, 
2 vols.. Miss Kingsbury, ed. (1906) ; Hakluyt, Principall Navigations, 16 vols. 
(Edinburgh ed., 1885-1890); Narratives of Early Virginia, Tyler, ed. (1907), 
contains the best of Smith with portions of other writers ; Calendar of State Papers, 
Colonial Series, America and West Indies, vol. I (i860); Acts of Privy Council, 
6 vols. (1908-1912); Brown, Genesis of the United States, 2 vols. (1891) ; Hening, 
Statutes at Large of Virginia, 13 vols. (1823); Archives of Maryland, 29 vols. 
(1889 — ); and Macdonald, Select Charters (1899). 

On the settlement on Roanoke Island see : Ashe, History of North Carolina, 
vol. I (1908) ; Hawks, History of North Carolina, vol. I (1857) ; Strachey, Travaile 
into Virginia (Hakluyt Soc, 184S) ; and Edwards, Life of Raleigh (1868). 

Contemporary works on early Virginia are : Captain Smith, True Relation (1608) ; 
lh\d.. General History of Virginia (1624), both in Arber's edition of Smith's Works 
(1884); and minor writers in Narratives of Early Virginia (1907). The best 
histories of Virginia are those of Robert Beverley (1722), WiUiam Stith (1747), 
John D. Burke (1805), and Charles Campbell (1847). Other important works 
are: Brown, First Republic in America (189S) ; Ibid., English Politics in America 
(1901) ; Beer, Origins of the British Colonial System (1908), exxellent for the British 
side of the colonial movement; Bruce, Institutional History of Virginia in the 
Seventeenth Century, 2 vols. (1910) ; Ibid., Economic History of Virginia in the 
Seventeenth Century, 2 vols. (1896) ; Ibid., Social Life of Virginia in the Seventeenth 
Century (1907). 

On Maryland see : Mereness, Maryland, as a Proprietary Province (1901) ; Bozman, 
History of Maryland, 2 vols. (1837); Browne, History of Maryland (1893); Neill 
Founders of Maryland (1876) ; Ibid., Terra Mariae (1867) ; Latane, Early Relations 
of Virginia and Maryland (Johns Hopkins Studies, XIII, 1895) ; Steiner, The 
Beginnings of Maryland (Ibid., XXI, 1903) ; and Narratives of Early Maryland, 
Hall, ed. (1910), contains Alsop's Cliaracter of Maryland, Hammond, Leah and 
Rachael, and other early tracts. An important source is the Fund Publications 
of the Maryland Historical Society, No. 34 of which contains The Calvert Papers. 

For Independent Reading 

Fiske, Old Virginia and Her Neighbors, 2 vols. (1900) ; Eggleston, The Beginners 
of a Nation (1897) ; Browne, George and Cecilius Calvert (1893) ; Bruce, Social 
Life of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century (1907) ; and Ashton, Editor, Adventures 
and Discourses of Captain John Smith (1883), taken from Smith's own writings. 



CHAPTER IV 
THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW ENGLAND 

The Plymouth Colony 

When James I was driving non-conformist ministers from their 
livings, two of the victims, Richard Clifton and John Robinson, were 
received at Scrooby, in Nottinghamshire, by William . 

Brewster, living in a manor house of the brother of Sir thePHerims 
Edwin Sandys. The region is the cradle of religious 
reform ; for not only did the New England Pilgrims origi- 
nate here, but ten miles northeast of Scrooby is Epworth, whence 
issued a century later the founder of the great Wesleyan movement. 
Brewster, a man of stout heart, a retired diplomat, and a strong 
Puritan, gathered his neighbors under his roof to hear the words of 
Clifton and Robinson ; and in 1606 was organized a separatist con- 
gregation, with Robinson for pastor. Self-control, plainness in dress, 
honesty of speech, and absolute faith in the Bible were some of the 
features of its faith. The pastor was a fellow of Cambridge, wise in 
business matters, and capable of ruling others by his sweetness and 
strength of character. An antagonist called him "the most learned, 
polished, and modest spirit that ever separated from the Church of 
England." 

The congregation encountered persecutions immediately. The 
members were watched day and night and, as Bradford later wrote, 
"some were taken and clapt up in prison . . . andy® i l d 
most were faine to flie and leave their howses and habi- 
tations, and the means of their livlihood. Yet these and many other 
sharper things which afterwards befell them, were no other than they 
looked for, and therefore were y® better prepared to bear them by 
y® assistance of Gods grace and spirite." Fleeing one by one, the 
members at length arrived in Amsterdam and then went to Leyden, 
where they found employment and set up their church, their pastor 
going with them and sharing their sorrows. At the end of ten years 
their industrial condition was not improved, and their children were 
becoming Dutch in speech and ideas. They longed for a home in an 
English land and applied for a grant in Virginia. February ^. 

2, 1620, a patent issued from the London Company per- 
mitting them to settle a plantation and to govern it by laws of their 
own in keeping with the laws of England. Sandys got his friends to 

59 



6o THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW ENGLAND 

urge the king to promise that the settlement should not be molested ; 
but James would only wink at the enterprise. This satisfied the 
Pilgrims, as we may now call them; for they reflected that "a seale 
as broad as the house floor" would not keep James to his promise. 

Not all the congregation could leave Leyden. Some were held back 
by family bonds, others were too old or too young, and others could 
. not sell their property for money. Thus it happened that 
■* ■ the majority remained in Leyden and the pastor stayed 
with them. By request, William Brewster went as leader. Robin- 
son's preaching in Leyden had drawn to his congregation fugitives 
from many parts of England, and the result was that many of the 
emigrants were not of those who fled from Scrooby, and some were 
not members of the congregation. Seventy London merchants ad- 
vanced 7000 pounds to fit out the expedition ; and it was agreed 
that the net earnings should go into a common fund for seven 
years and then be divided among the shareholders. Ten pounds 
was the value of a share and each immigrant was allowed one 
share for services. 

September 6, 1620, after many delays, the Pflgrims, 102 in number, 
set sail from Plymouth for Virginia, as they thought, in a hired ship, 
the Mayflower. November 1 1 they sighted land at Cape 
H,°^M^ °^ Cod. Bearing southward to pass it and come to the 
flower. Delaware river, where they designed to settle, they en- 

countered shoals and drew back, coming to anchor in the 
harbor of Provincetown. The captain of the ship refused to continue 
his journey southward, alleging the dangers of the sea. After five 
weeks of exploration they took the ship to Plymouth, a place marked 
and named on Captain John Smith's map. The place had deep water 
for the ships, a stream of fresh water for drinking, and some cleared 
fields where Indians had once grown corn. December 16 (26, New 
Style) they brought the Mayflower to the place and began to build 
huts for the passengers. 

A hard winter and much suffering now followed. Hunger, cold, 
and illness played their parts relentlessly, and by the arrival of spring 
hardly fifty of the colonists were alive. Of the eighteen 
in/Time°°" ^ives who came in the ship only four survived. The 
seasoning process was as cruel here as in Virginia. But 
the spirit of the survivors did not flag. By hard work they raised a 
small amount of corn in 162 1 and came to the autumn with hopeful- 
ness. But the arrival of thirty-five colonists without food necessitated 
a regime of half-rations. In the spring of 1622 came sixty-five more, 
and the whole settlement was in dire want until the corn ripened. 
During these distressing months the fish and game were abundant, 
but the colonists were agriculturalists and had not learned to take 
them. Here, as in Virginia, it took time to develop the keen resource- 
fulness of the American frontiersman. 



THE MAYFLOWER COMPACT 6e 

Plymouth, outside the bounds of the London Company, could not 
profit by the original patent. But in 1621 it received a grant from 
the council for New England, which was created by the 
king in 1620 with authority to settle the coast from the eriinien7' 
fortieth to the forty-eighth degree of latitude. The terms 
were not satisfactory, and in 1630 a more valid grant was secured. 
The colonists desired a charter like that of Massachusetts Bay, but 
the gift was denied them. Without a frame of government from the 
crown they were therefore thrown on their own initiative. The re- 
sult was the "Mayflower Compact," signed November 21, 1620, 
by each male adult except the servants and two hired seamen. It 
created "a civil body politic" on democratic lines but fully sub- 
servient to the royal authority. In the absence of a charter it 
was the basis of civil government in Plymouth until the colony 
was united with Massachusetts in 1691. The first governor, John 
Carver, died in 162 1, and his successor, William Bradford, was an- 
nually reelected, until his death in 1657, with the exception of five 
years, when he refused to serve. 

The relations of the colonists to the Indians proved fortunate. 
Pestilence had swept away those in the immediate neighborhood. In 
the spring of 162 1 Samoset, from the island of Monhegan, 
arrived at the town crying "Welcome!" He had lived ^•tl^'j^"^ 
for some time with English traders and proved useful to Indians, 
the colonists. He brought to them Squanto, another 
Indian, who taught the whites to raise Indian corn and to fertilize 
their fields with fish. In 162 1 a treaty was made with Massasoit, 
chief of the Wampanoags, and it resulted in fifty years of peace with 
the Indians south and east of Plymouth. To the west were the Narra- 
gansetts, who sent a war challenge, a bundle of arrows tied in a rattle- 
snake's skin. Bradford promptly returned the skin stuffed with bul- 
lets, and the threatened danger vanished. In 1623 the Indians to the 
northward planned to exterminate the whites whom the adventurer 
Weston had settled at Weymouth. The whites asked Plymouth 
for aid, and Captain Miles Standish, with the fighting men of that 
colony, marched against the savages and taught them to respect the 
white man's arms. After that Plymouth had peaceful relations 
with all the Indians. 

Another difficulty overcome by Bradford's good sense was the 
communal form of labor, adopted for seven years at the instance of 
the merchants who promoted the colony. Lack of in- 
terest marked the system, and the colony seemed on the Common 
verge of destruction when in 1623 Bradford assigned Abandoned, 
a parcel of land to each family for use. The result was 
good, and individual effort returned with the prospect of individual 
gain. The fur trade, well managed, proved profitable, and from the 
proceeds the debt to the company in England was paid off. 



62 THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW ENGLAND 

In church government the Pilgrims were thoroughgoing Separa- 
tists. Pastor and elders were elected by the adult males of the con- 
gregation. Religious ceremonies were rigorously es- 
Religious chewed, and for a time even marriages and funerals were 
conducted without religious forms. Attendance at meet- 
ing was compulsory on members and non-members. Theology ruled 
the minds of the people and the orthodox believed they saw on every 
hand revelations of the divine will. In 1623 drought threatened to 
destroy the crop and a day of humiliation and prayer was observed ; 
after which came a copious rain which saved the harvest. In grati- 
tude a Thanksgiving Day was set apart for the autumn. There had 
been, however, a day of thanksgiving in 1621. 

The growth of Plymouth was slow, for the soil was not fertile and 
but Httle remained from the annual product after the food of the colony 
was set aside. There was no staple crop, as tobacco in 
^f^R°m°'^th Virginia, from which a large money return could be ex- 
pected. Immigration was naturally from the Separa- 
tists, who came slowly. Thus it happened that in 1624 the population 
was 180, and in 1626 it was 300. By this time a desire to disperse and 
settle on the better lands to the northward could not be restrained, 
though Bradford did his best. Men abandoned their house lots as 
they went, and Duxbury and Scituate sprang into thriving existence. 
Each had its own civil and ecclesiastical government like that of 
Plymouth ; and for common affairs of each kind there were represen- 
tative assemblies. To be admitted to citizenship in a town or mem- 
bership in a congregation required a vote of the existing citizens or 
members, as the case might be. 

Meanwhile, much attention was given to colonizing other parts of 
New England. The Plymouth Company of 1606 was reorganized 
in the Council for New England, 1620, and received a 
Other New valuable fishing monopoly. Sir Ferdinando Gorges and 
Settlements. Captain John Mason, king's men and churchmen, were 
the most active members. They made large plans which 
they had not the means of executing. In 1623 a settlement was made 
at Rye, in New Hamsphire, only to fail in 1626. In 1627 an attempt 
was made at Dover and another at York, while fishing stations were 
established at Pemaquid Point and on Monhegan Island. Saco and 
Biddeford soon followed. Other small settlements were Cape Anne, 
1623, Hull, 1625, Salem, 1625, "Merry Mount," near Quincy, 1625, 
and Buzzard's Bay, 1627. Most of them were mere fishing stations, 
and none gave evidence of prosperity. The Council of New England 
could offer them little aid. After granting most of what is now New 
Hampshire and Maine to Mason and Gorges and smaller tracts to 
other persons, it asked the king in 1635 to annul its charter, saying, 
"what remains is only a breathless carcass." From this time we hear 
little more of the council. Most of the lands over which it had juris- 



THE PURITAN MIGRATION 63 

diction had been granted to former members and the council, who now 
held of the king directly. 

The Massachusetts Bay Colony 

The Pilgrims were Separatists, but the Puritans, who founded 
Massachusetts, wished to remain in the established church, although 
they thought to reform its doctrines. They were es- 
pecially earnest against bishops, whom they considered p"ri{an^*^^ 
a relic of popery ; and they resented the wearing of sur- Migration, 
plices. They were very numerous, and Laud, Bishop of 
London and supporter of Charles I in his arbitrary government, 
began to harry the Puritan clergy out of their offices. Thus arose 
the impulse of the Puritan migration to New England, a place where 
prelates would not distress and religion would be preserved in Puritan 
integrity. Yet other motives were present. The New World offered 
wide industrial opportunity, and it seemed to be possible to found a 
government there free from the taint of absolutism which then alarmed 
many Englishmen. The Puritans were generally thrifty and practical 
business men and liberals in their political ideas. Among them, also, 
were many thoughtful and well-educated men who could give reasons 
for the doctrines they held. Of this class was John Winthrop, a 
well-to-do landowner, a former student but not a graduate of Cam- 
bridge, a lawyer, and a wise man of affairs. He would have been a 
leader of any community in which he lived. 

In 1628, before the Puritan migration was planned, six Englishmen, 
among them John Endicott, secured from the Council of New England 
a grant of land bounded on the north by the headwaters of the Merri- 
mac and on the south by the source of the Charles and stretching 
westward to the Pacific. They were authorized to es- 
tablish fisheries, trading stations, and agricultural settle- ^^g^^ts 
ments, and were named the Massachusetts Bay Company, g^y Charter. 
In 1629 the king confirmed the grant and gave the grantees 
civil jurisdiction within the limits of the grant. Endicott with about 
forty others arrived at Naumkeag in September, 1628, to plant the 
first town. He found there the remnant of the Cape Anne settlement 
and the two parties settled together amicably, changing the name of 
the place to Salem. Endicott and his associates were Puritans, but 
up to this time their enterprise had no religious significance. In 1629, 
however, the number of associates was enlarged, and among the new 
members was Winthrop. The struggle between parliament and crown 
was already begun, and many on the former side felt that tyranny 
would certainly triumph and were willing to escape betimes from its 
grasp. In August, 1629, twelve leaders of this group made the Cam- 
bridge Agreement, pledging themselves to emigrate to Massachusetts 
if the company would transfer the government entirely to the settlers. 



64 THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW ENGLAND 

The company accepted the proposal, and the transfer made, John 
Winthrop was elected governor by those who proposed to go with 
him. June 12, 1630, he arrived at Salem with eleven 
e c arter g^pg ^j^^ g^^ settlers. Here, he found, was much dis- 
couragement and some suffering, and he decided to make 
his chief settlement elsewhere. He selected a site at the mouth of the 
Charles and called the place Boston. But it was too small for such a 
large number of settlers, and the colonists dividing into 
S°ttl°d bands settled seven other towns from Salem to Dorchester. 

They did not escape sickness and hunger, and by the 
end of the first winter 200 had died. But the governor strove hard 
to provide food and was able to bring the colony through the winter 
without serious discouragement. After that the growth was rapid, 
and in 1643 the total population was over 16,000. But the outbreak 
of war between parliament and king made it necessary for every 
Puritan to remain in England, and from that time the migration to New 
England was slow. 

Soon after the colony was settled there arose serious difficulty in 
regard to its government. The charter intrusted authority to the 
governor, the assistants of whom there were to be not more 
AConstitu- than eighteen, and the freemen, but it did not define 
tem^Evolved. ^^^ power of each. The same difficulty appeared in other 
colonies, and in them, as in Massachusetts, it had to be 
worked out gradually into a practical solution. Trouble arose when 
Winthrop, a man of strong personality, began to act in important 
affairs on his own initiative. He lent powder to Plymouth, established 
trading stations, and erected fortifications at Boston. Finally, acting 
with the assistants, he levied a tax to pay for fortifications at New- 
town. Watertown refused to pay, claiming that only the freemen 
might lay a tax. Here was defiance in the infant state, and Winthrop 
was not the man to tolerate it. The townsmen were called before 
him and withdrew their protest. But their cause was good and their 
action led to reform. Next year, 1632, the general court, the as- 
sembly of all the freemen, enacted that each town should elect two 
delegates to advise with the governor about taxation. This hardly 
restrained the stout will of the governor, and in 1634 three delegates 
appeared at the general court from each of the eight towns and se- 
cured the adoption by that body of a fundamental reform. Hence- 
forth, of the four courts held each year according to the charter, one, 
attended by all the freemen, was to elect governor, deputy governor, 
and assistants, and the others, composed of delegates from each town, 
was to make laws, grant land, and transact other important public 
business. At first both assistants and delegates sat together, but this 
was changed in 1644, when a bicameral system was adopted and the 
assistants became in reality an upper house. Winthrop and many 
others regretted these changes, for they believed government should 



PURITAN UNIFORMITY 65 

rest with the upper class. But the popular party was strong and did 
not cease its efforts until in 1644 it defeated Winthrop's reelection. 
But in 1646 he was again successful, and retained the governorship 
until he died in 1649. ^^ shall not understand Massachusetts his- 
tory if we do not remember that the colony was long ruled by the ideal 
of an aristocracy of virtue. 

To insure the supremacy of the virtuous it was enacted in 163 1 that 
none but members of a church should be freemen. By this means 
the individual congregations, under the influence of their 
ministers, regulated the suffrage. Joining the church chise."^^"' 
thus became the means of enfranchisement. Although 
this practice must have secured the disfranchisement of the most 
worthless characters, it also excluded those who for conscience sake 
would not join a church, and those who held other than the Puritan 
faith. But such people were not desired in the colony. The settle- 
ment was planned as a Puritan commonwealth, and if non-Puritans 
came they might remain as long as they were quiet, but without the 
suffrage. If they sought to spread another faith, they must be sent 
away. A word must be said for the men who made such laws. The 
fathers of many of them remembered the days when "Bloody Mary" 
burned Protestants at Smithfield, and the religious wars of France 
were only recently extinguished, while a similar struggle in Germany 
was then in its worst stage of horror. Believing in the doctrines for 
which so many lives had been surrendered, they felt justified in safe- 
guarding it in the New World. Massachusetts was not established as 
a home for toleration, but as a well-defended fortress of the Puritan 
faith. 

There was frequent necessity for enforcing imiformity in the early 
years of the colony. European Protestantism at the time was beset 
with schism, and it was natural for the same symptoms to 
appear in America. They were repressed sternly, and the ^"^^"^ ^i 
victims went back to England with loud complaints of j^g views, 
intolerance. But one of the dissenting ones would not 
return. Roger Williams, destined to found Rhode Island as a genuine 
home of tolerance, was a protege of Sir Edward Coke, the famous 
jurist. He had a brilliant career at Cambridge, but refused to take 
orders because he would not support the Establishment. In 163 1 
he became minister at Salem, then preached at Plymouth, and at 
length returned to Salem. He preached the separation of church and 
state, declared that an oath was only to be enforced morally, and said 
that it was a sin to worship according to the foniis of the established 
church. His rigid literalness led him to assert that the soil belonged 
to the Indians, from whom alone the whites could acquire title. 

All this would have aroused the authorities at any time, but in 
1635 it occasioned especial alarm. Excluded schismatics return- 
ing to England had pronounced the colony a nest of separatism, 



66 THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW ENGLAND 

and the Privy Council had in 1634 stopped ten ships about to sail 
until their passengers agreed to conform with the Prayer Book. 

Meanwhile, a commission headed by Laud was appointed 
^^A ^°c°°^ to supervise the colonies in America. The general court 
picion. of Massachusetts, much alarmed, took steps to fortify the 

harbors, but in a short time the tide turned. Good di- 
plomacy had thrust the danger aside, but no one knew when it would 
return. It was not a time for preaching such radicalism as Williams's 
in the colony. The Puritans, claiming that they held the true Eng- 
lish faith, were accustomed at this time to assert rather stoutly their 
accord with the English Church, although, as a matter of fact, they 
had no bishop and paid not the slightest attention to the British 
hierarchy. 

Williams's views inevitably elicited a response, and one of those 
polemic conflicts ensued for which the age was noted. The defender 

of orthodoxy was John Cotton, of Boston, and under his 
Roger Wil- proddings Williams took a still more radical position, 
ished. -^^ began to criticize other ministers ; he advised his own 

flock not to affiliate with other churches, and when some 
of them ignored him he excommunicated them. This was too much, 
even for Salem, and it turned against the minister, who felt impelled 
to resign. He was now summoned before the general court, and re- 
fusing to recant he was ordered into exile in October, 1635. As 
winter was approaching, he was permitted to remain until spring on 
condition that he did not preach his tenets. He seems to have made 
no promise in the matter, but when it was known in January that he 
was instructing a group of twenty persons, perparations were made 
to send him to England. Learning of this he escaped across the snows 
to the Narragansett Indians, who received him kindly. Here, outside 
of Massachusetts, he planted the settlement of Providence. He was 
followed by a small number of friends. 

A more important division was occasioned by Mrs. Anne Hutch- 
inson. Of the best social rank in Boston, she had her following 

among the influential class. She was distinguished for 
Hutchinson ii^ental acumen and piety and showed much ability in 

discussion. Her first achievement was to gather a num- 
ber of women to whom she explained sermons. From that she ad- 
vanced to the teaching of her own doctrines, and soon she had a large 
following, among whom were many men of importance. Then the 
orthodox became alarmed and began to warn the faithful against 
what they declared were her errors. Attack and counter-attack led 
to recrimination and intrigues, in which religion and politics were 
intermingled. At length a council of ministers assembled but did not 
openly condemn her doctrines. In 1635 young Sir Harry Vane 
arrived in Boston and became an adherent of her faith. He was ex- 
ceedingly popular, and in 1636 was elected governor. Thus strength- 



MRS. ANNE HUTCfflNSON 67 

ened, Mrs. Hutchinson's party had probably a majority in Boston, 
but in the other towns the orthodox side was stronger. In 1637, when 
the echoes of the controversy reached all parts of the colony, a synod 
of ministers convened and laid down eighty-nine points of orthodoxy, 
all in repudiation of the teachings of Mrs. Hutchinson, which were 
clearly Antinomian. Against an utterance by the ministers the poli- 
ticians dared not act, and now the weaker of the new sect began to de- 
sert it, among them Rev. John Cotton, of Boston, who had once been 
friendly to the new ideas. In the same year Governor Vane was de- 
feated for reelection by Winthrop, who took a conservative attitude 
in the dispute, and a short time afterwards the rejected candidate 
left Boston for England. In November, 1637, the situation came 
before the general court, which decided that only one form of 
religion should exist in the colony, and declared that the newer 
should go. 

The affair ended with a trial which seems to moderns a judicial 
horror ; but it was held in conformity with the usage of the English 
parliament when it sat to investigate a great and danger- ^^ . , , t^, 
ous matter of state. Mrs. Hutchinson was summoned Hutchinson' 
before the court to explain her doctrines. Had she been 
cautious she might have baffled her opponents; but having a sharp 
tongue she compromised herself by her replies. Being asked, "How 
do you know that it is God that did reveal these things to you and not 
Satan?" she replied, "How did Abraham know that it was God that 
bid him offer his son?" "By an immediate voice," said one of the 
court. "So to me by an immediate revelation," was the rejoinder. 
This was enough. The Puritan held the words of the Bible for the 
highest authority and had no tolerance for those who claimed special 
revelations. Winthrop, presiding over the court, put the question : 
Shall Mrs. Hutchinson be banished from Massachusetts ? and only 
two votes were in the negative. When she asked why she was banished, 
the governor replied : " Say no more. The court knows wherefore and 
is satisfied." Her leading followers were fined or disfranchised. In 
the following spring she was brought before her own church to be dealt 
with as a church member. Broken in spirit by imprisonment and 
isolation, she recanted the most extreme of her doctrines, saying they 
arose from "the height and pride of her spirit." But this availed 
nothing. Several of the most pious ministers present denounced 
her as a liar and she was formally excommunicated. With her family 
she went southward to Narragansett Bay, and when, four years later, 
she and her family were massacred by the Indians the saints of Massa- 
chusetts took it as a judgment from heaven. 

The next important protest against dogmatic uniformity in Massa- 
chusetts came from the Quakers, and it was sternly repressed. The 
death of Winthrop in 1649 and Rev. John Cotton in 1652 left Endi- 
cott, a narrower-minded man, in control. In 1656 came to Boston 



68 THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW ENGLAND 

two Quakers, women, who felt it their duty to "bear witness" in 
that town. They were sent away, but eight others immediately ap- 
peared only to be driven back, also. This caused much anxiety 

among the ruling class, who considered Quakerism espe- 
V^^. ■ cially dangerous. Accordingly, letters were sent to the 
Boston. ' other New England colonies urging that laws be passed 

for the exclusion of the pestiferous heresy. Connecticut, 
New Haven, and Plymouth gave favorable replies, and laws were passed 
to keep the new sect out of their bounds. Massachusetts passed similar 
acts, but as they were continuously violated she finally enacted that 
if any banished Quakers returned to the colony they should suffer 
death. Immediately William Robinson, Marmaduke Stevenson, 
and Mrs. Dyer, wife of the secretary of Rhode Island, appeared in 
Boston. They were ordered to depart, but at once came back and 
were sentenced to be hanged. The two men were executed, 1659 ; 
but Mrs. Dyer was reprieved at the last moment when her son offered 
to take her to her home. In 1660 she returned and suffered martyr- 
dom. Other colonies forbade the Quakers to preach, as Virginia and 
New Netherland, but it was only Massachusetts that put them to 
death. In striking contrast was the course of Rhode Island, which 
made no restriction on liberty of speech. 

The Settlement of Other New England Colonies 

Four settlements, at Providence, Portsmouth, Newport, and War- 
wick, each made by religious refugees from Massachusetts, make up 

the early colony of Rhode Island. The first was es- 
?^°^H tablished by Roger Williams and a small group of fol- 

Founded. lowers in 1636 on lands granted by the Indians. The 

second was made by Mrs. Hutchinson and her fol- 
lowers in 1638, the third by a portion of her followers who left Ports- 
mouth in 1639 and settled along the shore of the excellent harbor of 
Newport, and the fourth was planted in 1638 by Samuel Gorton, an 
insurgent from Massachusetts who could not stand the turbulent 
regime of Providence. There was much discussion among the settlers, 
as was to be expected from men whose very existence was religious 
dissent ; but out of it came a spirit of democracy which left a lasting 
impress on the settlements. They began without charters and had 
no other form of government than what they established by their 
own agreement. In 1643 Roger Williams, on a visit to England, got 
an act of incorporation under the government of the Long Parliament, 
confirming to the people of the four settlements their lands with the 
right to govern themselves in their own way. Under this act a 
common system was organized, and it remained the authority for 
Rhode Island and Providence until in 1663 a more regular charter 
was issued by the king. 



SETTLEMENTS IN CONNECTICUT 65 

Meanwhile, the lands south of Massachusetts and west of Rhode 
Island had attracted settlers. On the Connecticut, Dutch trading 
forts had already been planted where Hartford and 
Wethersfield later stood, and one object of the English jq^^'^^ 
was probably to save this rich valley from the control Connecticut 
of New Amsterdam. The migration was begun in 1636 
when Rev. Thomas Hooker and a large part of his congregation at 
Cambridge sold their lands and moved in a body to the upper Con- 
necticut valley. Other groups from Dorchester, Watertown, and 
Roxbury soon followed, those from the last-named town settling at 
Springfield, which proved to be within the bounds of Massachusetts. 
Out of this movement sprang English settlements at Hartford, Wind- 
sor, and Wethersfield, and later at other places in Connecticut. The 
newcomers did not drive out the Dutch, but in many ways made life 
uncomfortable for them. The river towns of Connecticut in 1639 
adopted a written form of government with a governor, assistants, 
and a law-making general court composed of deputies from the towns. 
The suffrage was to be regulated by the towns. This, it will be seen, 
was but a copy of the Massachusetts system. 

The upper river towns were not planted before still another enter- 
prise was launched at the mouth of the Connecticut. In this region 
the Earl of Warwick held a large tract of land from the Council of 
New England. In 1631 he transferred it to Lord Saye and Sele, 
Lord Brooke, and others, who sent out a colony under John Winthrop, 
Jr. At the mouth of the river it settled the town of Saybrook, and its 
territory was known as the colony of Connecticut. For many years 
it languished through lack of funds. 

A third enterprise was the colony of New Haven, planted in 1638 
by Theophilus Eaton and Rev. John Davenport. It was a strong 
band of immigrants, and they came with great hopes of 
making their port the commercial metropolis of the region. Established. 
But various disasters intervened, and for a time prosperity 
came slowly. In 1646 they built a ship and sent her away with a 
cargo worth 5000 pounds, but nothing further was heard of her. Tradi- 
tion says that once afterwards she appeared as a phantom ship and 
suddenly disappeared as she seemed about to enter the harbor. 

The settlement was founded without charter or land grant, and the 
inhabitants proceeded to constitution -making of their own will. Tak- 
ing the Bible as guide and law book they transformed the 
congregation into a body politic to rule in civil as in eccle- ^^ ^^^ 
siastical affairs. Thus none but church members should grmnent. 
vote, and a committee of seven members was provided with 
authority to determine who should be admitted to church member" 
ship and consequently to the franchise. This oligarchical govern- 
ment remained in force until in 1662 New Haven was merged into 
the Connecticut Colony, when that enterprise got a charter from 



70 THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW ENGLAND 

Charles II. But we must not forget that narrow as the basis of gov- 
ernment was in New Haven, as in other New England colonies, it 
was an honest and beneficent government in most of the affairs of 
life. Its sole severity was in requiring a rigid observance of Puritan 
practices, and to most of the inhabitants this was not a hardship. 

The advance of the whites along the coast alarmed the Pequot 
Indians, who lived in the central part of the present state of Con- 
necticut. The origin of the trouble does not clearly ap- 
The equot ^^^^^ |^^^ ^j^g settlers were convinced that the times 
demanded a most signal chastisement. Massachusetts 
lent a hand, and in 1637 a combined force of whites from Massa- 
chusetts and Connecticut, with 280 Indian allies, ancient foes of the 
Pequots, surprised the enemy in a fort near the Rhode Island bound- 
ary line and of the 400 men, women, and children within it not more 
than five escaped alive. The Pequots were then pursued vigorously. 
Overtaken in a swamp near New Haven, another great slaughter 
occurred, and the result of the two engagements was the complete ex- 
tinction of the Pequot tribe as such. It was grim dealing, but it gave 
the whites peace from the Indians for many years. 

Meanwhile the coasts of New Hampshire and Maine had been 
dotted with fishing and trading villages which gradually grew into 
agricultural towns. In some cases they received fugitives 
New Hamp- fj-Qj^ |-]^g religious persecutions in Massachusetts. These 
Maine. settlements were usually made under the protection of 

Sir Ferdinando Gorges and Captain John Mason, who 
held grants for nearly the whole region, although some were direct 
from the Council of New England. In 1635 Mason obtained con- 
firmation of a grant for the region between Salem and the Piscataqua 
as his own property, and called it New Hampshire. The region be- 
tween the Piscataqua and the Kennebec was confirmed to Gorges and 
called Maine. Massachusetts had a claim to most of the former, 
for her charter fixed her north boundary at an east and west line 
running three miles north of the source of the Merrimac. She did 
not act violently, but when Mason died (1635) and his heirs left the 
New Hampshire towns to shift for themselves, she absorbed them one 
by one, giving protection in exchange for allegiance. In 1647 Gorges 
died and Maine was left without a head. The towns tried for a while 
to maintain a general government of their own, but they were very 
weak, and much disorder appeared. Now Massachusetts realized 
that her hour was come. Assuming the aggressive, in 1652 she ran 
her northern, boundary in keeping with her own claim, and extending 
the line eastward to the ocean, secured the coast towns as far north as 
Saco Bay. The weak settlements to the north of the line remained 
independent for six years, when they also submitted to Massachusetts. 
In all these towns the government was organized on the regular New 
England plan ; but not all of them were of the congregational faith. 



NEW ENGLAND UNION 71 

The Pequot war seems to have been the first occasion of a desire 
for union among the Puritan colonies. Connecticut made such a 
suggestion in 1637, but Massachusetts raised the question 
of boundaries, and it was impossible to find a satisfactory ^^ ^^^~ 
basis of cooperation. In a year or two alarm was felt lest federation, 
the Dutch seize the Connecticut settlements, and the sug- 
gestion was repeated, but with the same results. In 1642 Connecticut 
renewed the request, alleging a general Indian league to crush the 
whites. Then Massachusetts began to relent, and in 1643 the de- 
sired league was fomied without reference to boundaries. To it were 
admitted the colonies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and 
New Haven. New Hampshire and Maine were not taken in because 
they were unlike the leagued colonies "in their ministry and admin- 
istration," and Rhode Island was left out because the inhabitants 
were "tumultuous" and "schismatic." 

The Constitution of the Confederacy provided for a firm and per- 
manent offensive and defensive league, the management of which was 
placed m the hands of two commissioners from each of 
the four colonies. These commissioners by a majority sutution. 
vote of six were to settle questions of war or peace, quotas 
of men and arms, contributions for the general fund, and division of 
the spoils gained in war. Contributions were to be paid by the in- 
dividual colonies in proportion to population, and the confederacy 
was not to interfere in the local affairs of a colony. 

The confederation was in operation for forty years. It did not 
remove all the causes of conflict between the colonies, but it lessened 
them. It stood the test of the terrible war with King Philip, and only 
fell to pieces when the early dangers it was formed to meet were passed. 
Although phrases in the constitution seem to indicate that the framers 
hoped to build up a permanent federal state, the confederacy was, in 
fact, only a league for self-protection. Between the large colony of 
Massachusetts and her small neighbors there was too much latent 
jealousy for permanent cooperation. The latter were vigilant lest 
they lose some of their power, and the requirement that six of the eight 
commissioners should assent to business was an expression of this 
feeling. On the other hand, Massachusetts resented the checks the 
constitution put upon her. She declared that she was forced to as- 
sume a disproportionate part of the common burden. In 1653 the 
commissioners decided to raise troops for an expected war against the 
Dutch, and apportioned the levies of troops so that Massachusetts 
should furnish two-thirds of them. The Bay Colony did not relish 
fighting a war to protect the people of Connecticut, and persuaded 
itself that the war was not necessary. The requisition was accordingly 
ignored in words which strongly remind us of the language in which 
South Carolina justified nullification many years later. There were 
cases of friction which made it clear that it was futile to expect the one 
strong government to yield itself to the direction of three weak ones. 



72 THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW ENGLAND 



New York under the Dutch 

The history of New Amsterdam, as the Dutch called New York, 
begins with the exploration of Henry Hudson, an Englishman in Dutch 
employ, in 1609. In the Half Moon, a "fly-boat " manned 
H^d^^ by eighteen or twenty men, he skirted the coast from 

Newfoundland to Virginia, searching for a northwest 
passage. He entered Delaware Bay, but turned back when he ob- 
served shoals. Northward 125 miles he came to a broad harbor which 
he entered safely. The water was very salt, and he thought it might 
indicate the long-sought passage to other seas. Following its course 
he sailed onward, past beautiful hills and rich plains, until at last he 
was halted by shallows at what is now Albany. From that point a 
small boat proceeded eight leagues, but only proved that no open sea 
lay beyond. 

This exploration revealed to the Dutch the value of the Hudson 
river. With an excellent harbor at its mouth and long water com- 
munication to the interior of the country, it was apparent 
Bf"k^^ that it possessed great advantages in the Indian trade. 
From 1 610 their traders began to frequent the river, 
among them Adriaen Block, a man of much enterprise. In 1613 his 
ship was burned, but he built another in which he began to explore 
the New England waters. He visited Long Island Sound, the Con- 
necticut river. Block Island, which bears his name, and the coast as 
far as Nahant. For his services he received for three years the mo- 
nopoly of the fur trade betweer parallels 40° and 45° north latitude. 
For trading purposes Manhattan Island was of supreme importance, 
and by 1620 it was the center of a fair trade. 

In 162 1 the government of Holland established the Dutch West 
India Company, a trading enterprise, and authorized it to spoil the 
Spaniards and to settle colonies in Africa and the New 
N^T World. It had no special reference to the Hudson river 

Settled. region, but that section naturally attracted attention, and 

in 1623 a small settlement was made on Manhattan Is- 
land. The enterprise was confided by the company to Peter Minuit 
(pronounced Minnewit), the governor, who with five councillors was 
the sole governing body. They were supplemented, however, by a 
schout'fiscal, who arrested and prosecuted delinquents, and a secretary 
who represented the company's financial interests, and between these 
and the governor and council much friction occurred. All these 
officers were appointed by the company, and popular suffrage was 
not granted. The settlement was called New Netherland, and the 
town on Manhattan Island was New Amsterdam. The boundaries of 
the province were indefinite. Soon after his arrival Peter Minuit 
purchased Manhattan Island from the Indians for goods worth $24, 



EARLY DUTCH RULE 73 

and began to erect a fort with a mill and large houses for the com- 
pany's business. 

New Amsterdam grew slowly, for its chief business was the fur 
trade, and agriculturalists were not attracted. In 1629 the company 
tried to promote the settlement of the interior by adopting 
a system of large landed estates. It was provided that system.'^°°'^ 
any member of the company who in four years should carry 
to the colony fifty families at his own expense should have a large 
tract of land over which he should have extensive civil and criminal 
authority under the title of Patroon. He should also have on his 
estate the monopoly of weaving and some exclusive trading privileges. 
It was thus definitely proposed to establish a feudal system of land- 
holding like that of Holland. To encourage the patroons the com- 
pany agreed to furnish them with as many negroes slaves as were 
desired. Under this system the valuable lands around New Amster- 
dam and on the Hudson were quickly absorbed by the most influential 
members of the company. 

Peter Minuit's administration ended in 1632, and he was succeeded 
by Woutervan Twiller, who had married a niece of the great patroon, 
Kiliaen van Rensselaer. He received much opposition 
within the colony, and his peace was also disturbed by the Confusion 
encroachments of the New England men in Connecticut ^wUier and 
and the threats of Virginians who resented the presence Kieft. 
of the Dutch in the Delaware. He was glad to retire 
from his unhappy position, and regarded with complacency the 
troubles of William Kieft, his successor, who arrived in 1638. Under 
him occurred a war with the Indians, who fought to save their hunt- 
ing ground from the advance of the whites. The easy-going Dutch 
were slow to fight, and only Kieft's insistence brought the council to a 
declaration of war. In battle the settlers were not efficient, and at 
last Kieft called in Captain John Underbill, a soldier of fortune from 
New England, who took prominent part against the Pequots. He 
collected 150 soldiers, surprised and destroyed an Indian village at 
Strickland's Plains, and of the 500 inhabitants only eight j^jj^^-^^ 
are said to have escaped. In this war the settlers built a 
wall across the lower end of Manhattan Island to protect their fields 
and houses. Its memory is perpetuated in the name of Wall Street. 
In 1646 peace was made with the savages, but already the colony 
was in dire distress. The inhabitants of New Amsterdam were about 
400, and among them a visitor heard eighteen languages. They were 
discontented, and assailed Kieft bitterly. As sole ruler with the Coun- 
cil he was held responsible for all the evils that came, and the truth is, 
he was not a man to exercise despotism benevolently. In 1647 he 
was succeeded by Peter Stuyvesant. 

The new governor began by declaring that he would rule as a father 
over his children. He promulgated many ordinances against intern- 



74 THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW ENGLAND 

perance, but they were not enforced, and it was charged that he 
himself received money to wink at their infraction. He required the 
Indian traders to have licenses from the governor, which 
2^^^^°^ t proved an advantage to his private purse. But he dared not 
of his own power levy taxes, and out of this feeling came a 
step in constitutional development. He asked the people to elect 
eighteen men from whom he and the Council selected nine to advise 
with them in the government, their successors to be chosen by them- 
selves and the governor and council. Thus was created the Nine 
Men, destined to be a thorn in his side. But the desire for self-govern- 
ment was not satisfied, and at length a leader of the liberals appeared 
in Adrian van der Donck, president of the Nine. In 1649 he went to 
Holland with a petition, asking the government to take the colony 
out of the hands of the Company and give it just laws. He also carried 
a severe arraignment of Stuyvesant, whose irritable tem- 
Demandfor pgj. ^j^^^ covetousness gave ample grounds of complaint. 
Government. ^^ ^^5^ his efforts succeeded so far that municipal privi- 
leges were granted to New Amsterdam, but the governor 
was allowed to appoint the officials. His despotism was nowise 
lessened by the creation of this body of subordinates. The next year 
an attack by the English seemed imminent, and Stuyvesant per- 
mitted delegates from the towns and villages to meet to provide means 
of defense. But the assembly took up the state of the colony instead, 
and sent a memorial to the governor, severely arraigning the existing 
system. An exchange of arguments followed, in which the governor's 
aversion to popular government was made very plain, and the result 
of the agitation was nothing. The existing despotism continued until 
the end of Dutch control, 1664. 

Religious bigotry was added to the stout old governor's love of 
power. He hated the Lutherans, Independents, and Baptists, and 
issued a proclamation that no public religious meetings 
Religious should be held except those in accordance with the Dutch 
tions. Reform Church. The ordinance was often evaded, and 

there were some notable cases in which its violation was 
severely punished. The worst was that of Robert Hodshone, a 
Quaker, who, for preaching at Hemstead, Long Island, was sentenced 
by the governor to two years of hard labor. When he refused to work 
he was beaten on three successive days until he fell to his feet. Then 
taken before the governor he would speak when told to hold his tongue, 
for which he was hung up by his hands and beaten until his back was 
raw. This also was repeated until the popular mind sickened of it. 
At last the governor's sister interceded, and Hodshone was allowed 
to go out of the province. Spite of such severities the dissenting 
churches in New Netherland grew stronger. 

From conflicts with the settlements around New Amsterdam the 
efforts of Stuyvesant were drawn to the protection of his boundaries 



DISSATISFACTION IN NEW NETHERLAND 75 

north and east. The Delaware Bay, as well as the Connecticut 
river, were both within the charter limits of New Netherland, though 
neither was settled by an agricultural colony. To the 
former came in 1638 fifty Swedish settlers under Peter V^^ .. . 
Minuit, formerly governor of New Amsterdam, planting settlements, 
near the site of Wilmington the town of Christina. 
At that time Sweden was a leading factor in the Thirty Years' 
War, and her colony was not disturbed. But the war ended in 1648, 
and the Dutch within a few years made plans to seize the intrud- 
ing settlements. In 1655 Governor Stuyvesant went against them 
with a largely superior force and easily compelled their submission. 
Sweden was in no position to retake what was lost, and the incipient 
colonial establishment came to an end. 

With the English on the Connecticut Stuyvesant had less success. 
The Dutch trading fort at Hartford, Fort Good Hope, was completely 
isolated by planting the English settlements on the 
river; but it remained undisturbed, flying the Dutch ciuded^rom 
flag and taking what share it could of the Indian trade Connecticut, 
until 1654. In that year, war between Holland and 
England being in progress, the colonists seized Fort Good Hope, 
and with that Dutch possessions in New England passed out of exist- 
ence. Governor Stuyvesant's patriotism suffered a severe shock 
in this calamity. For several years the English settlements had been 
moving westward along the shores of Long Island Sound as far as 
Greenwich and throughout the eastern half of Long Island, — addi- 
tional evidence of the humiliation of Dutch power. Into ^j^^ English 
the New Netherland settlements themselves English- on Long 
men penetrated and became a large part of the element island, 
in opposition to Stuyvesant's despotic rule. 

The situation in the colony invited an attempt at conquest by the 
English, and the Connecticut colonies were anxious to have it made 
by the New England Confederacy ; but Massachusetts 
held back. Then appeal was made to England, and in 1654 f "g^g^i^g ° 
the government was induced to undertake an expedition, jjg^ 
but peace with Holland was made before it could arrive. Netherland. 
Now followed ten years of quiet, during which New 
Netherland continued to offend against the British navigation 
laws. The English had never given up their claim to the whole 
coast and the Dutch colony was within the formal bounds of both 
New England and Virginia. Why should it continue to defy British 
power? The answer came in 1664 when the king, Charles II, 
granted it to his brother, the Duke of York, together with jurisdic- 
tion over New England itself. 

The Duke acted vigorously. Colonel Richard NicoUs was appointed 
his deputy-governor, and August 18, 1664, arrived before New Amster- 
dam with three vessels of war and an adequate body of soldiers. He 



76 THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW ENGLAND ' 

was joined by men from Connecticut, and word came that Massa- 
chusetts would also send aid. At the same time the Englishmen on 
Long Island were arming, and throughout the Dutch villages them- 
selves was apparent a determination to help the English in wiping 
out the rule of the Dutch West India Company. Stuyvesant was in 
a rage. He ordered all the citizens to work on the fortifications, 
and was determined to fight to the last. But the burgomasters 
of the town realized the impossibility of defense, and when Nicolls 
by letter offered the Dutch all the liberties of Englishmen, with inter- 
course with Holland, they asked to see the letter. Stuyvesant tore 
it into bits and said he would rather "be carried out dead " than yield 
to the men around him. He ordered the guns of the fort to open 
fire, but he was led away from the ramparts before they could be 
discharged, and August 29 the town was surrendered. A short 
time later the forts on the Delaware capitulated, and the English 
flag floated from Florida to Maine. 

Early Relations of the Colonies with England 

By an old principle of English law all land in the kingdom not 
otherwise granted belonged to the crown. Under it the king created 

fiefs at will and gave the grantees authority to establish 
'T^® . local governments. When the American continent was 

defend on added to the English domain it fell under this rule. Its 
the King. lands became king's lands, and were subject to his disposal. 

It was, therefore, the crown and not parliament which 
created the American colonies and gave them their forms of govern- 
ment. Having created the colonies, the crown, acting through 
the Privy Council, provided the rules under which they continued to 
exist, and supervised them in such ways as were compatible with the 
charters. Matters of trade, however, were ever near to the British 
heart and were jealously maintained by parliament, so that in regard 
to colonial trade parliament was supreme. In most other things 
the colonies must look to the crown. 

The king contributed little to the support of the colonies. Virginia 
was planted by a company of private individuals, actuated partly 

by philanthropic and partly by commercial purposes. 
Little Aid^^^ Maryland was the enterprise of the Calverts, who wished 

to found a home for Catholics and incidentally to establish 
a great and permanent landed estate. New England was settled 
by groups of Puritans who wished to have happy and prosperous 
homes in which they might worship in their own faith. To each 
enterprise the king gave his sanction and his blessing, but nothing 
more. American colonization in its earliest days was not an enter- 
prise of the crown. 

When the colonies were safely established and it was seen that 



BRITISH COLONIAL SUPERVISION 77 

another England was growing up beyond the sea, the king began 
to take a larger interest in them. Virginia fell into his hands when 
the charter was annulled in 1624, not so much because 
James I had a definite desire to direct the colony as Colonies to 
because he hated the liberal government established by under^oyal 
the company. His successor, Charles I, came to see that Oversight, 
some kind of colonial supervision ought to be provided, 
and appointed a commission, with Laud at its head, to make laws 
for all the colonies, regulate their religion, appoint their judges, and 
remove their governors when advisable. In the turbulent times 
then existing the commission did nothing. In 1643 the Long 
Parliament took up the subject and appointed the Earl of Warwick 
governor over all the colonies. He was to be assisted inoperative 
by seventeen commissioners with wide governing powers. Commis- 
Much occupied with other things Warwick seems sions. 
to have done little in regard to colonial affairs, which after the 
restoration were placed in the hands of a Council for Foreign Planta- 
tions, an advisory body reporting to the Privy Council. It showed 
little capacity, and in 1675 was superseded by a standing committee 
of the council, known as the Lords of Trade, which proved far more 
industrious. Most of the colonies, it must be remembered, existed 
under charters, which might be forfeited if certain conditions 
were violated. It was the duty of Lords of Trade to 
inform themselves of colonial affairs and report to the ^^ xrade ^ 
king a violation of a charter. Over a royal colony the 
Lords had a larger jurisdiction. They prepared, or saw, the instruc- 
tions to a royal governor, passed on the laws of an assembly in a 
royal province, advised the king whether or not such laws should be 
allowed, and had a large influence in the appointment of officials. 
Over the colonies generally they had a broad supervision, informing 
themselves about the conditions of trade, making suggestions for the 
better execution of the navigation acts, interfering in disputes between 
colonies, and, in short, seeking to evolve a system of colonial adminis- 
tration which should embody the best results for both the colonies 
and the British nation. In 1696 the Lords of Trade were reorganized 
into the Commissioners of Trade and Plantations, a board independ- 
ent of the Privy Council. As the English cabinet developed, the 
functions of commissioners decreased. Finally in 1768 a colonial 
secretary of state became the head of colonial affairs. 

The Puritan revolution in England, by overthrowing Laud's 
power, probably saved the colonies from an attempt to ^j^^ 
bring them under an active dependence on the crown, colonies 
It left New England undisturbed, and dealt gently with and the 
Virginia, where Charles II had been proclaimed king, and Puritan ^ 
with Maryland, whose Catholic proprietor was after a ®^°" °°* 
while confirmed in his rights. The parliamentary party, in fact, 



78 THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW ENGLAND 

was too busy with its troubles in England to interfere with government 
in the colonies. But it adopted the navigation ordinances of 1651, 
which had, if enforced, a decided influence on their commerce. 

In a struggle against a king who laid taxes arbitrarily the English 
merchants took a leading part, and they had a corresponding influence 

in the revolutionary government. It was to please them 
Navigation |.]^g^^ parliament undertook to make the colonial trade 
of 1651. inure to the benefit of English traders. Sporadic laws 

of the same import had existed for years; but the recent 
wide growth of the colonies gave them a new significance, and a new 
law was made. It provided: (i) that no goods produced in Asia, 
Africa, or America, including the colonies, should be brought into any 
British port in any but English owned and manned ships; (2) that 
no European goods should be taken to England or the British posses- 
sions in any but English ships or in the ships of the country in which 
the goods were produced ; (3) the coasting trade in British dominions 
should be limited to British ships; and (4) no salted fish, oil, or 
whale products should be brought into the British dominions that 
were not taken in English ships — nor should they be exported in any 
but English ships. The plain purport of this law was to limit the 
English and colonial trade to English channels for the profit of English 
merchants. The restriction, however, was not enforced. Foreign 
vessels could not be excluded from colonial ports without efficient 
police service, and so lax was the execution of the law that we may 
wonder if it was intended to apply to the colonies. 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

The most commendable general authorities are : Channing, History of the United 
States, vol. I (1905), new and reHable; Osgood, The American Colonies in the Seven- 
teenth Century, 3 vols. (1904-1907) ; Avery, History of the United States and Its People, 
7 vols. (1904 — ), valuable for its maps; Tyler, England in America (1904) ; Doyle, 
English Colonies in America, 5 vols. (1882-1907) ; Palfrey, History of New England 
during the Stuart Dynasty, 3 vols. (1858-1864) ; Chalmers, Political Annals of the 
American Colonies (1780), an old work based on original sources, but still useful; 
Fiske, Beginnings of New England (1889) ; Ibid., The Dutch and Quaker Colonies, 
2 vols. (1899) ; Hildreth, History of the United States, 6 vols. (1849-1852) ; Bancroft, 
History of the United States, 10 vols. (1834-1874) ; Lodge, Short History of the English 
Colonies (1902), a useful manual; and The Cambridge Modern History, vol. VII 
(1903)-. 

The important general collections of sources are the British government's Cal- 
endars of State Papers, Colonial Series, America atid West Indies, 15 74-1 701, 
14 vols. (1860-1910), and Force, Tracts, 4 vols. (1836-1846). On New England, 
see: Records of Plymouth, 12 vols. (1855-1859) ; Records of Massachusetts 
Bay, s vols. (1853-1854) : Collections (1792 — ) and Proceedings (1791 — ) of the 
Massachusetts Historical Society and the Proceedings of the American Antiquarian 
Society (1849 — ); Records of the Colony of Rhode Island, 10 vols. (1856-1865); 
Colonial Records of New Haven, 15 vols. (1850-1890); Collections and Reports 
of the Connecticut Historical Society; Records of the Colony of New Haven, 2 vols. 
(1857-1858) ; Documentary History of the State of New York, 4 vols. (1849-1851) ; 
Documents Relative to the Colonial History of New York, 14 vols., and inde.x (1853- 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 79 

1861) ; Records of New Amsterdam, 7 vols. (1897) ; and the Collections, ist series, 
5 vols., and Publication Fund Series (37 vols.) of the New York Historical Society. 
See also Poore, Federal and State Charters, 2 vols. (1877), and MacDonald, Select 
Charters (1899). 

Contemporary narratives are: Bradford, PUmoulh Plantation, begun in 1630, 
discovered in England in 1855, best edition by W. C. Ford, 2 vols. (191 2) ; Mourt's 
Relation, by Bradford and Winslow, sent back to England in the "Mayflower"; 
Winslow, Hypocrisy Unmasked; and Winthrop, History of New England. The 
history of separate colonies is given in Belknap, History of New Hampshire, 3 vols, 
(i 784-1 792); Hutchinson, The Colony of Massachusetts Bay, 3 vols. (1764- 
1828); Barry, History of Massachusetts, 3 vols. (1855-1857); Goodwin, The 
Pilgrim Republic (1888) ; Richman, Rhode Island, its Making and Meaning, 2 vols. 
(1902) ; Arnold, History of Rhode Island, 2 vols. (ed. 1894) ; Trumbull, History of 
Connecticut, 2 vols, (ed. 1898) ; Atwater, History of New Haven (ed. 1901) ; O'Cal- 
laghan. History of New Netherland, 2 vols. (ed. 1855) ; and Brodhead, History 
of the State of Nerw York, 2 vols. (1872). 

For Independent Reading 

Fiske, Beginnings of New England (1889); Ibid., Dutch and Quaker Colonies, 
2 vols. (1899) ; Adams, Massachusetts, its Historians and History (1893) ; Straus, 
Roger Williams, the Pioneer of Religious Liberty (1894) ; Goodwin, The Pilgrim 
Republic (1888) ; Twichell, John Winthrop (1891) ; and Eggleston, The Beginners 
of a Nation (1897). 



CHAPTER V 

COLONIAL PROGRESS UNDER THE LATER STUARTS, 1660-1689 
Charles II and the Colonies 

When called to the throne Charles II was in no position to continue 
his father's strong policy either at home or in the colonies. He 

accordingly left the government of the latter in statu 
N®'' quo, and was content to increase the means of making 

c"fnies them yield to him a revenue. To Connecticut and 
Undisturbed. Rhode Island he gave charters confirming their former 

liberal institutions, and they were .so satisfactory that they 
served as state constitutions until 1818 and 1842 respectively. 
The former was also notable in that it united Connecticut and New 
Haven in one government. For a time the Massachusetts charter 
seemed in danger of annulment because members of the Anglican 
church could not vote, but negotiation led to a compromise by which 
the general court enacted that all persons of property and good char- 
acter should have the right to vote. But since a regular minister 
must vouch for an applicant's good character it is likely that the 
spirit of the law was nearly as restrictive as ever. 

Virginia and Maryland, loyal enough, had nothing to fear in the 
nature of constitutional change, but they were powerfully affected 

by the king's desire for money. Heavy British taxes were 
Virginia and levied on tobacco, already selling at ruinously low prices. 
Burdened. That which was used in England paid a tax of one shilling, 

ten pence a pound, and that which was reexported paid 
ten and a half pence. At this time a large recent immigration to 
Virginia and Maryland had raised the supply of tobacco beyond 
ordinary demands, and this tended to increase the distress of the 
planters. To discharge his obligations to his courtiers, Charles 
granted the quitrents and escheats of all Virginia to Lord Arlington 
and Lord Culpeper for thirty-one years. These hard measures 
were received with dismay by people to whom Stuart loyalty had been 
little less than a religion. They became discontented, and violated 
the navigation acts as freely as the traders of New England. 

The influence of the merchants was enough to secure the continu- 
ation of the navigation policy of Cromwell. The ordinance of 1651 
was reenacted, for the legality of recent parliamentary action was 

80 



FIRST YEARS OF THE RESTORx\TION 8i 

not granted, and to it was added the important amendment that 
tobacco, sugar, and other enumerated colonial products destined 
for a foreign port must first be landed in England, ^j^^ ^^ ._ 
Ireland, or some colony other than that in which gation Acts 
they were produced. The significance of this amendment of 1660, 
was that no enumerated product could be carried to for- ^^^3. 
eign countries in foreign ships, which meant that foreign '^^' 
ships would not bring their own products to the colonies because they 
could not get return cargoes. It also meant that colony ships could 
take enumerated products to British ports alone. The fact that goods 
from the continent could go to the colonies in British vessels and 
that colony ships could take goods from the continent to the colonies, 
led to violation of the law : ships could hardly be expected to make 
the return voyage in ballast when opportunity of evasion was so easy. 
To meet the difficulty a new law in 1663 provided that European 
goods with a few exceptions should only go to the colonies from 
England in English and colonial ships. The act of 1660 meant that 
enumerated products should be sold in England, and that of 1663 meant 
that all colony importations should come from England. The evasions 
of these laws in the colonies led to a third act, passed in 1673. It 
required every ship captain loading tobacco, sugar, or other enumerated 
colonial products either to give bond for landing them in England 
or to pay stipulated duties on the spot. In this way it was intended 
to make colonial trade yield profit to the British importers, exporters, 
and ship owners, as well as to the king's revenues. It was a theory 
of the time that a colony planted by the mother country and protected 
by it should in return yield advantages of trade. This policy, in 
connection with the new system of import duties, was expected to 
add largely to the king's revenues. It should be remembered, how- 
ever, that tobacco was the only enumerated article produced in the 
mainland colonies. The navigation acts did not apply to fish, timber, 
fur, wheat, pork, beef, and many other exported articles. 

When Charles came to the throne his colonies in America were 
Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Plymouth, New Haven, Con- 
necticut, and Rhode Island, and to these New York, as 

we have seen, was soon to be added. But there were n^^ .. 
•11 • 1 • 1 • 1 -r^ !• 1 11 Colonies, 

still vast regions on the coast in which Englishmen had 

not settled. Out of these unsettled parts Charles created three 

new colonies, Carolina, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, all proprietary 

colonies granted to some of the leading noblemen of the court. It 

was not so much to promote colonization as to advance the interests 

of the grantees that these colonies were chartered. 

The model of the proprietary colony was the county Palatine of 

Durham, in England, over which the Bishop of Durham ruled under 

the king. Whatever the king might do in England, ran the motto 

of the law, the bishop might do in Durham. But in the proprietary 



82 COLONIAL PROGRESS UNDER LATER STUARTS 

charters the right of the proprietor was limited by the provision that 
he must make laws "by and with the consent of the freemen." 
By this provision these colonies, as well as the others, 
The Pro- were able to secure the right to make laws in their own 
Colony^ assemblies subject to the veto of the proprietors. Be- 
sides the colonies mentioned. New York, after its con- 
quest from the Dutch, and Maryland, from the beginning, were 
proprietary. This kind of colony was thought to have the ad- 
vantage of powerful aid from its owners in its early stages; but 
experience showed that the proprietors were more concerned to make 
money out of their colonies than to spend it on them. They were, 
also, not successful in keeping order, having no other military force 
than they could summon from among the inhabitants themselves. 
In Carolina this was especially true, and the end of proprietary rule 
there was a blessing. 

In 1629 the king granted Carolana, as he named it, to Sir Robert 
Heath, but the grant lapsed for want of efforts to people the region 
granted. In 1663 Charles II regranted it to eight nobles, 
Una Grant Ashley, Albemarle, Clarendon, John Berkeley, William 
Berkeley, Carteret, Craven, and Colleton. The bounds 
were latitude 36° on the north and 31" on the south, and it extended 
to the Pacific. It was seen on examination that the southern limits 
of Virginia was latitude 36° 30', and a new charter issued in 1665 with 
that line for the northern boundary of Carolina, as it was now called. 
Thus the region between Virginia and Florida was opened to settle- 
ment. 

The proprietors had dreams of building a feudal state. Under 
the guidance of Ashley, now the Earl of Shaftesbury, the funda- 
mental constitutions were prepared by John Locke, 
'^^^taTcf^" ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ early stage of his brilliant career. They pro- 
stitutions, vided for a feudal hierarchy, at the bottom of which should 
be the freemen and at the top three ranks of high landed 
lords with overwhelming power in political affairs. The system 
was highly theoretical, and the proprietors did not expect it to be 
in force at once. It was sent out to their agents with instructions 
to put into force as much of it as possible. The agents published 
it and the Carolina assemblies possibly gave it formal recognition, 
but the system was never in actual use, and very few of the land- 
gravers and caciques, the higher ranks of nobility provided for, were 
appointed in Carolina. 

Meanwhile, the ordinary forces of frontier life were 
mari^^^" carrying population to Carolina. As early as 1654 men 
Settlement, ^rom Virginia had taken land on the northern shore 
of Albemarle Sound, first securing grants from the In- 
dians. In 1665 the proprietors sent them a government and author- 
ized an assembly for the " County of Albemarle." From that time a 



THE CAROLINA SETTLEMENTS 83 

steady but slow stream of population arrived from Virginia, mostly 
poor persons who found the frontier more congenial than the aristo- 
cratic life on the James. The harbors were bad, and communication 
with Europe was chiefly through Virginia. The people were mostly 
dissenters or members of no church. They were intolerant of the 
attempts of the proprietors to rule them, and there was much commo- 
tion throughout the sixty-six years of proprietary rule. It was as 
democratic a society as was planted on the coast. About 1690 the 
Albemarle settlements, now expanded to the southward of the Sound, 
began to be called North Carolina, and at a later period 
Cape Romaine was fixed as the dividing point between Carolina, 
the two Carolinas. Thus the Cape Fear river, its only 
good means of access to the sea, went to the northern province. 
It had been the scene of a futile attempt at colonization as early as 
1664, and from that time remained unsettled until 1725. It had 
water communication with the interior of the colony, and had the 
first settlements been placed here, and not in the isolated north- 
eastern corner, it seems certain that the early history of North Caro- 
lina would have been different. 

In 1670 Charleston was settled by an expedition under William 
Sayle. It grew steadily from the beginning, although it received 
little aid from the proprietors beyond the first cost of 
transportation to America. In 1680 French Huguenots Carolina 
began to arrive, settling chiefly on the Santee river. The settled, 
fertile soil and mild climate of the two Carolinas proved 
very advantageous to the settlers, who, following the custom in 
other colonies, placed themselves along the navigable streams, where 
the bottom lands were richest. The people enjoyed abundance, 
and in South Carolina men of business ability among the colonists 
made fortunes easily. Their emergence out of the mass of "adven- 
turers" was facilitated by the easy access to markets and the early 
introduction of slaves as a cheap and permanent labor supply. 
About 1693 rice began to be raised with profit. It was a staple 
product, commanding a ready market in all parts of Europe, and it 
played the part in South Carolina that tobacco played in Virginia 
and Maryland. The Albemarle settlers did not raise either rice or 
tobacco in considerable quantities. 

The English conquest of New Netherland did not bring with it 
as much liberal government as the English living under the Dutch 
regime had expected. The Duke of York by his patent 
from the king was constituted lord proprietor with power i^^yj^^.g 
almost absolute. He, however, dared not lay taxes Laws." 
and give orders arbitrarily, lest his subjects be forced into 
rebellion. His representative in the colony was Colonel Richard 
NicoUs, the governor, an astute man whose tact did much to 
make the rule of the proprietor bearable. He had promised the 



84 COLONIAL PROGRESS UNDER LATER STUARTS 

people of Long Island self-government, and to redeem his promise 
in form published the "Duke's Laws," as they were called. They 
allowed the popular election of local constables and overseers, but made 
them accountable to the governor, and they provided for trial by 
jury. More important still, the judges were to be appointed by the 
governor, and to them, sitting in one body, or assize, was intrusted 
the law-making function, subject to the approval of the governor. 
This system, which fell far short of representative government, was 
soon extended to the entire colony. It did not satisfy the people, 
but it was better than the Dutch rule, and the tact of Governor Nicolls 
did much to lull the popular discontent. He returned to England in 
1668. 

In 1672 England began a war with Holland, and the next year 
the Dutch appeared before New York with 23 ships and 1200 men. 
The governor was absent in New England, and his repre- 
Kew York sentative, without an adequate force to defend the place, 
conquered surrendered after a feeble resistance in which one English- 
D^thb t ^^^ ^^^ killed. The old Dutch system of government 
restored to was reestablished, and the name of the town of New York 
England. was changed to New Orange. But when peace was made 
in 1674 New York was restored to England, and the 
king issued a new charter granting it to the Duke of York, who in 
turn reissued "the Duke's Laws." At this time Edmund Andros 
became governor, and ruled until he was succeeded in 1681 by Thomas 
Dongan. Both men were loyal servants of the proprietor and 
administered the government successfully. But the people continued 
to ask for an elective assembly. To their request the duke turned 
a deaf ear, saying that assemblies were dangerous things and often 
disturbing to good government. Under his direction the seat of 
power was the governor and council, who made the appointments 
and constituted a narrow and powerful aristocracy. 

The advocates of liberal government gained steadily in power, 
and in 1681 their opportunity came. While Governor Andros was in 
England to answer charges against his official conduct, the merchants, 
seizing on a technicality, refused to pay the duties he 
Struggle Yiad imposed as the representative of the Duke. A strong 
Assembly, petition was sent to England praying that New York 
might be governed as other colonies by a governor, council, 
and assembly, and urging that no duties ought to be taken without the 
consent of the representatives of the people. The proprietor was 
sensibly touched by the failure of revenue, and 1682 granted the peti- 
tion but with notable restrictions. The assembly was to meet and 
be dissolved at the order of the governor, the revenue raised should be 
at the disposal of the proprietor, and all laws must be approved by 
governor and proprietor. Under this system, the first assembly of 
New York met in 1683. Fifteen of its acts are preserved. One of 



NEW JERSEY SETTLED 85 

them, known as the "Charter of Liberties," established the authority 
of the assembly, guaranteed triennial sessions, and provided for 
freedom of conscience and the popular assent to taxes. The whole 
fifteen seem to have been approved at first by the Duke of York, but 
before they were registered he became James II, and New York 
became a royal province. The laws now went before the Committee 
of Trade, which found that the "Charter of Liberties" asserted too 
definitely the right of the assembly to govern the colony. In fact, 
at that time there was in England a tendency to reduce the powers 
of colonial assemblies ; and since James II as king did not need his 
colonial revenue, the "charter" was disallowed. When Governor 
Dongan in 1686 received a new commission, being nowa royal governor, 
he was authorized to make the laws for the colony. Thus ended 
for the Stuart period the progress of liberal government in New York. 

In 1664, the year New York was granted to the Duke, that part of 
it which now comprises New Jersey was by the grantee transferred 
to Lord John Berkeley and Sir George Carteret and called 
New Jersey, from the Island of Jersey, which Carteret Settlement 
had bravely defended during the Puritan wars. The jersey. 
governor of New York protested in the name of his superior 
that the grant only passed title to the land, but Berkeley and Carteret 
insisted that it conferred on them the rights of government as well, 
and they proceeded to organize the government of New Jersey, with 
a governor, council, assembly, and local officers. The dispute was 
finally settled in their favor. Some settlers were already within the 
colony, Dutch and English, and more came. Among them were 
many New England men who brought in the democratic spirit of 
their former homes. At length the two proprietors divided their 
holding. Then Berkeley sold his share, the western 
part, to four prominent Quakers, among them William ^st^^^ 
Penn. In 1682 East Jersey was purchased by Quakers jersey, 
from the Carteret heirs, and soon after a small remnant 
was acquired from Fenwick, who held by a previous grant from 
Berkeley. Thus the two Jerseys became Quaker colonies. In the 
eastern part the settlers were chiefly New Englanders, in the western 
part they were Quakers. Both sections enjoyed religious liberty and 
prospered under a liberal form of government. 

But William Penn was not satisfied with a colony depending so 
largely on charters badly defined, and in 1681 he secured from King 
Charles a patent for Pennsylvania, west of the Delaware, 
and made plans to build a commonwealth on Quaker charter 
principles. The name was given by the king himself, 
much to the chagrin of Penn, who wished to avoid a semblance of 
vanity. The grant was evidently to satisfy the king's debt to 
Penn's father, who had been a British admiral. It gave Penn, the 
sole proprietor, ample power to devise a government. But recent 



86 COLONIAL PROGRESS UNDER LATER STUARTS 

experiences had taught the king that a colony was capable of becom- 
ing quite an independent affair, and it was provided that the Penn- 
sylvania laws be submitted to the king, that the navigation acts be 
enforced, and that the supremacy of Parliament be recognized. 

Penn's terms to attract colonists were liberal. To those English- 
men, Swedes, and Dutchmen who were already in the region ceded he 
offered assurances of protection, and in 1681 he sent them a governor. 
[n England he himself was ceaselessly active in measures to attract 

immigrants. His position among the Quakers was such 
f'^S^ttier^s ^^^^^ ^^^ invitation must be heard. It was sent forth 

with persuasive charms. Let all thrifty men, he said, 
who wished to establish prosperous homes in a new land and all who 
would live in just equality with their neighbors come to Pennsylvania. 
No religious discrimination should be made against any man who 
acknowledged the existence of God, but only Christians could take 
part in government. His ideas of good government were embodied 
in a published "Frame of Government." "Any government," he 
said, "is free to the people under it, whatever be the frame, where 
the laws rule and the people are a party to those laws, and more than 
this is tyranny, oligarchy, or confusion." To an age keenly alive to 
the dangers of the doctrine of divine right of kings this must have 
been a voice of comfort. 

In 1682 Penn himself arrived in Pennsylvania, accompanied by 
about one hundred colonists. In 1682 he had acquired what is now 

Delaware from the Duke of York, in order that his colony 
Arrival of flight have sea front ; and he first visited the settlements 

already planted about New Castle. Having confirmed 
the government of the three "Lower Counties," i.e. Delaware, 
he went on to Philadelphia, the site of which had already been 
selected under his directions at the confluence of the Schuylkill and 
Delaware rivers. Its broad streets, at right angles with one another, 
gave the place an air of dignity which long impressed visitors. It was 
Penn's desire that each dwelling should be in the center of a garden 
in order that Philadelphia might be "a green country town, which 
will never be burned and always be wholesome." He gave careful 
supervision to all that pertained to the colony, and said in seven 
years, "with the help of God," Pennsylvania would equal her neigh- 
bors in population. The boast was not too large, for immigrants 
came in large numbers, and in three years the population exceeded 
eight thousand. 

Penn's benevolence was seen in his policy toward the natives. He 
took no land without making treaties in which he gave articles of 

value to the savages. One treaty, in June, 1683, probably 
ttiTindians ^^ Shackamaxon, now Kensington, became famous, and 

tradition long referred to the " Treaty Elm " under which 
it was made. The result of this policy was uninterrupted peace 



EARLY PENNSYLVANIA GOVERNMENT 87 

with the Indians of eastern Pennsylvania. It was supported 
by the sobriety of the inhabitants and by the absence of frontier 
land squatters who occasioned most of the Indian wars in other 
colonies. 

Penn's "Frame of Government" provided for a council of 72 mem- 
bers and an assembly of 200, all elected by the freeholders. Like the 
Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina, it was drawn 
for a large colony and without reference to actual con- Seif-Gov- 
ditions in a new country. Penn did not attempt to put pe'^g'^V" 
it into operation. His first assembly, which met in De- vania. 
cember, 1682, consisted of a council of eighteen members 
and a lower house of 54, all elected by the settlers. To this body he 
gave the privilege of preparing the government of the colony, with 
the result that a "Great Charter" was enacted by the assembly, 
April 8, 1683, in which all the functions of government were provided 
for by the representatives of the people. Penn accepted it, for he 
wished for nothing more than that men should govern themselves in 
their own way, but in a spirit of enlightened benevolence. However, 
his personal influence had much to do with the form of government 
adopted. Another measure of this first assembly was to incorporate 
the Lower Counties with Pennsylvania. It was action very objec- 
tionable to the people of the Counties themselves, and ,- 
they soon began an agitation which resulted, early in the 
next century, in their separation as a distinct colony though still under 
the governor appointed by Penn for Pennsylvania. 

Meanwhile, Penn was called to England, partly to relieve his dis- 
tressed brethren through his personal influence with the Duke of 
York and partly to arrange a boundary dispute with Lord 
Baltimore. In the first instance he was easily successful ; ^^'^ ^®" 
for 1200 Quakers were released from prison through his England, 
intercessions. In the second he was also successful, but 
it was many years before the victory was secured. The controversy 
with Lord Baltimore goes back to the grant of 168 1, which undoubtedly 
included within Pennsylvania lands Charles I had granted to Mary- 
land. The fortieth parallel of latitude marked Maryland's northern 
boundary by the charter of 1632 ; but Penn's charter pro- 
vided that his southern line should begin with a semi- The Penn- 
circle with a radius of twelve miles from New Castle and B^un^ar^ 
proceed westward on the fortieth parallel from the point Controversy, 
at which the semicircle cut that parallel. On investiga- 
tion it was found that New Castle was 20 miles south of the fortieth 
parallel, and if the semicircle were drawn as described, it would leave 
a broad strip of Maryland in the new colony. Penn argued his rights 
against Baltimore, but could not settle the dispute. The latter naturally 
held to his rights under a grant previous to 1681 ; but Penn, who was 
bent on having an outlet to the sea, would not relent, and the dispute 



88 COLONIAL PROGRESS UNDER LATER STUARTS 

was continued by the two men and their heirs until 1760. In thac 
year the present boundary was agreed upon, and in 1767 it was run by 
Mason and Dixon. 

Even more annoying was the controversy for the possession of 
Delaware. All the colony was within the bounds of the Maryland 

patent, but the Duke of York claimed it by the conquest 
Penn gets ^f ^.j^g Dutch, and Baltimore did not dispute the claim. 
to Delaware. When, however, the Duke transferred Delaware to Penn 

the Maryland proprietor asserted his rights and seemed 
about to prevent the confirmation of the Duke's grant when Penn re- 
turned to England, 1684. The influence of the Quaker proved suffi- 
cient for his cause, and in 1685 his right to Delaware was recognized 
by the Lords of Trade. His wonderful influence with James, now 
become king, was the despair of his enemies, who started the report, 
widely believed at the time, that Penn was in reality a Jesuit. He 
came under suspicion when James was driven out, was arrested, and 
for a time, 1692-1694, his colony was taken from him. He easily 
cleared himself of the charges and was restored to his rights. In 
England many misfortunes beset him. Chief among them was the 

news that the colonists were wrangling over the powers of 
His Second government. After many gentle remonstrances he himself 
Pennsvl- came back in 1699, and for five years modified by his pres- 
vania. ence the strife which is, perhaps, inherent in a democracy 

such as he had created. Spite of the divisions the colony 
grew rapidly in numbers and wealth. 

The Stuart Reaction 

The Cromwellian period in Maryland history, so full of political 
and military combat, was succeeded by an interval of quiet. Each 

side had learned something in the conflict. The proprietor, 
at"ea*^ who easily secured the recognition of his rights from 

Charles II, knew well that turmoil interfered with industry 
and consequently lessened his income. The people longed for peace. 
The toleration act of 1649, made to meet an exigency of the time, re- 
mained a permanent result of the late conflict, and for a time Catho- 
lics and Protestants lived together amicably. 

Cecil Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore, died in 1675. Under 
him the colony was founded, and his tactf ulness had brought it through 

many dangers. His son and successor, Charles, governor 
Ideals of from 1661-1675, was a man of downright convictions, and 
Calvert. knew not his father's art of compromising. Like other 

English noblemen of the day he wished to use political 
power for the benefit 01 his family and dependents. What Charles II 
did in England, what the Duke of York did in New York, and what 
Berkeley did in Virginia, Charles Calvert, as governor and as pro- 



STUART IDEALS RESISTED 89 

prietor, sought to do in Maryland. Through him the offices were 
filled with kinsmen, the suffrage was limited to freeholders, and only 
half of the members-elect were summoned to the assembly. This 
policy awakened the old spirit of resistance, and in 1676, while Lord 
Baltimore was absent, a band of sixty, incited by Bacon's example in 
Virginia, gathered to overthrow the proprietary government. The 
governor seized and hanged the popular leaders, Davis and Pate, and 
the rebellion collapsed. 

But the spirit of discontent did not disappear. The absence of 
Baltimore in order to oppose Penn's efforts in England gave oppor- 
tunity to its growth. Eventually he fell into a dispute 
with the collectors of the royal revenues in Maryland and in^j^arviand 
the king took the side of his own officers. Most important 
of all, the struggle was given a religious cast. The accession of James 
II, a Catholic sovereign, in 1685 accentuated this phase of the con- 
troversy. When the royal prince, called the "Old Pretender" by 
most Protestants, was born, he was proclaimed in Maryland by the 
proprietary governor with impolitic fervor. The Protestants, through 
the progress of immigration many times as numerous as the Catholics, 
were ready for revolt. Then came news that William of Orange had 
landed in England. No longer restrained, they formed under the 
lead of John Corde and others an Association for the Defense of the 
Protestant Religion. They seized St. Mary's, the seat of government, 
dispersed the Catholic bands who met to resist them, sent a loyal 
address to William and Mary, and held an assembly in which repre- 
sentation was on a popular basis. The new sovereign of England 
accepted the revolution in Maryland, which then became a royal 
province. In 1715 a Protestant succeeded to the Baltimore title and 
was restored to his full rights in Maryland, which from that time until 
the revolution was a proprietary colony. 

For sixteen years after the Restoration political authority in Vir- 
ginia was the will of Governor William Berkeley. As Charles II pro- 
longed his own supremacy by maintaining the "Cavalier 
Parliament" for seventeen years, so Berkeley in Virginia Despotism 
kept alive for fourteen years the assembly chosen in 166 1 
in the height of enthusiasm for the Stuarts. By this means, by 
nominating his own councillors, and by making other appointments 
judiciously, he concentrated the authority in the hands of a small 
group of wealthy planters who depended on his own favor. Mean- 
while, the price of tobacco had steadily fallen, due partly to the navi- 
gation acts and partly to over-production. Virginia had no other 
money crop, and naturally exploited that to the limit of her capacity. 
Proposals to limit production had little effect, and there was much 
suffering. Throughout this period prices of imported merchandise 
grew higher, the planters fell into debt to the London merchants, 
and the spirit of hopelessness easily ran into defiance. Berkeley's 



90 COLONIAL PROGRESS UNDER LATER STUARTS 

system of despotism was the most visible of political evils, and they 
turned against it as the cause of all their distress. 

The occasion of the outbreak was an Indian war. Within recent 
years the march of settlement had reached the Potomac valley, which 
alarmed the Indians in that region. They foresaw the 
R b°uf ^^^ ^^ their hunting grounds, and their murmuring created 

apprehension in the minds of the settlers. In 1675 the 
savages killed two planters on the Potomac, and the whites replied 
by killing the murderers and several other Indians. Reprisals were 
made by the red men, and soon the frontier was harrowed from end to 
end. Then the Susquehannocks rose in January, 1676, and killed 
thirty-six whites. The settlers fled from the border, and called on the 
governor for protection. He ordered a body of militia to the scene of 
danger, but recalled it before it had well started. His opponents 
claimed that he .derived profits from the Indian trade, and on that 
account wished to avoid a war. 

The assembly met in March, 1676, and proposed to build forts in 
the Indian country. The people objected that this only meant higher 
taxes. What they wished was a vigorous campaign to 
Bacon as- break the power of the Indians effectively. To their 
Leadership, petitions of this purport Berkeley returned an angry re- 
proof and the people began to raise troops on their own 
account. They found an excellent leader in Nathaniel Bacon. His 
fervid speeches had ample foundation in the condition of the colony, 
and he was shortly at the head of three hundred men, with his face 
set toward the frontier. To Berkeley this was treason , and he promptly 
said so in a proclamation. Two hundred and forty of Bacon's men 
then went home, but he marched on with the rest, and in a bloody 
action killed one hundred and fifty Indians. 

Meanwhile, the movement took on the form of open resistance to 
the existing regime. People were gathering with arms in their hands, 
and demanding a new assembly chosen by the freemen. 
Movement jj^ panic Berkeley promised all that was asked, and even 
Political. pardoned Bacon and restored him to the Council. In the 
new assembly a number of reforms were adopted which 
must have been as gall to the power-loving governor. The reformers 
did not trust the governor, and wished their leader to be commander- 
in-chief of the militia, probably as a guarantee that the governor 
would not repudiate his promises. They claimed that the com- 
mand had been promised, and when it was not given a violent 
quarrel arose. Bacon was impetuous, and ended by collecting five 
hundred armed men, with whom he overawed Berkeley and forced 
him to issue a commission to operate against the Indians. Then 
the army marched away to the scene of war. As soon as they 
were gone, the governor repudiated what he had done and called 
on the people to aid him in suppressing the "rebels." There was 



BACON'S REBELLION 91 

no response to his call, and he fled to Accomac County beyond 
Chesapeake Bay. 

The struggle thus became a real attempt at revolution. Bacon 
had begun as a reformer. If he now yielded, all his work was for 
naught. Being an aggressive man, he determined to accept 
the challenge and fight it out with the governor. His Rebellion 
influence over his followers was great enough to carry pledged 
many of them with him, but many others fell away and 
chose to follow Berkeley, who was able to return to Jamestown with 
six hundred men. Bacon was soon upon him, besieged the to\vn, and 
forced the governor to take flight. The struggle was now a social one, 
the mass of poor and moderately well-to-do people supported the 
revolt, and the great planters generally were for the old order. While 
he constructed his lines before the capital, Bacon forced the wives 
and daughters of many of his enemies to stand before his works to 
avert the fire of the governor's soldiers. When Jamestown fell he 
burned it lest it should again offer asylum to his enemies. All this 
happened during the summer and early autumn of 1676. What else 
would have come is only to be guessed ; for Bacon died October 26 
of a fever contracted through exposure, and his cause collapsed. 
Berkeley came back to Jamestown, harried out the rem- 
nant of the rebels who had taken refuge in the swamps, g^con ° 
and although the king had promised amnesty to those who 
submitted, hanged thirteen as a warning to those who defied his author- 
ity. To the captured William Drummond, who, before he joined 
Bacon, had been governor of Albemarle, probably through Berkeley's 
selection, the governor said in greeting him: "Mr. Drummond, you 
are welcome. I am more glad to see you than any man in Virginia. 
Mr. Drummond, you shall be hanged in half an hour." To which the 
prisoner replied: "As your honor pleases," and he was led away to the 
scaft'old. 

News of these commotions had ere this reached England, and the 
king had already dispatched a force of one thousand men under three 
commissioners to pacify Virginia. Berkeley's high pro- 
ceedings were well known in England, and the knowledge ^f^-^^f* 
was reflected in the instructions of the commissioners. ^^^^ 
Amnesty was offered to all rebels who would submit, and 
Jeffreys, one of the three, was to succeed Berkeley as governor. They 
found Berkeley supreme and defiant. His powerful family influence in 
England made it unwise to arrest him, and there was a period of angry 
wrangling, at the end of which the irritable old man embarked of his 
own motion. Arrived at London, he learned that the king would not 
see him. It was the last straw for a body and mind already tottering 
under the weight of years, and he died in a few months, July, 1677. 
He had in his day been a stout-hearted defender of the royal author- 
ity, a friend of the Established Church, and a worthy leader of the 



92 COLONIAL PROGRESS UNDER LATER STUARTS 

well-born Virginia gentry. His ideals were of great account in a day 
when democracy was in its cruder stages of development. His often 
quoted words on education in Virginia e.xpress the ideals 
Ideals ^^^ of his class. "I thank God," he said, "there are no free 
schools nor printing, and I hope we shall not have any 
these hundred years, for learning has brought disobedience and heresy 
and sects into the world and printing has divulged [them] and libels 
against the best government. God keep us from both." 

Bacon's Rebellion shows that Virginia society had gone beyond this 
ideal, and the royal commissioners recognized the fact. They called for 
free expressions of grievances with the result that a "char- 
RapacU^y ^ ter " of privileges was granted by the king in which im- 
portant reforms in local government were included. In 
1679 Lord Culpeper arrived as governor. He was in need of money, 
and proceeded to get it by increasing the fees, requiring "presents" in 
money from outgoing ship captains, and other similar measures. It 
was at this time that lawless bands of tobacco planters began to de- 
stroy the growing crops to relieve the over-production which produced 
low prices. In 1684 Culpeper was succeeded as governor by Lord 
Howard of Effingham, who was in no sense a better ruler than Cul- 
peper. Thus passed the years until the end of the Stuart dynasty, 
years full of commotion, in which the Virginia spirit of self-govern- 
ment slowly rose against the power of a governor appointed by the 
king but bent on nothing so much as his own advantage. It took 
many years of such experience to change the most royal of the colonies 
into an out-and-out home of revolution ; but the process went steadily 
on. 

The Colonies under the Later Stuarts, i 660-1689 

Charles II did not like the Puritan colonies, but he did not wish the 
trouble of abolishing them. It was easier to give charters to Connecti- 

cut and Rhode Island, to wink at the compromise by which 
Endand Massachusetts seemed to give the suffrage to members of 

the English Church, and to take what revenue came from 
the New Englan-d trade, than to risk war with the colonists as a result 
of suppressing the charter. Thus the years passed, for a time in safety 
for the New Englanders, while their fellow dissenters in England 
suffered from a high church reaction. When trouble at last came it 
was through the initiation of his over-zealous officers rather than 
through the will of the good-natured king. 

A more serious peril was the attitude of the Indians. The 
steady extension of the settlements from the seashore inward 

showed them that their hunting grounds were in danger, 
PMip'sWar ^^^ they came together in common defense under Philip, 

son of Massasoit, the Wampanoag, long the friend and 
stay of Plymouth colony. The war began in the summer of 1675 



MASSACHUSETTS AND THE STUARTS 93 

with the usual outrages on the frontier, in which retaliation and pitiless 
slaughter played their parts. Knowing the habits of the whites, the 
Indians fell on them suddenly with bloody results. The Nipmucks, 
in western Connecticut and Massachusetts, joined in the struggle, and 
the river towns were ravaged. Then the Narragansetts appeared 
about to join the belligerents ; and the whites, without waiting for 
open hostilities, fell on them in a fort in what is now Kingston, Rhode 
Island, and crushed effectually their military power. But the struggle 
went on more bitterly than ever, the whites fighting for life persistently 
and steadily. After some months their superior organization began to 
tell. Canonchet, king of the Narragansetts, was run down and slain 
in April, 1676. A month later one hundred and twenty warriors were 
killed in a battle on the Connecticut, and August 12, 1676, Philip 
himself fell at the hands of Colonel Church, a noted Indian fighter. 
Through nearly two years' fighting the colonists lost severely in life 
and property. Their homes were ruined, their crops destroyed, and 
famine was avoided only by importing grain from Virginia. But the 
power of the Indians was broken, and thenceforth the settlers might 
plant in safety in the interior. The most permanent effect of the 
struggle was the damage inflicted on the beaver trade. Driving back 
the Indians inevitably limited the area of its operation. In this 
struggle all the New England colonies suffered indiscriminately, and 
all united in the measures of defense. 

The wounds of war were not healed before Massachusetts realized 
that serious efforts were to be made to annul the liberal charter under 
which she enjoyed self-government. The attack would 
doubtless be of a legal nature, the charge being made that Massa- 
the charter should be forfeited because the colony had, charted 
among other things, harbored some of the regicides. Threatened. 
evaded the king's orders in regard to a broader suffrage, 
denied the right of appeal to England, shown a spirit of indifference to 
the royal authorities in regard to the appointment of agents in England, 
and continually evaded the navigation acts. In 1676 Edward Ran- 
dolph visited Boston as a "messenger" with a letter from the king to 
the authorities. He was privately instructed to ascertain in what 
respect the colony laws were against those of England and to report on 
religious conditions, the execution of the navigation acts, and the 
numbers and strength of the colonists. He was a shrewd observer, 
and was prejudiced against the Puritans. His report was very un- 
favorable to the colony, but for a time nothing was done. 

In 1678, however, Randolph was appointed collector of the customs 
for New England and took up his residence in Boston with the design 
of breaking up smuggling, which was widespread. His numerous 
complaints sent to England all proceeded from the conclusion that 
the only way to enforce the acts of trade was for the king to take 
the charter colonies into his own hands and appoint ofi&cers who 



94 COLONIAL PROGRESS UNDER LATER STUARTS 

would support the collector. Charles II wanted little urging on this 
point ; for just at this time he was proceeding against the municipal 
charters of England. June 12, 1683, he secured from a 
Massa- partial court a verdict against the charter of London, and 

Charted "^^^ ^^y ^^^ attorney-general was ordered to take out a 
AnnuUed. writ of quo warranto against the Massachusetts Company. 
Randolph, then in England, was sent back to Boston to serve 
the writ, a task congenial to his feelings. The Massachusetts authori- 
ties retained counsel and determined to contest the suit. Storms 
intervened, and Randolph could not return the writ within the time 
set, so that it failed. Rather than go through the process of sending 
another writ to Boston the attorney-general now sued out in the court 
of chancery a writ of scire facias, which had the virtue of not requiring 
service in the colony. Under this writ the case came to a speedy 
hearing, and October 23, 1684, the charter was declared forfeited. 

Pleased with his victory, Randolph now marched against the other 
colonial charters. Pennsylvania alone was saved through the in- 
fluence of her proprietor ; but writs were issued against 
Charters in ^^® charters of Connecticut, Rhode Island, the two Jerseys, 
Danger. ^^^ Delaware. Randolph's pockets fairly bulged with 
quo warrantos. But the times were turbulent in England, 
and murmuring was heard against the king's wholesale destruction of 
charters. For this, and for other reasons, the writs were not pressed 
to an issue, and thus the other charter colonies safely outran t\v^ 
Stuart peril. 

But they came near shipwreck on a scheme for a general consoli- 
dation of the colonies north of Delaware Bay. This scheme was 
devised much earlier than 1684, and only awaited the 
The Do- forfeiture of charters to be put into operation. The result 
New°EnV "^ ^^^ Massachusetts case encouraged its promoters to 
land. proceed. Without waiting for the results of the pro- 

cesses against the charters of Connecticut and Rhode 
Island, they were treated as already annulled, and a governor was ap- 
pointed to rule over all New England. The man selected for the 
position by Charles II was the stern Colonel Percy Kirke, who could 
hardly have failed to create rebellion had he come to rule New England 
without the aid of an assembly, as his instructions ran. When James 
II came to the throne the appointment was not completed, and he 
sent Kirke to deal with the rebels at Taunton and made Edmund 
Andros governor of New England. Andros's authority extended over 
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, and Plymouth. He was to rule 
without an assembly and with the aid of an appointed council. Rhode 
Island and Connecticut were frightened into releasing their independ- 
ence, although the latter concealed its charter and brought it forth in 
happier days. In 16S8 a new commission constituted Andros governor 
of all the colonies north of Pennsylvania, and to this consolidated 



STUART IDEALS ESTABLISHED 95 

territory was given the name of the Dominion of New England. Each 
constituent colony was to become a district in the larger organization 
and to lose its assembly, but from it were appointed members of the 
governor's grand council which ruled the Dominion. Over New York 
Francis Nicholson ruled as deputy governor, but Andros himself 
supervised the rest of his "dominion." This system, so soon to be 
overthrown, expressed James H's ideal of colonial government. 

During the short time between the fall of the charter and the arrival 
of Andros, Joseph Dudley was governor of Massachusetts. He was 
born in the colony, but was now zealous for the royal 
prerogative. He wished to make the transition in govern- Dudley 
ment as easy as possible, but the task was difficult from i^^^sadau- 
its very nature. The people were not prepared to resist : setts, 
they submitted with sullen reluctance. Now came a 
clergyman of the English Church, for whom Dudley demanded the 
use of one of the Boston meetinghouses. The demand was steadily 
refused. After a while it was agreed that the clergyman, Mr. Rat- 
cliffe, should use Mr. Willard's meetinghouse each Sunday, one 
minister preaching after the other finished and alternately taking the 
first sermon. But trouble arose because neither would stop at the 
proper time, and at length Andros seized a lot belonging to the town, 
and on it was erected King's Chapel. The new regime also gave 
offense by celebrating Christmas, by requiring persons taking an oath 
to kiss the Bible instead of holding up the hand, by ordering that 
school teachers should have licenses from the governor, and by re- 
quiring the shops to close on the anniversary of the death of Charles I. 
All these offenses, however, were surpassed by the extreme zeal with 
which the governor ordered and celebrated public thanksgivings for 
the birth of a son to their Catholic majesties in 1688. 

Within its short duration Andros's government showed itself a 
despotism. He was given the right to make laws, levy taxes, and 
administer justice. The Council was expected to offer 
advice, but he so filled it with his instruments that it but ^ndros s 
reflected his will. When he ordered the collection of the Measures, 
old taxes, no longer legal since the assembly did not exist, 
some towns refused to pay on the ground that they were assessed 
illegally. The leading men of Ipswich were arrested, tried before a 
"special commission," and fined for their resistance. To this prac- 
tical proof that their liberties were abridged was added the conviction 
that their property was in danger. By law all the ungranted land in 
the colonies belonged to the king, and Andros was to dispose of it in 
his "Dominion," subject to quitrent. He declared that most of 
the old land grants were worthless, and seemed about to take pos- 
session of farms and even village lots. But he at last showed his 
favor by saying that he would issue regular grants to all whose titles 
were in question. As he and his officers must have fees for these 



96 COLONIAL PROGRESS UNDER LATER STUARTS 

grants, the offer was not a disinterested one. Moreover, many choice 

bits of land were by influential officials declared to be subject to new 

grants, which showed the people that the new regime was rapacious as 

well as arbitrary. 

But the day of James II was run. November 5, 1688, William of 

Orange landed in England. December 22 James fled the kingdom, 

and in February, 1689, Parliament offered the crown to 

Pariia- William and Mary. It was a bloodless but complete 

mentary revolution, not only in dynasty but also in the fun- 

■J^v^J^^A^ damental theory of government. For the Stuart ideal 

in England .... .,-' ° ,. ,, 

and the of divme right was now substituted the supremacy 

Colonies. of the people in Parliament. This system could 

hardly exist in England without having its echo in 
the colonies. Not only did they seize the opportunity to wipe out, 
as in New England, all traces of James's recent innovations, but 
from that time every colonial assembly felt more strongly than ever 
its right to lay taxes and make laws within its own province. This 
conviction, slowly developing, precipitated at the close of three-quarters 
of a century a struggle between mother country and colonies, the real 
import of which was, Should the colonial assemblies or Parliament 
govern the colonies ? 

The news of William's success in England created a profound im- 
pression in Massachusetts, where the people were ripe for revolt. In 

the "Declaration" he issued on landing he said that 
Overthrown i^iagistrates unjustly turned out of office should resume 

their functions. He had in mind the municipalities of 
England, but the New Englanders took it as referring to the colonies. 
This "Declaration" was brought to Boston by John Winslow, whom 
Andros at once arrested. But the news was out, and on April 18, 
1689, the people rose in arms, seized and imprisoned Andros, Ran- 
dolph, and other officials, and proclaimed the restitution of the old 
government under Bradstreet, the last governor under the charter. 
They sent a report of their action to their agent in England and asked 
that they be allowed the old charter. Andros remained a prisoner 
in Castle William nearly a year, and was then sent to England. 

In New York, where Francis Nicholson ruled as Andros's deputy, 
affairs were also ripe for revolt. James had placed many Catholics in 

office in the colony, and this seemed to support the rumor, 
Revolution widely circulated in Massachusetts as well, that he would 
YoJk^^ introduce the Catholic religion in the colonies. Against 

Nicholson all the Protestant population was ready to act. 
Disappointment because the colony had not been given an effective 
assembly also had much to do with the popular discontent. The 
people found a leader in Jacob Leisler, German by birth, now a pros- 
perous merchant in New York. Nicholson hesitated to proclaim 
William and Mary, which aroused severe criticism by opponents of 



ENGLISH REVOLUTION AND THE COLONIES 97 

the Stuarts. In May, 1689, a careless remark was twisted by rumor 
until it was reported that he threatened to burn the town with his own 
hand. Violent demonstrations followed, and the deputy governor 
fled to England, leaving the government to three councillors, Phillips, 
Cortlandt, and Bayard. Leisler now came to the front. At the 
head of the popular party, he disregarded the councillors, and called 
a convention of delegates from the counties. This body met and 
appointed Leisler commander-in-chief of the province, with large 
powers of government. For two turbulent years he was in control of 
the province. 

In Maryland, as we have seen (page 91), the expulsion of the 
Stuarts from England was followed by Corde's Rebellion, thus mak- 
ing it the third colony in which force was used to bring 
about the recognition of William and Mary. In the '^h^ ^evo- 
other colonies the transition occurred peaceably. Rhode ot{j°e"*'^ 
Island and Connecticut resumed their charters and were Colonies, 
allowed the privilege on the ground that the charters had 
never been repealed or surrendered. Massachusetts was allowed to 
retain Maine, but New Hampshire, recognized as a royal colony in 
1679 but made a part of the Dominion of New England in 1686, now 
became a royal province once more. Commotions at once appeared, 
and in 1699 the province was placed under the supervision of the gov- 
ernor of Massachusetts. It was not until 1741 that it again had a 
distinct governor, although a lieutenant governor generally ruled 
during the interval. New Jersey was allowed to return to her pro-' 
prietors until 1702, when she also became a royal province. In 
the rearrangement Plymouth became a part of Massachusetts. Thus 
was distributed all the territory which had been placed under the 
authority of Andros. Virginia and the Carolinas were not materially 
affected by the revolution, and Pennsylvania, including Delaware, 
while inwardly tranquil, was taken from the hands of the proprietor 
in 1692 on the charge that he was a Jacobite, but restored in 1694, 
when his innocence had been made apparent. 

In Massachusetts the renewal of the old charter was desired by a 
portion of the people, while others thought it a good opportunity to 
get a self-governing system like that of Connecticut. 
Each side had its representatives in England, but neither ^ew 
won. The charter of 1691 was largely due to the influence ^husetts 
of Edward Randolph, just arrived in London out of cap- charter, 
tivity in Boston. By it Massachusetts became a royal 
province with a governor appointed by the king, an assembly elected 
by property-holders, and a council, not appointed by the king as else- 
where, but nominated by the assembly and approved by the governor. 
In ordinary matters the approval of laws was left to the governor, 
though the king reserved the right of sanction to certain special 
affairs. The Puritan party was dealt a severe but expected blow in 
the provision for liberty of conscience for all Protestants. 



98 COLONIAL PROGRESS UNDER LATER STUARTS 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

Most of the general works referring to events narrated in this chapter are the 
same as those given for the two preceding chapters ; but specific mention must 
be made of two others, Channing, History of the United States, vol. II (1908), 
the most recent treatment by a scholar; and Andrews, Colonial Self -Government 
(1904), very clear and authoritative. For New England, New York, Virginia, 
and Maryland the sources previously mentioned are also available. For the 
newer colonies, see the following secondary works and sources : New Jersey : 
Smith, The Colony 0/ New Jersey (1765 and 1877), valuable for documents; White- 
head, East Jersey under Proprietary Governments (N. J. Hist. Soc. Collections, 
I, ed. 1875) ; and Documents Relating to the Colonial History of New Jersey, 27 vols. 
(1S80-1912), one of the three great collections of published colonial records. 

Pennsylvania: Bowdcn, History of Friends in America, 2 vols. (1851-1854); 
Proud, History of Fennsylvania [1681-1742], 2 vols. (1797-1798), still the best 
general history of the colony ; Fisher, TJie Making of Pennsylvania (1896), popular ; 
Shepherd, History of Proprietary Government in Pennsylvania (Columbia tJniversity 
Studies, 1896); Sharpless, History of Quaker Government in Pennsylvania, 2 vols. 
(1898-1899). Valuable documents are in Colonial Records, 16 vols. (1838-1852) ; 
Votes of Assembly, 1662-1776, 6 vols. (1752-1776); Hist. Soc. of Penn. Memoirs 
(1826-), and Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography (1877-). 

Delaware: The early history is closely connected with that of New York and 
Pennsylvania, q.v. The best general history is Scharf, History of Delaware, 
2 vols. (1888). On the early period see also Ferris, History of the Original Settle- 
ments on the Delaware (1846). 

North Carolina: Ashe, History of North Carolina, vol. I (1908-), the best 
treatment, but without appreciation of social and industrial development ; Hawks, 
History of North Carolina, 2 vols. (1857-1858) ; Bassett, Constitutional Beginnings 
of North Carolina (Johns Hopkins Studies, 1894), deals with poHtical institutions 
until 1729; Weeks^CJiurch and State inNorthCarolina (Ibid., i8g;i). Colonial Records, 
of North Carolina (10 vols., 1886-1S90), one of the three great collections of pub- 
lished Colonial records. 

South Carolina : jMcCrady, South Carolina under the Proprietary Government 
(1897), strictly chronological; Rivers, Sketch of the History of South Carolina to 
17 ig (1856); and The Shaftesbury Papers (S. C. Hist. Soc. Collections, 1897), an 
important early source. Many papers relating to this colony are in the North 
Carolina Colonial Records. A work still valuable is Carroll, Historical Collections 
of South Carolina, 2 vols. (1836). 

Important works especially useful for this period but relating to the older colonies 
are as follows: Tappan, Edward Randolph, 5 vols. (Prince Society Publications), 
(1898-1899) ; Whitmore, Andros Tracts, 3 vols. (Ibid., 1868) ; Hutchinson Papers, 
2 vols. (1865); Narragansett Club Publications, ist series (1866), contains Roger 
Williams's letters, a very valuable source of information; Beverley, History of 
Virginia (1722) ; Jones, Present State of Virginia (1724) ; Burk, History of Virginia, 
4 vols. (1804-1816); Henning, Statutes at Large, idig-iygz, 13 vols. (1823); 
The Beginning, Progress, and Conclusion of Baco)i's Rebellion in Virginia by T. M., 
which with other matter relating to Bacon, is in Force, Tracts and in American 
Colonial Tracts. See also Virginia Magazine of History and Biography; Sharp, 
Causes of the Revolution of i6Sg in Maryland (Johns Hopkins Studies, 189-) ; Steiner, 
Protestant Revolution in Maryland (Am. Hist. Assn. Report, 1897) ; and Mereness, 
Maryland as a Proprietary Province (1901). 

For Independent Reading 

Fisher, The Making of Pennsylvania (1896) ; Mrs. Earle, Home Life in Colonial 
Days (1898); Ibid., Colonial Days in Old New York (1896); Fisher, Tlie True 
William Penn (1899) ; Fiske, Beginnings of New England (1889) ; Kuhns, German 

and Swiss Settlements of Pennsylvania (1901). 



CHAPTER VI 

COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT, 1690-1763 
Development of the Colonial Conflict 

Our colonial history proceeds in two currents, one English and one 
American. The beginning of each is somewhat confused because each 
began without plan and according to special conditions. But by 
1690 each current has become more distinct. We can now see what 
England is doing for the colonies and how the latter, though widely 
differing in surroundings, begin to have common experiences and 
interests. 

The English colonial policy under the later Stuarts looked to ab- 
solute government, through a governor and council and without the 
aid of an assembly. The revolution of 1689 checked 
this plan and the colonial system henceforth contained ^"^^^^^ 
the following general features : i . A desire to make the °^^^ colo^al 
royal provinces uniform in the colonies; 2. An absence Policy, 
of parliamentary control, the colonies being under supreme 
authority of the king, who established the charters, appointed the high 
officers, and passed on colonial laws ; 3. The navigation acts, designed 
to benefit English merchants and ship owners, who made up a strong 
part of the support of government. These acts were enforced by 
collectors and admiralty courts created by the king and distinct from 
the ordinary colonial officials, with whom they were sometimes in 
violent quarrel. 4. The maintenance of effective imperial control 
through the royal ofi&cials. The governor of a province was expected 
to guard the interests of the crown, resist encroachments of authority 
by the colonial assembly, and by influence over the colonial gentry to 
create, if possible, a party of king's friends among the inhabitants. 
Some of the governors performed the last of these tasks successfully, 
notably William Tryon, but others, like Andros, Nicholson, and 
Bellomont, were tactless and irascible and were continually at vari- 
ance with the colonists. 5. The growing interference of Parliament 
in colonial affairs. This began with the passage of the acts of trade, 
many times amended or defined, but it extended to the regulation of 
money, the protection of British creditors against loss in the colonies, 
the establishment of post offices, and other matters related to trade. 
From this position it was not far for Parliament to advance when it 
later decided to tax the colonists directly. 

Q9 



loo COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT 

This system grew up under men of experience who beh'eved it gave 
the best results to all concerned. To the colonies England gave pro- 
tection against other powers, and even against the In- 
T e ng s fiia^ns in extreme cases. From her they received their 
lands, their laws, and their very existence. Was it too 
much to expect they should contribute something in return to support 
the trade and maintain the glory of England ? And if this be granted, 
was it not reasonable that such a system of administration be preserved 
that the colonies should not forget filial duty or question parental 
authority ? To all of which the colonies had the plain answer that 
they acted in their own interests, as was the right of Englishmen. 

In 1690 the population of the colonies was about 220,000, most of 
them agriculturists. Wherever they lived they had the same interests 
in relation to England. Every colony had a legislature, 
V^^ . , New York having won that long demanded favor with 
Side. ^^6 triumph of William and Mary. This body became 

instinctively the guardian of the interests of the colony, 
and it was in continual opposition to the royal officials. As it be- 
came more inclined to assert colonial rights of self-government, the 
crown became more willing to resist. To each side the action of the 
other seemed aggressive, and it was resisted by all the arts known to 
able politicians. In this long struggle, from which no colony was 
exempt, the causes of dispute vary. Sometimes it is the payment of 
salaries to the governor, at other times quitrents, or land sales, or the 
issue of paper money ; but the struggle is always fundamentally the 
same, and it leads to the same end. This struggle was also an im- 
portant training school for colonial leaders. It not only formed par- 
ties, ready at the proper time for the work of revolution, but it de- 
veloped the men who led them. 

During the period now under consideration three wars between 
England and France had their reactions in America. They brought 
the Canadian Indians down on the English frontiers, 
Influence of forced the colonists to fight in defense of their homes, and 
and Indian even led them to make expeditions for the conquest of 
Wars. parts of Canada. All this gave the people confidence in 

their ability to defend their country, trained men and 
ofiicers to military duty, and developed the spirit of union in a com- 
mon cause. Hardly a colonial assembly but shows a firmer grip on the 
political life of its colony through having raised its contingents for 
the wars ; for here, as in England, before money was voted grievances 
must be redressed. A governor who wished to get his colonial as- 
sembly to raise troops for the Canadian frontier could not afford to 
quarrel with that assembly. 

But it must not be supposed that the party strife in the colonies 
measured the state of their happiness. It was an era of great indus- 
trial development. In 1689 the frontier line from Maine to the 



COLONIAL CONTROVERSIES loi 

Savannah river followed the coast generally at not more than fifty 
miles distance. In 1760 settlers had penetrated into all parts of New 
England, and all of the South from Florida to New York 
westward as far as the Alleghanies — ^ which barrier, in- Progress of 
deed, had been crossed by the most daring ones. In 1600-1760.^' 
New York alone the frontier had not been moved west- 
ward ; and here it was the presence of the Iroquois in the Mohawk 
valley, allies of the English and useful in operations against the 
French and Algonquins, that kept the whites from some of the rich- 
est land on the continent. Throughout the settlements plenty pre- 
vailed, land was cheap, and no man who worked need fear want ; large 
families were the rule, and no parent was anxious lest there should be 
no opportunity for his children. Under such conditions population 
increased rapidly, by birth and through immigration. In 1690 it was 
about 220,000, and in 1760 it reached 1,500,000. 

Typical Colonial Controversies 

This narrative cannot deal with the political struggles of all the 
colonies. Interesting as the stories would be they lead to one end, the 
evolution of a colonial party ; and in the royal provinces 
the common keynote of the contests is opposition to royal Deveiop- 
prerogative. In the proprietary colonies it is resistance Colonial 
to the will of the proprietor, and in the liberally chartered Parties, 
colonies of Connecticut and Rhode Island its traces are 
found in the common opposition to the British laws relating to trade. 
Everywhere the spirit of self-government is apparent. What the parli- 
ament was to England the assembly under the restrictions of its charter 
aspired to be to the colony. If we consider some of the more notable 
controversies, we shall see in what manner they looked forward to the 
ultimate assertion of independence. 

Governor Phips, the first royal governor of Massachusetts, opened 
a long quarrel with the assembly when he published his instructions 
from the king directing him to get the assembly to vote 
a permanent appropriation for the salaries of the governor Colonial 
and other officials appointed by the crown. For the gjgg^ 
assembly to comply was to relinquish its best source of 
power, and the request was ignored. On the contrary, bills assertive 
of fundamental rights and laws establishing courts were passed, all 
of which were vetoed in England. This only confirmed ^^^ 
the assembly in its determination to keep a firm hand on Governor's 
the purse-strings. Phips urged the lawmakers to vote Salary in 
a regular salary, but they would only give 500 pounds Massachu- 
for services already rendered. To Bellomont, his succes- 
sor by royal appointment, they gave 1000 pounds for two years' serv- 
ice. This way of granting money after the completion of a given 



I02 COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT 

time was thought to be useful in keeping the governor friendly to the 
colony. In 1702 Joseph Dudley became governor, and ruled fourteen 
years. He tried in vain to relieve himself from the necessity of taking 
his remuneration at the discretion of the assembly. At the end of 
his term of ofl5ce they had voted him 6950 pounds. In asserting 
his right to veto acts of assembly he disallowed the election, as 
speaker, of Thomas Oakes, one of the most astute leaders of the 
opposition. He claimed that such an election was in the nature of 
an act of the legislature. A bitter controversy arose, and continued 
until, in 1725, in a so-called explanatory charter, the king ordered that 
the election of speaker should be subject to the governor's approval. 
The assembly thought it expedient to accept the restriction. The 
salary controversy, continued under Shute (1716-1728), came to a 
climax under Burnet (1728-17 29). He was instructed to insist on 
a regular salary of at least 1000 pounds, and the assembly was told 
that if it were not granted the charter would be in danger. The reply 
of the colony was to offer the governor 1700 pounds as a gift, but he 
was forced to decline it, even when the sum was raised to 3000 pounds. 
The controversy now became warm, but in the midst of it Burnet 
came to his death from the oversetting of his carriage in the water, 
and the assembly showed its favor by voting 2000 pounds to his 
children. Under Governor Belcher, his successor, the dispute was 
compromised, 1731, when the assembly came to vote the governor's 
salary annually, but at the beginning and not at the end of each year. 
New York and South Carolina in the eighteenth century began to 
grant the governor's salary year by year, and spite of the protests of 
the Board of Trade the custom was maintained. In Virginia and the 
Carolinas the salaries were provided for in general taxes, which did 
not depend on the annual votes of the assemblies. 

Closely connected with this controversy was the claim made by 
most of the assemblies that they, like the English House of Commons, 
had the sole right to initiate money bills. The Council, 
"^^^^w^" d usually appointed by the king, had the right to approve 
Money BUis. ^^^ bills, and this made it an upper chamber of the legis- 
lature. It usually supported the governor and warred 
against the assembly. The latter body, by insisting on its control 
over money bills, assumed a position of superiority, and its good will 
was so necessary to the success of any governor's administration that 
it finally won the recognition of its claim. 

In New York the legislative controversy was also prominent, and 
here it was concerned with money bills in general. The failure of the 
legislature of 1683 was resented by the people, and Leisler recognized 
the fact by calling an assembly. It authorized him to 
New York ^^^ ^^ ^^^ emergency, and the flight of Nicholson left him 
in supreme power. The council resented his assumption 
of authority, and he drove them from his presence as persons " Popishly 



THE STRUGGLE IN NEW YORK 103 

affected, Dogs and Rogues." For him, a man of the people, the aris- 
tocratic councillors had no tolerance ; and he returned their contempt 
with interest. But he was a popular leader and kept a semblance of 
order in the turbulent population of Manhattan. Having proclaimed 
William and Mary he expected some recognition of his services ; but 
his sovereigns ignored him and appointed Henry Sloughter governor. 
They also sent to New York a body of troops under Ingoldesby with 
instructions to restore order. Ingoldesby arrived before the new gov- 
ernor landed and demanded the surrender of the fort. He showed no 
written orders, and Leisler refused to yield. Then Sloughter came and 
demanded the delivery of the fort, also without showing his authority. 
After some hesitation Leisler retired. He was arrested for treason, 
tried by a special court over which Joseph Dudley presided, sentenced 
to death, and executed. Tradition has it that Sloughter signed the 
death warrant while drunk. Be that as it may, Sloughter died a few 
weeks afterwards, a victim of inebriety. Leisler had his faults, but 
he did not deserve death, and leaving him a victim to hatred of his 
enemies is a blot on the reputation of the British government. 

Sloughter was instructed to summon an assembly " according to the 
usage " of the other colonies. He and his successors took this to 
mean that they might at will summon, prorogue, dissolve, 
and apportion the membership of the lawmaking body. Struggle for 
An obedient assembly was thus kept long in power, in ^^e^^™*'^^ 
one case for eleven years. But not many assemblies York, 
were obedient, and one of their most common protests 
was to demand frequent elections. Their persistence won a measure 
of success in 1743, when a colonial law was approved by the king, 
making it necessary to have a new election once in seven years. 

In 1692 the New York assembly began a long controversy over the 
right to vote money. A committee was appointed to investigate the 
expenditure of money in support of frontier defense. 
Its real business was to see if the governor, whose salary The Control 
the assembly would not vote in a regular way, was not ^ Money 
making up the deficiency by diverting to his own use Ng^y York. 
some of the funds appropriated to support the gar- 
rison. The committee could do nothing because the governor 
did not allow them to see the muster-rolls and accounts. The next 
assembly (1694) was determined to have its way, and resolved that it 
would do no business until it had inspected the accounts. Governor 
Fletcher demurred for a while, but at last sent them the books of the 
receiver-general. From this time forward the assembly regularly 
inspected the accounts and might know how the money it had appro- 
priated was spent. 

In 1 702-1 708 Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbury, was New York's gov- 
ernor. Without public or private morals, he left a stain on the gov- 
ernorship blacker than was left by any predecessor or successor. He 



I04 COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT 

was cousin-german of Queen Anne, whom he resembled, and was 
said to have appeared in woman's clothes to show colonial society 
what the queen looked like. The assembly voted money 
New Y"o?k° ^° fortify the harbor of New York, but at the next ses- 
sion it appeared that he had diverted most of it to his own 
use, although he had been voted a present of 2000 pounds to pay the 
expenses of coming to his post. The deed was possible because all 
money hitherto voted was to the king to be used for the province, and 
once it was in the hands of a royal ofhcial it might be taken for 
governor's salary or any other purpose authorized by the king. Pre- 
ceding governors had followed this practice, but not so flagrantly, and 
the assembly seized the opportunity to check it. A resolu- 
A Colonial ^^^^ passed to vote no more money except such as was 
paid out by a treasurer appointed by the assembly and 
responsible to it. The position was so reasonable that the authorities 
in England approved it so far as extraordinary grants went. After that 
the assembly assumed that most appropriations were extraordinary. 
Nor was the Quaker Commonwealth free from controversy. Penn's 
humane ideals never failed him, but they were better suited for an 
PoUtical infant community than for the large province he soon had 
Change in on his hands. So many reports of dissension reached him 
Pennsyl- that in 1 699 he returned to Philadelphia, hoping, he said, 
vania. ^q gj^^j j^j^ ^j^yg there. He found the people divided. 

Quary, surveyor-general of the royal revenue, complained that the 
navigation laws were not enforced, the people complained that the 
proprietor did not develop the colony or keep his promises in granting 
lands, while the proprietor could reply that the people did not pay quit- 
rents and that the colony itself had impoverished its owner. More 
than all, the three counties which became Delaware were in dispute 
over their rights in the colonial assembly. To all the malcontents 
Penn made earnest pleas for moderation. The upshot was "The 
Charter of Privileges," passed by the assembly and council and ap- 
proved by Penn in 1 701 on the eve of his departure for England, whither 
he was called by the news that Parliament was about to abolish all the 
proprietary colonies. This "charter" represents the experience of 
Americans as it was worked out at that time in the problems of self- 
government in the New World. If any other colony had been allowed 
to revise its constitution on the basis of what it had discoverd through 
its own struggles the result would probably have been much like that 
in Pennsylvania, where the mild proprietor was not much of a weight 
on the constitution-makers. 

Penn's "Charter" provided for four representatives elected by 

, the freemen of each county to make up an assembly, 

Charter ^^ which when it met was to elect its own officers, pass on the 

qualification of its members, prepare bills, and have all 

rights of an assembly chosen by " free-born subjects of England." The 



PROGRESS IN PENNSYLVANIA 105 

appointment of governor and councillors remained with the proprietor, 
all who believed in God were to have freedom of conscience, and all 
Christians could hold ofhce. In 1705 a supplementary- 
act provided that only Protestants could be members of Delewareto 
the assembly. The dispute with Delaware was settled by separate 
allowing it to have a separate assembly from Pennsylvania ; Assembly, 
but each colony remained under Penn's jurisdiction, and 
the "Charter" embodied the government of each until the revolu- 
tion. It was the habit, also, for the same governor to rule over each 
colony. 

Probably from an early date the Quakers were less than a majority 
of the population of Pennsylvania, but they were the most influential 
portion ; and their peculiar belief brought some annoying 
situations into existence. For example, they refused to Po^'*''>" 
take oaths, and sometimes even to administer them. They Quakers. 
passed laws to allow witnesses in court to affirm, but these 
were disallowed by the king, who, by the original charter, reserved to 
himself the approval of laws. Then the assembly renewed their enact- 
ment, incorporating it in the law creating courts so that its . -. . 
veto, which followed, left the colony without judicial tri- 
bunals. This was no great inconvenience to the Quakers, for they 
usually settled their disputes among themselves ; but it worked hard- 
ship on others. In 17 18 the contest ended with a compromise: 
the assembly adopted the severe English penal code and in the 
same bill allowed affirmations ; and the king approved their action. 

From the beginning of their history the Quakers opposed war ; from 
which it followed that the colony not only had no militia system, but 
it refused to vote money to erect forts on the frontier. 
Its pacific relations with the Indians warranted this course r? *.° 
so far as internal problems were concerned ; but when service. 
French influence in the Ohio valley created external prob- 
lems, over which Quaker good will could exert no direction, the non- 
resistance principles of Pennsylvania became a serious danger. At 
this time Benjamin Franklin had become a force in the colony, and 
when in 1739 the assembly refused to raise a militia at the request of 
the king, he started an association to establish a volunteer organiza- 
tion. From a lottery he got funds to build fortifications. His action 
was approved by practical men, and weakened the opposition of the 
Quaker party. In 1745 the assembly appropriated 4000 pounds for 
"bread, beef, pork, flour, wheat or other grain" in support of the 
garrison in newly captured Louisburg. The governor used part of it 
to buy gunpowder on the ground that it was "other grain," and his 
action caused so little scandal that in 1746 the assembly voted the king 
5000 pounds without stipulating the purpose for which it was to be 
used, although it was well known that it would be used for military 
defense. 



io6 COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT 

From this time we may consider the religious motive in the matter a 
subordinate one; but it was replaced by a political motive. In 1754 

the Indians and French were raiding on the western frontier 
A Militia ^^^ j|- ^^^g necessary for the militia system to be taken 
Estab™shed. under public control. The assembly would do nothing 

unless the estates of the proprietor were taxed. They 
referred to the large amount of his unsold land from which he had no 
revenue, and through his influence the law failed. Then came the 
defeat of Braddock, followed by frontier outrages. So strong a cry 
went up from the non-Quaker inhabitants that the ministry in London 
heard it and brought a bill into Parliament to require members of the 
Pennsylvania assembly to take the oath of allegiance. This would 
effectually exclude Quakers from that body. Alarmed at the prospect 
of a permanent discrimination, they now decided to yield temporarily. 
Through the intervention of friends the bill was withdrawn from Pa rlia- 
ment and the Quakers in the colony agreed not to stand for election 
to the next assembly. In a legislature thus purged of old ideas it was 
easy to pass laws for a militia and for fortifications. 

Penn's last days were full of financial troubles, to which were added 
mental infirmities. He died in 1718, leaving his colony to his four sons, 

for whom his widow acted until her death in 1726. Two 
Later His- ^f i}^q sons, John and Thomas, resided in Philadelphia, 
Penn ^ ^^^ former for one and the latter for fifteen years. The 
Family. development of the province made the proprietors very 

rich, and the demand that they should pay taxes on their 
lands became strong. They resisted successfully, since they controlled 
the governorship. In 1763 John Penn, grandson of the founder, be- 
came governor, and continued in office until the Revolution. The later 
Penns returned to the Church of England, which tended to widen the 
breach between the family and the colonists. In 1778 the state of 
Pennsylvania annulled the charter and allowed the proprietors 130,000 
pounds in lieu of their rights. Later, 17 86, a supplementary grant 
was made to them, and the king himself gave an annuity of 4000 
pounds. 

The history of Pennsylvania shows the proprietary colony at its 
best : that of Carolina shows it at its worst. The eight proprietors 

knew nothing of their colony, which they did not visit. 
Mrsnife^^ They had no other interest in it than to get money, and 
Carolina. when that failed they ceased to pay attention to its 

needs. They had no military force with which to pre- 
serve order or to enforce their own rights. By 1690 the shares had 
passed for the most part into the hands of a group of merchants who 
were as much disappointed as their predecessors with the enterprise. 
Meanwhile the people of the colony grew in numbers and prosperity. 
About 1 690 the northern settlements began to be called North Carolina. 
In that year a governor was appointed for the first time for all Carolina, 



NORTH CAROLINA AND THE CROWN 107 

with authority to appoint a deputy governor for the northern settle- 
ments. In 1 7 14 Charles Eden was made governor of North Carolina 
without reference to the governor of South Carolina. 
At this time North Carolina was in serious commotion, c^oijna 
Its population was strongly dissenting, among them 
many Quakers. The official class were of the Church of England, 
and by tendering the oaths of supremacy to the Quakers elected to 
the assembly they could rule the colony. The result was a social 
revolt, the mass of poor men arrayed against the aristo- 
crats and conservatives. After seven years of commotion RebeiUon. 
the former had a leader in Thomas Cary , who, in 1 7 1 1 , took 
up arms, but was defeated and captured with the aid of troops from 
Virginia. Immediately afterwards came an Indian war in which 
only aid sent from Charleston enabled the whites to 
triumph. In 171 5 South Carolina had a fierce struggle ^^^'^^'^"^ 
of her own and received valuable aid from her northern carolinas. 
sister. Thus the Carolinas passed safely through that 
stern Indian struggle which came to most colonies when the 
savages realized the significance of the white man's advance into 
the interior. 

In 1729 seven of the proprietors sold their rights to the crown. The 
one remaining was Carteret, later Earl of Grenville. In 1743 he re- 
ceived in lieu of his rights as proprietor a broad belt of land in the 
northern part of North Carolina, to have in fee the ungranted parts 
and to collect the quitrents on the granted portion. This vast estate 
was not to be managed without serious trouble in a community in 
which the rights of feudal proprietors were not tenderly regarded. 
But the conversion of the two colonies into royal provinces was bene- 
ficial to their development. 

Five royal governors ruled in North Carolina, and the pathway of 
each was strewn with thorns. The most continual quarrel was in 
regard to the payment of quitrents. These were a per- 
petual obligation imposed on land when first granted and The Quit- 
to be paid by whomever owned the land. They do not ^®°* ^°°T 

. trovcrsv in 

mean that the grantee did not have fee-simple title, as North 

has sometimes been assumed, but were in the nature of a Carolina, 
permanent land tax. To pay them was irksome to the 
settlers, who found many ways of evasion. One difiiculty was that 
they were payable in tobacco or other produce, and that the expense 
of collecting from small farmers ate up the value of the proceeds. To 
obviate this the governor ordered that quitrents be paid at certain 
specified places. The inhabitants protested, and a law passed the as- 
sembly to authorize payment at the home of the landowner, where most 
other rents were paid. The governor vetoed the bill, and a deadlock 
resulted. For many years the revenue from quitrents was very 
slender. 



io8 COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT 

Meanwhile, South Carolina grew in wealth through the cultivation 
of rice and indigo. Great numbers of negro slaves were imported, so 
that in 17 19 there were 12,000 to a white population of 
s'^^fh^^^ ^^ 9000. The accumulation of wealth gave society an aris- 
Carolina, tocratic tone, and Charleston became a seat of elegance 
and luxury. One result was to lessen respect for the weak 
authority of the proprietors, and about 1716 a series of reforms began. 
Hitherto all the elections were held in Charleston and all freemen were 
allowed to vote. It was claimed that persons in the interests of the 
proprietors thus controlled the elections, going so far as to allow In- 
dians and non-resident sailors to vote in order to carry their cause. In 
1 7 16 the Indian war was just over. The proprietors had contributed 
nothing to the defense of the colony, and their influence in the assembly 
was low. The moment was favorable for election reforms, and a law 
passed directing that future elections be held in the parishes with a 
small property restriction for voters, thus shifting the center of power 
from the Charlestonians to the planter class. The same assembly de- 
cided to appoint its own receiver for taxes paid by the In- 
^/p'^'^'^"^ dian traders. Both laws were promptly vetoed by the 
tary Rule. proprietors, together with a previous law levying duties. 
The people were in a rebellious mood, when news circulated 
of an expected attack from the Spanish in Florida. The governor 
called out the militia, who at once constituted themselves an army of 
revolt against the proprietary regime. New elections of the assembly 
had been held, and the members met, resolved themselves into a con- 
vention, after the example of the convention parliament of 1689, re- 
pudiated the authority of the proprietors, and asked the king to rule 
the colony as a royal province. The quicl-aiess with which the Board 
of Trade acceded to this request gives some strength to the suspicion 
that it connived at the revolution in the first instance. The pro- 
prietors, however, retained their rights to the land until the two col- 
onies were sold to the king in 1729. 

In its new capacity, South Carolina had peace, and developed in 
wealth. Great slave plantations became the rule, whereas in North 
Carolina small farms were prevalent. In 171 7 the popu- 
The Two lation of the two colonies was about 19,000 and 9000 re- 
Compared, spectively, in 1760 it was 100,000 and 93,000. Within 
this period the slave population grew from 12,000 to 70,000 
in South Carolina and from an inconsiderable number, probably 1500, 
to 16,000 in North Carolina. The latter colony was ever noted for its 
democratic conditions. It had no good harbors and no staple products 
out of which riches could be gathered. It was a land of simple abun- 
dance and the refuge of those who wished to avoid the aristocratic con- 
ditions of the neighboring colonies. 



THE WORK OF OGLETHORPE 109 



Georgia Founded 

What Penn was to the Quaker colony General James Oglethorpe 
was to Georgia. As a member of parliament, philanthropist, and 
colony planter, few men of his day deserve more our re- 
spect. His syinpathy was drawn to the inmates of the 
debtors' prisons, and he wished to plant a colony in which they 
might begin life anew. Many noblemen, clergymen, and others sup- 
ported the plan, and in 1732 the king by charter created the Georgia 
"Trustees," a company to plant a colony between the Savannah river 
and Florida. The king and his advisers were opposed to proprietary 
governments in general, but they relaxed their opposition 
in this case because the new colony would make a " buffer " v^® Colony 
between South Carolina and the Spanish possessions. But projected. 
as a matter of simple precaution it was provided that the 
charter should expire in twenty-one years, after which Georgia 
would become a royal province. 

The trustees lost no time in announcing their plans of settlement. 
Recent affairs in South Carolina showed that when slaves far exceeded 
the white population the capacity of defense was lessened, and it 
was determined to exclude slavery from Georgia. With an eye, also, 
to the character of the expected debtor immigrants it was provided 
that one person should own no more than 500 acres of land and that 
grants should be strictly entailed to male heirs, in default of which 
they should revert to the trustees. While these regulations may have 
been warranted by the conditions they were devised to meet, they could 
only discourage the immigration of normally competent persons. 
Every colony in America had an abundance of land for those who 
would take it, and a new colony in an exposed position could not ex- 
pect to have settlers unless it offered liberal terms. The prohibition 
of slavery was well intended by the trustees, but it displeased the 
actual settlers, who sent to England urgent pleas for the repeal of the 
regulation. They saw how men prospered in South Carolina through 
slave labor and resented the arbitrary power which kept them from 
the same fortune. 

In January, 1733, Oglethorpe, who was appointed governor, arrived 
in Charleston with the first Georgia colony, about one hundred men, 
women, and children. Indian treaties were made by 
which the Creeks, inhabiting the Georgia coast, ceded sgtu^ed* 
the site of Savannah and took the settlers for allies. 
Other English settlers came slowly ; the trustees, like other proprietors 
of colonies, spent little money on the enterprise after the enthusiasm 
of launching it was gone. Only a small proportion of those who went 
over were debtors. In 1734 a company of Protestants from Salzburg 
arrived, and later on other Germans landed. Another source of popu- 



no COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT 

lation was the Scotch Highlanders, who settled along the Altamaha. 
In 1760 the population was only gooo, of whom 3000 were slaves. 

The colony was planted in defiance of Spain's claim to all the coast 
as far north as Charleston. Oglethorpe ignored her protests and 

challenged the Spaniards by erecting a fort at Frederica, 
^^H^*h°'^^^ the southern extremity of his charter limits. He even 
Spaniards, went SO far as to found small posts as far as the St. John's 

river, within the bounds of Florida. So threatening 
became the situation that he went to England for assistance. He 
was authorized to raise a regiment, and returned to Georgia, 1738, 
with instructions not to fight until attacked. In 1739 began a war 
with Spain. Oglethorpe now marched against St. Augustine, but 
withdrew after a short siege. In 1742 the Spaniards retaliated by 
sending a strong expedition against Frederica. Oglethorpe had a 
force much inferior, but by utilizing favorable natural defenses drove 
off the invaders. The end of the war, 1748, found Georgia undisturbed 
by Spain, and thenceforth disappeared any doubts of the success of 
the new colony. 

Now comes into greater prominence the protests of the settlers against 

the paternal restrictions of the well-intentioned trustees. George 

. . Whitfield, the missionary, who had founded an orphanage 

Removed" ^^ Georgia, was one of those who urged the free admission 

of slaves. So strong was the cry of the objectors that 
one by one the restrictions were removed. In 1749 the importation 
of slaves was allowed, with certain safeguards as to the proportions 
of slave and free population. In 1750 the objectionable restrictions 
on land owning were removed, and at the same time the importation 
of rum, hitherto forbidden, was allowed. These relaxations gave 
greater freedom to individual enterprise, and the result was favorable. 
The early government of Georgia was very paternal, as became a 
colony founded for the inmates of debtors' prisons. There was no 

assembly, laws were made by the trustees, resident in 
in°Georria° England, and the governor had extensive powers. When 

Oglethorpe at last went to England, 1743, a president 
and four assistants were left in charge. In 1751 an assembly was 
summoned. It was not to make laws, however, but to suggest 
them to the trustees. At this time Oglethorpe and his associates were 
discouraged with their attempts to govern men more wisely than 
they could govern themselves. In view of the approaching termina- 
tion of their charter, 1753, they thought it well to surrender their 
authority over the colony. Thus Georgia became a royal province 
and prospered under a governor, council, and assembly. 



COLIGNY'S FLORIDA COLONY m 



Growth of New France 

While the English gradually extended their agricultural settle- 
ments from the coast to the Alleghanies, France was establishing a 
less solid occupation in the Mississippi Basin. Her flag 
was carried forward by traders, who at wide intervals English and 
built forts occupied by small garrisons. Such occupancy jj^^tjou ° °~ 
did not alarm the natives. In fact, it pleased them ; for 
the game was not driven away, and an abundance of manufactured 
goods and a convenient market for furs were assured. To main- 
tain the forts was expensive, and if war should come, the defense 
of the vast region must be made by troops sent from Canada or 
France. The French power, therefore, was not so well rooted in the 
soil as that of England on the coast. 

The beginning of French colonization in America was in the six- 
teenth century, when Coligny, the Huguenot leader, made an unsuc- 
cessful attempt to establish in "Florida" a refuge for his 
coreligionists. In 1562 he sent out Ribaut, a bold Cohgnys 
mariner, to explore the coast and select a place for settle- « Fionda." 
ment. Ribaut was delighted with the country, and left 
thirty men at Port Royal harbor in a rude palisade, called "Charle- 
fort " for Charles IX. Idleness and want soon brought them to 
mutiny, and they escaped to Europe in a boat of their own construc- 
tion. Starving and reduced to cannibalism, they at last sighted the 
French shore, only to be made captives by an English vessel which 
happened to be near. 

Coligny was not discouraged, and in 1564 sent out a colony under 
Laudonniere. It settled at the mouth of St. John's river and built 
Fort Caroline, named, like its predecessor, in honor 
of the king. Hunger and discontent soon appeared, and Second 
the colony was on the verge of ruin when a second expedi- caroHne °^ 
tion brought supplies and restored the spirits of the 1664. 
people. What would have followed does not appear ; 
for a greater danger than any hitherto encountered was at hand. 
The Spaniards of Cuba had heard of the settlement, and September 19, 
1565, Pedro Menendez, with a strong Spanish force, surprised the 
fort and slew the Frenchmen who did not escape to the forest or declare 
themselves Catholics. Leaving a garrison on the site, he founded 
St. Augustine, fifty miles southward. The Florida coast commanded 
the route by which Spanish treasure ships returned from the Gulf 
of Mexico, and it was not to be left in the hands of a foreign power. 
News of Menendez's atrocities caused great commotion in France, 
and in the spring of 1568 Dominique de Gourgues appeared at 
Fort Caroline. He surprised the garrison, slew those who re- 
sisted, and hanged the prisoners. Over the slain Huguenot? 



XI2 COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT 

Menendez had put up this notice: "I do this not as to Frenchmen 
but as to Lutherans." De Gourgues left over the dangling bodies 
of the Spaniards this inscription: "I do this not as to Spaniards, 
nor as to Marranos, but as to traitors, robbers, and to murderers." 
But for all this St. Augustine continued to exist and Florida remained 
a Spanish colony. 

In Canada, where Cartier's explorations, 1534, 153 5, and 1541, 
had given France a claim by right of prior discovery, French coloniza- 
tion fared better. Fur traders continued to visit the 
France g|-_ Lawrence, but no other impetus toward planting 

toward settlements was seen until the region came under the 

Canada. eyes of Champlain, who arrived as the guest of a trader 
in 1603. From that time his interest was keenly aroused. 
The next year he returned with De Monts,who had a charter to plant 
a colony in La Cadie, or Acadia, as the French had called the region 
from northern Nova Scotia to Philadelphia. A settlement made 
at Douchet Island proved unsatisfactory, and the colonists moved 
p to the neighborhood of Annapolis, where they managed 

to withstand the cold and perils of the forest for many 
years. De Monts, however, was discouraged, and withdrew from the 
undertaking. But Champlain's zeal was unabated. What he had 
seen only made him love the long stretches of shore and forest along 
which he sailed for many a day. In 1608 he returned to 
F ^^ff^d plant a trading colony at Quebec, which his discerning 
i6o8. ' ^y^ selected as the key to the St. Lawrence valley. Fur 
trading supported his colony, but his adventurous spirit 
sought other fields. The Indians around him, Algonquins, were at 
feud with the Iroquois, and Champlain was induced to aid them. 
Early in 1609 he, with two other whites, joined a war party going 
southward. He eventually reached the lake which now has his 
name, and on its shore a battle was fought. As the Iroquois advanced 
across a plain, Champlain in full armor showed himself, shot two 
Indians dead, and wounded another. A third was killed by one of 
the other whites, and the savages fled. From that time the French 
. . settlements in Canada had the hostility of the powerful 

the^Iroquois IroQUois Confederacy. Champlain had naturally thought 
best to make friends with the Indians among whom he 
had settled, and for many years his action produced no bad results ; 
but there came a time when the French wished to extend their influence 
into the region now known as western New York, and were pre- 
vented by Iroquoian hostility. By this small occurrence in 1609 
the eastern and southern shores of Lakes Ontario and Erie were 
kept out of French hands and made accessible at the proper time to 
the English-speaking people. 

New France, as the St. Lawrence region was now called, grew 
slowly. It was only a series of trading posts, and so little concerned 



THE JESUITS IN NEW FRANCE 113 

with agriculture that in 1628, when war interrupted communi- 
cation with Europe, only one family in Quebec had raised 
enough food to support it through the winter. In 1660 q"^.}^ ^ 
there were 3000 white settlers, including the fishing posts New France, 
in Acadia. In 1629 Quebec was taken by the English, 
but Charles I restored it to France. Champlain died at Quebec 
in 1635. 

It was about this time that the Jesuits turned their attention to 
Canada. They proposed to convert and civilize the Indians, and 
thus establish French power in the Lake region while 
they delivered into French hands an immense fur trade, t^e Jesuits 
With the Algonquins on the St. Lawrence they were 
easily successful : then they sent missions to the Hurons, on the shores 
of the lake which now bears their name, and here, after some delays, 
they also succeeded. With the Iroquois they could, for a long time, 
make no headway. It is not probable that an Indian nation under 
French influence, however civilized, could have kept the English 
permanently out of the region south of Lake Erie ; and it is certain 
that the Iroquois, through their hostility to everything French, 
defeated the hopes of the Jesuits and made easier the progress of the 
English. But the work of the priests commands our esteem. They 
went without hesitation into the most dangerous places, giving up 
their lives as readily to torture as to disease. Their "Relations," 
reports of their experiences, were published contemporaneously in 
France and stimulated popular interest in Canada, while for posterity 
they are a valuable source of knowledge of Indian life. On the savages 
themselves the missionaries exerted a good influence. The tendency 
to make war continually was lessened, the most barbarous forms of 
torturing captives disappeared, and their general antipathy toward 
the whites was softened. On the other hand, the power of the Jesuits 
was used to promote French dominion, and some of the most cruel 
raids against the New England frontier were instigated by priests. 

Let us now turn to the Iroquois, for many years the foes of the 
Jesuits. Five nations, the Mohawks on the east, and next in order, 
the Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas made 
up the Confederacy. A sixth nation, the Tuscaroras, th^JifL^uois 
of North Carolina, did not join the Confederacy until 
1713. In the time of Champlain the strength of the Iroquois was 
about 2500 warriors; but superior central organization, with the 
courage of the men, made it the most powerful Indian organization 
of the North Atlantic coast. The wars against the French and the 
Algonquins were usually led by the Mohawks, those against the Hurons 
by the Senecas. By 1650 the Hurons were broken and dispersed, and 
by 1750 the Iroquoian authority through a series of wars was imposed 
in a loose way over all the western tribes as far as Lake Michigan, 
the Illinois, and the Mississippi, and southward to the northern 



114 COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT 

limits of the present states of Mississippi and Alabama. Armed by 
the Dutch, the Mohawks and neighboring nations made life wretched 
for the French and Algonquins on the St. Lawrence. In 1665 Louis 
XIV sent a fine regiment to America to chastise this fierce enemy. 
In two fruitless expeditions it destroyed some villages which the 
inhabitants had abandoned, and only succeeded in stimulating the 
Mohawks' hatred of France. At this time (1664) New York passed 
into English hands. Its new masters early appreciated the importance 
of Iroquoian friendship, and in 1684, in a memorable treaty at Albany, 

induced them to acknowledge themselves English subjects. 
the^EngUsh Governor Dongan, of New York, thereupon informed 

the governor of Canada that the province of New York 
included the Iroquois lands, and caused the arms of the Duke of York 
to be afiixed to walls of the Iroquois towns. The reply was a French 
invasion which accomplished nothing. For the time it was believed 
that the French would make a determined attempt against New 
York, which was not able to offer serious resistance. It was partly 
to have a consolidated force strong enough to meet this danger that 
James II created the short-lived Dominion of New England. France 
and England were now keenly alive to the importance of their Amer- 
ican possessions, and their wars for the next seventy years always 
kindled the conflict on the American frontier. But that part of our 
story must be deferred while we consider the extension of French 
authority in the Mississippi valley. 

The missionaries to the Hurons were the first Frenchmen to have 
knowledge of the rich country beyond Lake Erie. Though driven 

out of it by the dispersion of the Indians, they kept alive 
an^ToUer ^^^ knowledge of its wonders. In 1673 Father Marquette, 

member of the indomitable society, and Joliet, a trader, 
going through this country, came to the Wisconsin river, down which 
they took their canoes until they came to the Mississippi, which they 
followed to the mouth of the Arkansas. They desired to reach the 
salt sea, but prudently turned back lest they fall into Spanish hands 
and knowledge of their discovery perish with them. 

What they failed to do was achieved by La Salle, one of the most 
intrepid of the French explorers. He wished to organize the fur trade 

on the lakes, and from the profits carry on extensive 

discoveries in the region beyond. A license was obtained 
from the king, and money was subscribed by friends, but the opposition 
of Quebec merchants and the Jesuits was a severe impediment. Before 
complete ruin overtook his scheme he set out in December, 1681, 
to follow the "Great River" of Marquette and Joliet to the sea. 
With him were Tonti, a faithful friend, and fifty-three others. French- 
men and Indians. From Lake Michigan they ascended the Chicago 
to its source and thence by portage to the Illinois, down which they 
reached the Mississippi, and April 6 they passed out one of its sluggish 



THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER 115 

mouths to the Gulf of Mexico. The Indians were friendly and as- 
sured La Salle that he was the first white man to explore the river ; 
he took possession of its banks in the name of the king of France. 
News of his achievement aroused enthusiasm in France, and in 1684 
he set out with a colony and four ships, fitted out by the king, to settle 
at the mouth of the Mississippi. After many hardships he landed on 
the Texas coast, whence he started overland to find the river he 
had traversed and to communicate with Tonti, whom he expected 
to arrive from Canada. In the interior he was murdered xr- n h 
by his own men, 1687, and of his followers only a few 
survived starvation on the great plains or escaped the hands of the 
Spaniards. 

La Salle's unfinished work was taken up in i6g8 by dTberville 
and his brother, Bienville, both notable men in New France. In 
January, 1699, they arrived by sea and planted a trading 
post at Biloxi, on the mainland near the mouth of the Louisiana 
river. Bienville was governor, and the country was called ^^^^ ' 
Louisiana, for Louis XIV. For many years the fate of 
the place seemed doubtful. The Indian trade was engrossed by the 
English and Spaniards, and the colonists were not inclined to become 
agriculturists. In 1712 the monopoly of the Louisiana trade 
was granted for fifteen years to Crozat, but he managed it so badly 
that it yielded small returns. Five years later the colony, including 
trade privileges and the ownership of ungranted lands, passed into 
the hands of Law's Mississippi Company. Its immense possibilities, 
which were carefully exploited by the adventurers, gave a basis of 
confidence to the company ; but the final collapse was certain. Before 
it came, however. New Orleans was founded, 17 18, and became 
the seat of government of Louisiana. In 1731 the company gave 
up its rights, and the colony was thenceforth governed by the crown. 
It had no popular assembly, but the authority was in the hands of 
a governor with local courts, from the decisions of which appeal lay 
to the king. The population grew slowly, and by the middle of the 
century it was not more than sLx thousand, one third being slaves. 
At this time St. Louis, Natchez, and several other interior posts had 
been established. 

The French and Indian Wars 

Three great Frenchmen influenced the history of New France late 
in the seventeenth century, — -Louis XIV, Colbert, his minister, and 
Frontenac, twice governor of Canada, 1672 to 1682 and 
1689 until his death in i6g8. The first and second acted to- p°y *" 
gether, creating in 1664 a consolidated company with trade 
monopoly for all the French colonies. To it the king offered bounties 
for all goods exported or imported and generous assistance in the 



ii6 COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT 

early years of the enterprise. To encourage infant industries liberal 

grants were made, immigration was stimulated, marriage was en- 

• YTv couraged, and large families were rewarded in many 

and'colbert. ^ays. Louis XIV watched eagerly the reports of Canadian 

population. They could have given him little comfort 
for all he had spent, since in 1679 the colony contained but 9400 
whites, and there were only 6983 horned cattle, 719 sheep, and 
145 horses. Colbert died in 1683, but his policy in Canada was 
continued. 

Frontenac was chiefly notable for his ability in dealing with the 
Iroquois. In 1673 he made a treaty with them and built a fort where 

Kingston now stands. He said that with a vessel on 
Plans ° '^ Lake Erie and a fort on the Niagara he could now control 

the upper lakes. The ship, the Griffon, was built 
by La Salle, but was wrecked on her first voyage. Frontenac supported 
La Salle's trading enterprise and thus incurred the opposition of the 
Quebec traders, whose profits were affected. He also incurred the 
hostility of the Jesuits, whose power by this time was overwhelming. 
Combining their efforts, his enemies secured his removal in 1682. His 
successors renewed the war with the Iroquois, who were thus thrown 
back on the English for support. 

By this time the French were aware of the vast possibilities of the 
interior parts of North America. Of the three river valleys that 

conduct thither they held two, the St. Lawrence and the 
D "*^^ . Mississippi, and it seemed necessary to seize the other, 
Hudson. ^^^ Hudson, ere it was able to defy them. To do so 

would cut the English settlements in twain and go far 
toward expelling English authority from the continent. Moreover, 
the opportunity to realize these plans seemed to come when in 1689 
France began war with England on account of the overthrow of 
James II by William of Orange. 

Her first care was to send Frontenac back to Canada as governor, 
and he immediately turned his attention to winning over the Iroquois. 

In order to impress them with French prowess he sent 
King Wii- three expeditions against the English frontier. February 
1600-1607.' 9' 1690, a force of Frenchmen and Indians surprised 

Schenectady, near Albany, slew 60 whites and led away 
27 captives. The second force attacked and destroyed the village 
of Salmon Falls, New Hampshire, and the third took Fort Loyal, 

where Portland, Maine, now stands. Each of these 
R^ds*°^*^ ^ affairs was conducted with much cruelty, and cries for 

vengeance arose from all the northern colonies. A 
congress of delegates from Massachusetts, Connecticut, Plymouth, 
and New York convened in May, 1690, and planned a retaliatory 
expedition to take Quebec. It was agreed that New York and Connec- 
ticut should raise an army and attack Montreal by way of Lake 



KING WILLIAM'S WAR 117 

Champlain. Massachusetts was asked to cooperate by sending a 

naval force against Quebec. To this request her delegates would 

not positively agree. At that moment a fleet of her 

armed merchantmen, under the command of Sir William A Counter- 

. ... • stroke 

Phips, was engaged in an expedition against Port Royal, m pjanned. 

Acadia, a nest from which had gone forth many privateers. 

Soon Phips appeared in Boston laden with booty and reporting that 

Port Royal had been subdued and its inhabitants forced 

to take oaths of loyalty to William and Mary. So great port^^oyai 

was the enthusiasm that the colony decided to send a 

strong force against Quebec, believing that a bold stroke would end 

the French peril in that quarter once for all. 

While Massachusetts made ready her attack, the army of the other 
colonies had assembled and set out for Montreal. Dissension appeared, 
smallpox was discovered, the Iroquois allies did not keep 
their promises, and the expedition was abandoned at jifg Counter- 
Lake Champlain. After many delays Phips started for stroke. 
Quebec August 9, 1690. He had no pilot who knew the 
St. Lawrence, and as he groped his way through its course news of his 
movements was carried to Frontenac, who barely had time to collect 
his forces at Quebec, most of them having been drawn off to Montreal 
to meet the expected attack there. The Massachusetts men landed 
1200 strong and laid siege to the town. Their commander lacked the 
ability of his opponent, and soon disease and discouragement reigned 
in the army. Cold weather now approached, and it was decided 
to return to Boston. Had Phips acted vigorously at first, it is prob- 
able that the town would have been taken. The expedition cost the 
colony dearly both in money and in the men who died from disease. 

The war now waged was called in the colonies "King William's 
War." It lasted until 1697, when peace came with the Treaty of 
Ryswick between France and England. No large expedi- 
tion marked the further course of the struggle on either ^^^^^ 
side in America, but Indian forays were continuous. 
The New England borders, from Northampton to Pemaquid, suffered 
severely. In 1697 Haverhill was captured with scenes of bloodshed. 
One of the captives was Hannah Dustin. Led away toward Canada, 
she watched her opportunity, slew her captors, and escaped to her 
friends. Her achievement was long a source of inspiration to the 
frontier women of America. During this war the Iroquois suffered 
severely at the hands of the French. Two strong expeditions were 
sent against them by Frontenac, and it was reported by the French 
that their fighting men were reduced to half their former 
number. In 1694 they were willing to make peace with ^j^g •^j^j. 
France, but Frontenac refused unless the Indian allies of 
the French were included, — terms the Iroquois would not accept. 
In maintaining the good will of these savages the services of Peter 



ii8 COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT 

Schuyler, of Albany, were most valuable to the English. The treaty 
of peace left affairs as they were at the beginning of the war. 

In 1 701 began the War of the Spanish Succession, whose American 
phase was called "Queen Anne's War." During the interval of peace 

the French had made a treaty with the Iroquois. A 
?"^^° w further peaceful influence was the conversion of a large 
1701-1713. ' portion of the Mohawks and their removal to the vicinity 

of Montreal. Thus Vaudreuil, governor of Canada, was 
able for several years to preserve friendship with this powerful con- 
federacy, and in consequence the New York border did not suffer 
in Queen Anne's War as formerly. It was otherwise with New 
England. The Abenakis, who lived on this frontier, were under the 
influence of the missionaries, and faithful to France. The governor 
used them to harass the settlements, and their captives were turned 
over to the missionaries for conversion to Catholicism. 

Every portion of this frontier suffered, but the severest blow was 
at Deerfield, February, 1704. Fifty Canadians and two hundred 

Indians fell on the place on a bitterly cold night, scaled 
Rafded ^^^ palisade before they could be discovered, and killed 

the inhabitants from house to house. Fifty-three whites 
perished during the night and one hundred and eleven were carried 
away through the frozen forests, among them Rev. John Williams 
and his family. Seventeen of the prisoners were killed on the march 
because they could not keep up with their captors, and others died 
of hunger. Mrs. Williams died in the former way, but the husband 
and children reached Canada safely. After futile efforts to force him 
to conversion he was purchased by the governor from his Indian 
master, and in later years he and the survivors were ransomed by their 
friends in New England. Many "New England Captives" refused 
to return when the opportunity offered. Of this class was Eunice 
Williams, daughter of the Deerfield minister. Converted to Ca- 
tholicism and married to an Indian husband, she clung to her new 
home and religion. 

England was by this time convinced of the importance of taking 
Canada, and made plans for a joint English and colonial expedition 

for that purpose. In 17 10 a fleet appeared in Boston, 
Take °^^ where it was joined by a body of colonial troops and suc- 
ceeded in taking Port Royal, whose name was changed to 
Annapolis. From that time Acadia was a British possession. In 
1711a still larger fleet appeared, commanded by Admiral Sir Hovenden 

Walker. On board was an army under John Hill, 
Failure of brother of Queen Anne's favorite, Mrs. Masham. This 
den Walker. foi"ce, after receiving recruits in Boston, numbered 

12,000 men, and should have taken Quebec with ease. 
But the admiral would not trust his French pilots, and ran on 
the rocks near the mouth of the St. Lawrence, with a loss of ten 



COLONIAL RESULTS OF THE WAR iig 

ships and 900 men. With this he lost heart and abandoned the 
expedition. 

In this war Spain was alUed with France, and for that reason war be- 
gan between her colonies and South Carolina. The initiative was with 
the Spaniards of Florida, who in 1 702 armed a large number 
of Indians for a hostile movement. Before they could p°"*!^ 
attack they were severely defeated by a body of Indians ^^^ Florida, 
raised by the South Carolinians, who then attacked 
St. Augustine, burned the town, but failed to capture the fort held by 
a Spanish garrison. Next year they raided the Florida plantations, 
doing much damage. In 1706 the Spaniards retaliated with a large 
French and Spanish fleet and a strong landing party sent out from 
Havana to take Charleston. It met a stout resistance from Governor 
Nathaniel Johnson and the colonial army. An attempt to land was 
beaten back and the invading fleet was attacked so vigorously by a 
flotilla of Carolina craft that it departed. A French man-of-war 
which anchored in a neighboring bay was surrounded and taken. 
In this spirited defense of their chief city the South Carolinians 
showed great courage, and it is likely that with the aid of a 
small English force they could have destroyed Spanish power 
in Florida. 

By this time England and France, with their allies, were tired of 
the war, and peace was made at Utrecht, 1713. As to America, the 
terms were : (i) England was to have Acadia, whose 
boundaries, however, were not defined ; (2) the Iroquois ^/^u Jecht^ 
were acknowledged as English subjects, but their boun- ^^^^ 
daries also were not defined; (3) Newfoundland was 
ceded to England, but the French might dry fish on a part of the coast ; 
and (4) the Hudson Bay region was to be English territory. 
This was the first important treaty in which the affairs of 
English America figured, and Professor Channing well says it 
may be regarded as the beginning of the diplomatic history of 
the United States. 

Acadia now became the royal province of Nova Scotia. Its posses- 
sion by the British meant much for the New England fisheries. The 
Hudson Bay clause, also, had special significance. Fifty 
years earlier Groseillier and Radisson, two Frenchmen The Hud- 
excluded from the fur trade by the system of monopolies company, 
in existence in Canada, learned that the Canadian north- 
west could be approached from the great bay of the north. After 
futile efforts to get financial support in Boston and Paris, they got 
help from a group of English nobles, among them Prince Rupert, 
cousin of the king. The result was a charter for the Hudson Bay 
Company, 1670. Thus was founded the great commercial organi- 
sation which has worked so mightily to extend British influence in 
the northern parts of the continent. It received its guarantee of 



I20 COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT 

territorial development in the Treaty of Utrecht. Still another feature 
of this treaty which was important to the colonies was the clause 

known as the "Assiento," by which English merchants 
" A^ssiento " ^^^ ^°^ thirty years the monopoly of the slave trade in 

Spanish America. Out of the lirm development of 
this trade English colonial slavery as well as colonial trade was to 
get an added impetus. 

To make good the loss of Port Royal, France now built a strong 
fortress on Cape Breton Island, calling it Louisburg. This evident 

determination to perpetuate her influence in that region 
^°s convinced the English authorities that further trouble 

WaT^i7l'i~ ^^^ ^^ ^^ expected on the frontier. The expectation 
1748. was realized when the War of the Austrian Succession 

began in 1744. In this struggle England and France 
were again on opposite sides, and hostilities at once began in America, 
where the conflict is known as "King George's War." It was hardly 
begun before Governor Shirley, of Massachusetts, and his associates 

were laying plans to take Louisburg. Indeed, they 

could hardly do otherwise ; for the place harbored so many 
privateers that New England fishermen and traders were reduced to 
direst distress. 

For this expedition New England raised 4000 men who sailed from 
Boston on March 24, 1745, under the command of William Pepperell, 

a rich merchant of Kittery, Maine. He found Louisburg 
Louisburg insufhciently garrisoned and supplied, and a British 

fleet arriving at that time in the Gulf of Newfoundland 
served to keep French reenforcements from the beleaguered fort. 
After forty days of siege Pepperell received the surrender of the 
stronghold. The news of this colonial achievement caused an out- 
break of surprise and joy in England, and for his part in it the com- 
mander was made a baronet. In France it caused bewilderment 
and dismay. Two expeditions were sent to retake Louisburg, but 
the first, 1746, returned on account of storms and the death of the 
commander, and the second, 1747, was driven back by a British 
fleet. In 1746 Shirley organized a strong land expedition against 
Canada, but it was disbanded by the English authorities, who needed 
elsewhere the regulars Shirley expected to use. In 1748 the war 

ended in the Treaty of Ak-la-Chapelle. Louisburg 
th^^w^ ° was unwisely restored to France, and an attempt was 

made to soothe New England's disappointment by a 
donation of money which partly repaid her expenses in the war. 



WHO SHALL HAVE THE OHIO? 121 



The Last Conflict between the English and the French in 

North America 

No one who knew the conditions in America believed that the 
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle settled the differences between England 
and France. In fact, every year brought the settlements 
of the two powers closer together, and in doing so increased French and 
the probability of war. A series of posts from the upper rheQ^^^ 
Mississippi to the lakes through the Wabash valley valley, 
marked a continuous line of travel ; and in 1749, the year 
after the treaty was signed, the governor of Canada sent Celoron 
de Bienville with 214 white men and a force of Indians to take posses- 
sion of the Ohio valley. In token of their pretensions they planted 
leaden plates from Lake Chautauqua down the Alleghany and the 
Ohio and up the Great Miami, including a portion of the undisputed 
territory of the Iroquois. On the journey they met several bands 
of English traders, whom they ordered out of the country. In the 
same year several Virginians, among them Lawrence and Augustine 
Washington, brothers of the future president of the republic, secured 
a royal grant for 200,000 acres of land south of the Ohio and between 
the Monongahela and Kanawha. About the same time a still 
larger tract was secured by the Loyal Land Company to be located 
beyond the mountains, probably in Tennessee or Kentucky. These 
two movements, French and English, brought the two rival nations 
into close proximity in a region which each regarded as the key to 
the control of the interior. A clash could hardly be avoided. 

If additional motive was necessary, it was to be found in Indian 

relations in the lower part of the great valley. In the southern 

Appalachians lived the Cherokees, a strong and progressive 

nation. From the seventeenth century the Virginia Conflicting 
• ■ • . . Int6r6sts in 

traders \isited it, but with the settlement of Carolina ^^^^ South. 

its rich trade was absorbed by the merchants of Charleston. 
When Georgia was settled Augusta became a strong rival of Charleston. 
This shifting of the Cherokee trade from place to place has nothing 
to do with the conflict for the Mississippi valley, but it well shows 
the progress of industrial distribution. In 1730 the English made 
a treaty with the Cherokees, taking them under British protection. 
South of them were the Creeks, another powerful nation, and west- 
ward on the Mississippi the Chickasaws and Choctaws. With 
these latter tribes the English had traded also, but the Spaniards 
disputed with them the trade of the Creeks, and after the settlement 
of Biloxi, New Orleans, and Mobile (17 10) the French became com- 
petitors for it. They made treaties with the three last-mentioned 
nations, and what was the horror of the Englishmen to learn that 
active efforts were being made to win the Cherokees. If France 



122 COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT 

could establish a firm influence over these western tribes, it was 
clear she would be in a strong position to exclude any rival power 
not only from the western trade but from pretensions at sovereignty 
as well. 

But let us return to events in the Ohio valley. Four years after 
Bienville's journey, i.e. in 1753, Duquesne, the governor of Canada, 

sent 1000 men to the same region. They constructed 
ftheOhfo ^ YOSid thirteen miles long from Presque Isle, now Erie, 

to the Riviere aux Boeufs, tributary of the Allegheny, 
where they built Fort Le Boeuf, and about forty miles southward 
they built Fort Machault on the Allegheny. Whither this tended 
v/as easy to see, and Governor Dinwiddle, of Virginia, sent a protest 
by the hands of George Washington, a young man of twenty-one 
years whose character had already won the confidence of all who 
knew him. The region occupied, so said the protest, was in Virginia, 
and the governor of Canada was told to vacate it. The commandant 
at Fort de Boeuf forwarded the letter to Governor Duquesne, and 
Washington returned by a most difficult journey to Virginia. On the 
way he met a party going into the wilderness to build a trading fort 
at the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, a critical 
point which the French advance had not yet reached. They had 
hardly accomplished their purpose when a large French force descended 
the Allegheny in canoes, took the fort, and enlarged and strengthened 
it, changing the name to Fort Duquesne. This happened in April, 

1754- 

At Will's Creek (Cumberland, Md.) the expelled English garrison 
met Washington, now lieutenant colonel, whom Governor Dinwiddle 
had sent forward with 300 men to strengthen the garrison 
Success?uJ^ at the forks of the Ohio. The task assigned was beyond 
his present strength, but Washington determined to go 
forward and open and hold a road by which a larger party could drive 
out the French. With great difificulty he cut a road across the moun- 
tains, and came late in May to Great Meadows, fifty miles from 
Will's Creek. Learning from friendly Indians that a French detach- 
ment had marched to meet him, he surprised and defeated it. May 28. 
The French explained afterwards that the detachment, whose leader, 
Jumonville, was killed, merely came to warn the English out of the 
country. The affair was followed by a movement in force against 
the colonial army. Washington built a rude work. Fort Necessity, 
and met the attack as well as he could, hoping to hold out until reen- 
forcements arrived. His efforts were futile, and July 4 he sur- 
rendered the place, marching out with the honors of war. 

The war which was thus begun had been foreseen by the British 
government, who in 1753 ordered the governors of certain colonies 
to hold a conference with the Iroquois and devise a plan of com- 
mon defense. Accordingly the Albany congress met June 19, 1754, 



WAR INAUGURATED 123 

with delegates present from New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode 
Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. 
Washington was then facing defeat beyond the Allegha- 
nies, and the congress took up the large phases of the ^ e Albany 
situation. To meet the crisis, united action was demanded, j^g^^ 
and the meeting adopted a plan of union furnished by 
Benjamin Franklin, one of the delegates, who, however, acted for a 
committee appointed to consider the subject. It provided for a federal 
council of delegates from each colony, to meet annually, and to have 
among other federal powers the right to lay taxes, enact laws, raise 
armies, appoint officials, and manage Indian affairs. In the general 
state of colonial jealousy then existing it was impossible that the 
colonies should accept a scheme which took from them so much of 
their own authority. The plan was rejected by the assemblies, to 
which it was referred, and it found little favor in England. Franklin 
justly said it had too much self-government to please the king and 
too much prerogative to please the assemblies. 

Meanwhile, an elaborate attack on Canada was prepared in England, 
although war with France was not yet declared. While a fleet under 
Boscawen lurked around the mouth of the St. Lawrence 
to intercept ships taking troops to Quebec, colonial The French 
expeditions were to seize the frontier posts. Boscawen ^^ Indian 
allowed the prize to slip through his fingers, and of the Boscawen's 
other attempts only that of Braddock demands our Orders, 
attention. This brave but headstrong officer, with two 
British regiments, arrived in the Potomac in March, 1755, and prepared 
to move from Will's Creek on Fort Duquesne. He was joined by 
450 Virginia militia under Washington, the entire army 
being thus about 2000 strong. Widening and extending Exoedition 
Washington's road, his advance reached Turtle Creek, 
eight miles from Duquesne, on July 9. As the troops marched 
through an opening in the forest they encountered a heavy fire from 
each side of the road. The Virginians leaped into the bushes and 
fired from behind whatever cover they found. Braddock, coming 
up, swore at them loudly, and when some of his regulars sought to 
fight like the Virginians, he beat them back into the ranks. In close 
formation in the middle of a glade they fired into the forest whence 
came the enemy's fire, and in doing so killed some of the militia. On 
the other hand, they made an excellent target for the foe, and fell 
rapidly. Braddock rode everywhere with the greatest coolness, but 
his efforts were unavailing, and when he finally received a mortal 
wound he had just given the order to retreat. Washington, who had 
been in the thickest of the fight, took command and led the men 
to the rear. Of the 1200 men in the advance body 877 were killed 
or wounded. The attacking party, led by Beaujeu, who was killed 
in the fight, contained no more than 254 whites and 600 Indians, 



124 COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT 

and the latter went home with their booty after the battle. At 
Duquesne all was confusion, and the iioo men still left in the English 
army might have taken the place. But Dunbar, who now took com- 
mand, fled to Philadelphia, burning his wagons and destroying a large 
quantity of powder. This disaster was followed by Indian outrages, 
Braddock's road making such operations easy to the savages. 

While Braddock played his part in western Pennsylvania, fighting 
also occurred in New York. William Johnson marched with about 
3000 men to take the position at Crown Point, corn- 
New York* rnanding the road from Lake George to Lake Champlain. 
The French sent Dieskau with an equal force to oppose 
him. At Lake George, September 8, the French advance attacked 
a part of Johnson's force and was beaten off after a hot engagement. 
Johnson gained much credit and was made a baronet for his part in 
the battle, although he was wounded early in the day and the com- 
mand was taken by Phineas Lyman, of Connecticut, a better soldier. 
But Johnson's victory was the only success of the year, and the govern- 
ment felt constrained to give it prominence. An expedition by which 
Governor Shirley attempted to take Fort Niagara failed completely, 
partly because Braddock's defeat prevented an expected cooperation, 
and partly because it was impossible to bring up supplies to support 
a large army on the western border of New York. 

In the same year occurred the removal of the Acadians. The 
governor of Nova Scotia was alarmed at their attitude, since they 
insisted on being "neutrals" in the impending war and 
^®™°^^^ refused to take an unconditional oath of allegiance to 
Acadians. England. He called on Governor Shirley, of Massachu- 
setts, who sent 2000 volunteers, with whose aid Fort 
Beausejour was taken. Then it was decided to remove the French 
Acadians forcibly and distribute them among the colonies to the south- 
ward. The decision was carried out with great suffering. Many 
of the exiles escaped from their new homes, some going to Louisiana, 
others to Canada, and others returning to Nova Scotia. The sad 
tragedy has received its most popular rendering in Longfellow's 
"Evangeline." The attitude of the Acadians toward the British 
government was reprehensible, but not enough so to justify the 
punishment they received. 

In 1756 began the Seven Years' War in Europe, England joining 
Prussia against France and Austria. This was two years after fighting 
had begun in America, where the struggle is known as 
^/th'^'s"^ the French and Indian War. The British ministry was 
Years' War!* ^^^1 at first by Newcastle, who thought only of patronage 
and peculation, and their conduct of the war was weak. 
A new ministry created in 1756 could do little more, although 
Pitt was in it in a secondary position. Finally there was such a 
popular demand for this firm and patriotic leader that in 1757 he was 



PITT'S VIGOROUS LEADERSHIP 125 

given full control of the war policy, while Newcastle, one of the 
Pelhams, maintained the control of home affairs. Frederick the Great 
said, when he heard of the appointment:' "England has long been 
in labor, and at last she'has brought forth a man." 

Meanwhile, the years 1756 and 1757 were full of misfortunes in 
America, where Loudon, a weak product of the Pelham regime, com- 
manded. In 1756 Oswego was taken, and in 1757 an 
expedition against Louisburg failed, while a French army f'g6^*^^^°* 
under Montcalm took Fort William Henry at the j^^^^ 
southern end of Lake George, and perhaps only the with- 
drawal of his Indian allies saved from capture Fort Edward, on the 
upper Hudson. Out of the discouragement consequent on these 
events the colonies were raised by the news that Pitt was in full power, 
and that arms, ammunition, and provisions would be furnished by the 
king for any troops the colonies would raise. The response was ex- 
cellent, and soon every colony north of the Potomac was filled with 
busy preparations for war. 

Four principal campaigns came out of this activity in America. 
The first was against Louisburg, now greatly strengthened and de- 
fended by 3000 regulars with twelve warships anchored in 
the harbor. Before the place appeared in the summer of capturedf 
1758 forty-one British men-of-war and 11,000 regulars 
with a small force of provincials. Jeffrey Amherst was in command, 
and one of his brigadiers was James Wolfe. In a severe bombardment 
the French fleet was burned, the walls of the fort were pierced, and the 
garrison was forced to surrender. In 1749 Halifax had been founded 
as a seat of English power on the northern coast, and in view of its 
development Louisburg ceased to be important. Lest it again fall 
into enemy hands it was demolished in 1760. 

The second campaign was made to take Fort Duquesne and relieve 
Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia from Indian raids. The task 
was assigned to General Forbes with 1200 Highlanders 
and nearly sooo militia from Pennsylvania, Maryland, ^^ 
Virginia, and North Carolina. The advance was slow, Taken. 
partly because the commander was ill and partly because 
he believed that the French Indians would become impatient and 
desert the force at Duquesne. As winter approached he heard that 
just this had happened. Hurrying forward with an advance guard 
of 2500 he found the fort deserted and its works blown up, November 
25, 1758. The French had fled. Three months earlier Colonel Brad- 
street had destroyed Fort Frontenac, commanding Lake Ontario. 
The fugitives from Forbes' vengeance were thus cut off from Canada 
and dispersed into the wilderness. From these two blows col- 
lapsed all that network of posts France established in the Ohio 
valley, and those which were on or south of the western lakes were 
left mostly to their own resources. The fort at the forks of the 



126 COLONIAL DEVELOPMErvTT 

Ohio was now named Fort Pitt, in honor of the minister who made 
its capture possible. 

The year 1758 thus saw the Canadian frontier defenses carried at 
the two extremes, Louisburg and Duquesne. An attack made on 

its center, along the Hudson-Lake-Champlain line of 
b '^Failure 3-pproach, was a failure. For the command Abercromby, 

a political favorite, was selected against the wishes of 
Pitt ; but it was hoped that his inefhciency would be overbalanced 
by his second in command, George Howe, as capable and popular a 
soldier as then served the king. Abercromby gathered his forces, 
15,000 strong, at Lake George, and July 4, 1758, advanced against 
Ticonderoga. Next day an attempted ambuscade was beaten off, 
but with the loss of Howe's life. From this time things went badly. 
July 8, the British general fought a long and hard battle under the 
walls of the fort, and at the end withdrew with a loss of 1944. He had 
been repulsed by a force one fourth as large as his own, and yet he 
fled rapidly to his boats. The demoralization of his army was only 
relieved by Bradstreet's capture of Frontenac a few weeks later. 

At this point let us consider affairs in Canada, where three men 
were to mar or make the country's fortune. In 1756 the Marquis 

de Montcalm, an excellent soldier and a cultured gentle- 
DifficuUies^ man, arrived in Quebec with a commission to command 

all the forces in Canada. His coming disappointed Vau- 
dreuil, the governor, who did not relish a diminution of his own author- 
ity. Over his head scowled the dark face of Bigot, intendant and 
head of finances. Convinced that neither the irresolute governor nor 
the brave general could save Canada from the British, he hastened 
the course of his peculations in the conviction that the approaching 
cataclysm would destroy the evidences of guilt. He seems to have 
induced the governor to share the spoils, and the consequent corruption 
in civil affairs was a source of embarrassment to the honest and pa- 
triotic Montcalm. It cut off the supplies needed for the army, increased 
the expenses of the war, and made it difficult to get recruits. All the 
while the jealous governor did not cease to try to discredit the general 
with the authorities at home. Montcalm, disgusted with the situation, 
was on the point of resigning when Forts Duquesne and Frontenac were 
lost and he then felt that honor demanded that he stay in Canada. 
His army at the time it was largest consisted of 4000 French and 
2500 Canadian regulars, with 5000 colonial militia. Besides these, all 
able-bodied men in New France might be called into service when 
needed. The Indian allies rarely mustered more than 1000. 

In 1759 Pitt sent out two strong expeditions. Wolfe, 

Operations -yyith 9000 men and a powerful fleet was to attack Quebec 

1759- ^y ^^^ ^^- Lawrence, and Amherst, with 11,000, was to 

move on the same place by way of Lake Champlain. 

Supporting Amherst, 5000 men under Colonel Prideaux were sent 



QUEBEC TAKEN 127 

against Fort Niagara. This post was easily taken, and Oswego was 
rebuilt, reestablishing complete English control of Lake Ontario. 
Amherst's expedition reached Lake George in June, whereupon the 
French abandoned Ticonderoga and Crown Point. Following their 
retreat northward he found them strongly placed at Isle aux Noix, com- 
manding the entrance of the Richelieu, and was not able to take the 
position on account of the approach of winter. On Wolfe, therefore, 
fell the burden of the attack on Quebec. For that work his army was 
designed to be strong enough for complete success even if it acted inde- 
pendently. France, now engaged on every side in Europe, had no 
troops available for Canada. Montcalm, harassed by enemies at his 
own side, was forced to prepare for the impending conflict with no 
other outside assistance than 500 fresh troops and a small supply 
of provisions. Advised of the coming of Wolfe, he gathered at Quebec 
all the men available, 15,000 white men and 1000 Indians, and held 
himself ready for the onslaught. 

The British expedition was before Quebec by June 26. Before him 
Wolfe saw a rocky peninsula, at the end of which was the town. The 
crest of the bluff was well fortified, and across the neck of 
land above the town a strong line of intrenchments was ^|^® 
drawn. To assault the place from the water front or in Quebec. 
the rear seemed futile. In fact, it was a prevalent opin- 
ion that Quebec was impregnable, and to starve it into submission was 
difficult, because winter operations were impossible. Wolfe realized 
these disadvantages, but landed his many cannon on points of vantage 
and opened a bombardment. At the end of two months the buildings 
in the town had been badly damaged, but the French hold was 
not relaxed. The delay, however, discouraged the provincial troops, 
many of whom, went home. The approach of winter warned the 
British that they must complete their work or withdraw, and Wolfe 
decided to attack the town from the high ground behind it. On the 
night of September 12, he managed to find a way to the 
Plains of Abraham, a mile and a half from Quebec, and by , Abraham 
the morning of the 13th 4500 troops were drawn up ready 
to assault the defenses. Montcalm hurried forward with a force of 
about ecjual size. Thinking only a small portion of Wolfe's men con- 
fronted him, he drew up his troops in line of battle in order to drive 
the British into the river. Had he retired into his own lines he might 
have held out until the November frosts forced the British to with- 
draw. The battle that followed was hard volley against hard volley, 
and lasted only a few minutes. Some of the Frenchmen were recruits 
whose wavering threw the rest into confusion, and then the whole line 
broke for the cover of the fortifications, followed by the English, whose 
energy made the pursuit a complete victory. At the moment the flight 
began, both Wolfe and Montcalm fell, mortally wounded. Governor 
Vaudreuil, in consternation, withdrew hastily to Montreal, and four 



128 COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT 

days later, September 17, the garrison he left behind surrendered to 
the British. 

When winter began, Quebec was occupied by 7000 British troops 
under General Murray, illy prepared to face the bitter cold. Hardship 

and illness reduced this force by the end of April to 3000 
H Id ^*^ effectives. Down on them now came Levis, the successor 

of Montcalm, who had collected the fragments of French 
military power to the number of 12,000. April 28 Murray gave battle 
on the Plains of Abraham and was forced back into his lines with a loss 
of a third of his force engaged. His position seemed desperate when 
the arrival of British frigates with supplies restored hope and enabled 
him to drive off Levis, who now gave his attention to the defense of 
Montreal, the last French stronghold in Canada. 

His utmost efforts in this respect were soon demanded, for three 
expeditions were being prepared to overwhelm him. One under 

Amherst was to assemble at Oswego and proceed down 

Montreal Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence, another under Havi- 

Taken 

j_5o_ ' land was to advance by way of Lake Champlain, and a 

third was to be led by Murray up the St. Lawrence from 
Quebec. The three expeditions were to arrive at Montreal at the 
same time, and if the plans did not miscarry could be expected to put 
an end to French rule in New France. The story of American opera- 
tions against Canada is full of the failure of cooperation where support- 
ing movements had been proposed, but for once we come to the ex- 
ception. August 24, 1760, Murray was eighteen miles below Montreal, 
and took such a strong position that he was safe against an attack in 
detail. September 6 both Haviland and Amherst arrived before the 
town, and with the aid of Murray's ships the investment was completed. 
The defenses, good enough against the Indians, were not proof against 
British cannon; the garrison was only 2500 men, for many of the 
Canadians had gone home on being promised immunity by the British ; 
and the provisions would suffice for only fifteen days. Under these 
conditions the French hastened the inevitable by surrendering the 
place and giving parole not to fight again during the war. Thus was 
lowered the French flag in Canada September 8, 1760. It is gratifying 
to add that in Paris, whither they were allowed to go, Vaudreuil, 
Bigot, and their chief tools were arrested and tried for malfeasance in 
office. The governor was acquitted for lack of proof, but the false 
intendant was fined 1,500,000 francs, his ill-gotten pelf confiscated, 
and he himself exiled for life. 

The struggle thus far had not affected Louisiana, but it 
^P^^°" now remains to be seen how that too was drawn into the 
the War. vortex of ruin which affected all French colonies. Spain 

saw with alarm the progress of British power in America 
and on the sea, and in 1761 pledged herself in the celebrated Family 
Compact to treat French enemies as her own enemies. As a consequence, 



THE TREATY OF PARIS 129 

England declared war on her January 4, 1762, and sent a strong expedi- 
tion against Cuba. August 13 Havana was taken with booty worth 
$15,000,000; a sum which, however, did not repay the frightful loss 
of lives from disease in the British army. September i of this year a 
British force took the Philippine Islands, but gave them up when 
promised a ransom. Impressed by these experiences, Spain was soon 
willing to make peace. France, utterly exhausted, was equally ready, 
and the result was the Treaty of Paris, February 10, 1763. 

Before it was signed there was much discussion of terms. England 
boldly demanded Florida, much to the dismay of Spain, who wished to 
keep the entrance of the Gulf. Then France, out of con- 
sideration for Spain, whom she had persuaded to enter the p^^?*^ ° 
war, offered England all of Louisiana west of the Missis- ^^^^ ' 
sippi if she would forego the demand for Florida. But Eng- 
land was obdurate ; and France gave Louisiana to Spain to recoup her 
for the loss of the peninsular province. The arrangement was made 
secretly between the two powers concerned, and was not generally 
known until long after the Treaty of Paris was signed. France had 
been spending on Louisiana 300,000 livres a year without a sou in 
return, and her apparent generosity accorded well with her financial 
necessities. With Canada and India gone, and her fleet destroyed, 
Louisiana could not be of value to her. 

The terms of the general treaty were as follows: Canada, Nova 
Scotia, Cape Breton, and all the interior east of the Mississippi, ex- 
cept the so-called Isle d'Orleans near its mouth, were 
ceded to the British ; the West Indian islands of Tobago, the™reaty. 
Dominica, Granada, and St. Vincent also were ceded to 
the EngHsh, but Martinique and Guadeloupe, which had been con- 
quered, were left to France. England received Florida and gave up 
Cuba ; France lost all her East Indian colonies but Pondicherry and 
Chandernagore ; and France was to retain the right to dry fish on the 
north and west coasts of Newfoundland, with two small islands off the 
shore as a shelter for her fishermen. 

Thus France made her exit from North America, where she had lost 
her day as a colonizing power. One cannot but admire the bravery 
with which she attempted large tasks and the generosity 
with which she succored infant settlements. Her failure ^^ France. 
was inherent in her own life. Without a large manufactur- 
ing interest she was not able to build up a colonial market for her mer- 
chandise ; and without a surplus population there was little demand 
for colonies to improve the condition of her farming class. As Spain 
tried to support colonial development on the mining industry so France 
wished to make it depend on the fur trade, whose very existence 
demanded that agriculture should not advance into the continent. 
Between the farmsteads of the English and the hunting ranges of the 
interior the clash was inevitable and the issue certain. If Pitt had 



130 COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT 

not, by his foresight and energy, completed the French expulsion in 

1760, the colonies themselves must have done it at no very distant date. 

It is said, but on doubtful authority, that Choiseul, the French 

minister who made the Treaty of Paris, remarked that England would 

do well to leave Canada to France in order that the danger 
Was the ^f ^ French and Indian attack might keep the English 
English colonies dependent on the mother country. It is certain 

Wise? that the idea was often mentioned in 1762. It was so 

strongly urged by the English interests in the West Indies 
in order to induce the government to retain all the French islands 
there, that Franklin wrote a pamphlet to show that it was badly 
founded. The colonies, he said, were so divided by mutual distrust . 
and varying interests that they would never unite against England. 
Such might have been the case for many years had not a headstrong 
king forced them to a union in defense of rights they held dearer than 
any of the interests which had caused their dissensions. 

Two Indian wars came as an aftermath of the struggle against 
France. After the outbreaks of 1711-1716, the Cherokees remained at 

peace with the English ; but the efforts of the French had 
The Chero- ^^g influence in arousing their suspicions. A party went 
Ho^s^tmue's! rather unwillingly with Forbes against Fort Duquesne, 

1759, and some of them deserted. A group of the deserters 
on their return killed twenty-two whites in North Carolina, 
and another band stole a number of horses. The whites retaliated 
by killing the Indians, whereupon the Indians fell on the settlements 
and slew whom they found. Governor Lyttleton of South Carolina 
now called out troops and marched to the Indian country with 1500 
poorly equipped soldiers. Before he started he was joined by thirty 
Cherokee chiefs who said they were come to make peace. They had 
been promised personal immunity, but Lyttleton forced them to go 
with him to the frontier, and when the murderers of the whites were 
not delivered up by the tribes, he detained as hostages these envoys 
of peace, who had trusted his promise. Although he made a new treaty, 
he was hardly back in Charleston before depredations were resumed. 
The commandant of the frontier fort in which the hostages were de- 
tained was lured out of the gate on pretense of a parley and murdered, 
and the garrison, angered by this cruelty, slew the hostages. 

The war now became general. Lyttleton was no longer governor, 
but Bull, acting in his place, sent forward, 1760, Colonel Montgomery 

with 1650 men, three-fourths of whom were regulars who 
The Cam- had opportunely arrived at Charleston. They burned the 
r6^o°and lower Cherokee towns and killed or captured more than a 
1761.*" hundred persons, but were fiercely engaged in an attempt to 

cross the mountains and fall back to the seaboard, whence 
the regulars returned to New York to take part in the campaign 
against Montreal. Their departure encouraged the Indians and sealed 



TWO INDIAN WARS 131 

the fate of Fort London. The post had been umnsely built in an ex- 
posed position beyond the Alleghanies, and its garrison of 200 men 
could not be relieved. Hunger at last overcame them and they sur- 
rendered on condition that they should return home in safety. But 
the Indians pursued them, slew twenty-six, and took the others pris- 
oners. By 1 761 troops could be spared from the north, and General 
Amherst sent Colonel Grant with 1200 Highlanders to complete the 
pacification of the Indian country. Grant, joined by militia and 
friendly Indians until his army numbered 2600, won a costly victory 
over the Cherokees in June, and then proceeded to destroy their towns 
and the growing crops. This was a heavy blow, and the chiefs sued for 
peace. The treaty that followed did not remove Cherokee resent- 
ment, as their support of the British showed in the war of the Revolu- 
tion. In the war of 1760 and 1761 both North Carolina and Virginia 
raised troops to protect their borders; but the work of vengeance 
which forced the Cherokees to make peace was done by the regulars, 
marching from Charleston and aided by the South Carolina militia. 

The second conflict with the Indians was the Pontiac War. The 
Indians of the Northwest recognized their doom when the British 
seized and held the French posts, and to save themselves 
formed a confederacy 'under Pontiac, a capable and am- ^"/^^g, 
bilious warrior of the Ottowas. Emissaries of France told ^.^^^ 
them that the French would return and subdue the British 
garrisons, and this gave the red men courage to strike while the new 
lords of the country were weak. The confederacy was well organized, 
each tribe promising to fall on and destroy the post nearest to it. 
The attack was made in May, 1763, and the result was that ten posts 
from Bedford, Pennsylvania, to Michilimackinac, at the entrance of 
Lake ^lichigan, fell to the savages, most of them being entered through 
treachery, and the garrisons murdered. Detroit and Fort Pitt, however, 
were warned and held out. The former received supplies _, . 
by v.-ater and delied its foe, though Pontiac himself led -^^^ ^^ 
the force which invested its land approaches. The latter 
was saved by Colonel Bouquet. This officer had seen seven years' 
serxace against the Indians and knew well how to fight them. He 
was in Philadelphia when the trouble began, and was ordered to re- 
lieve Fort Pitt with 500 Highlanders. ISIoving rapidly, he approached 
the scene of Braddock's defeat on August 5. Here he was surrounded 
by Indians at Busby Run, and fought fiercely until nightfall. Next 
morning the Indians resumed the battle, when by a feigned retreat 
Bouquet drew them into a heedless charge on his bag- ^^^ p. ^ ^ 
gage train, and turning at the proper moment drove them ^^ -^^j. 
off in great disorder. Four days later Fort Pitt was 
reached and relieved, but Bouquet must wait for reenforcements 
before he could march into the Indian country beyond it. In the 
following year, with 1500 men, he marched without opposition into 



132 COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT 

what is now southeastern Ohio as far as the upper Muskingum and 
made treaties of peace with the Indians of that region, rescuing 200 
captured settlers. In a great council at Fort Niagara the Indians of 
the lake also made a treaty of peace in which they ceded to the 
English a strip four miles wide on each side of the Niagara river. 
Pontiac remained hostile until convinced that there was no hope of 
aid from the French, and in 1766 he, with other recalcitrants, made 
an unwilling submission at Oswego. Three years later he was slain in 
the forest near St. Louis by another Indian to whom an English trader 
had promised a barrel of rum. He was one of the ablest and most 
patriotic men of his race. 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

Bancroft, History of the United States, 10 vols. (1834-1874), and Hildreth, 
History of the United States, 6 vols. (1849-1852), the older standard works on 
the colonial period and still important; but better and fresher are the volumes in 
The American Nation (A. B. Hart, Editor). On the period described in this chapter 
the volumes are Greene, Provincial America (1905), and Thwaites, France in 
America (1905). Channing, History of the United States, vol. II (1908), is e.xcel- 
lent, and great praise must be awarded to Avery, History of the United States and 
its People, 7 vols. (1904-). Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America, 
8 vols. (1888-1889), has some very good chapters and very valuable references. 
Chalmers, Introduction to the History of tlie Revolt of tlic American Colonies, vol. I 
(1782). Vol. II (1845), ^ British work of much ability and generally regarded 
as the best contemporary general history of the colonies. The author was a king's 
officer in America, and after his return to England had access to important papers. 
Lodge, Short History of t lie English Colonies (ed. 1902) is a useful summary. 

The State Paper (Jffice, London, contains in manuscript a vast collection of 
letters from British Colonial officials, the most important source of our colonial 
history. Some of the states have published all or parts of this material, notably 
New York in Documents Relative to Colonial History, 14 vols, and index (1856- 
1883); New Jersey, in Documents Relating to Colonial History, 22 vols. (1880- 
1902); North Carolina in Colonial Records, 10 vols. (1886-1890). The British 
government is slowly publishing calendars with the title, Calendars of State Papers, 
Colonial Series: America and West Indies, 14 vols. (1860-1910). See also 
Force, Tracts and Other Papers, 4 vols. (1836-1846). 

For English history and policy during this period see : Lecky, England in the 
Eighteenth Century, 8 vols. (1878-1890), a judicious discussion; Cobbett, Parlia- 
mentary History of England, 36 vols. (1806-18 20) ; Egerton, Short History of British 
Colonial Policy (1897) ; Beer, Commercicl Policy of England towards the American 
Colonies (Columbia University Studies, III, 1893) ; Ibid., The Old Colonial System, 
i66o-iys4, 2 vols. (191 2) ; Ibid., British Colonial Policy, 1 754-1 765 (1907) ; Kellog, 
The American Colonial CJiarter (Am. Hist. Assn. Report, 1903, vol. I) ; and Lord, 
Industrial Experiments in the British Colonies of North America (Johns Hopkins 
Univ. Studies, Extra, 1898). 

For the development of institutions within the colonies the best work is Osgood, 
The American Colonies in the Seventeenth Century, 3 vols. (1904-1907). Good 
monographs are : Greene, The Provincial Governor in the English Colonies of North 
America (Harvard Hist. Studies, 1898) ; McKinley, Suffrage in the Tftirteen English 
Colonies (Univ. of Penn. Publications, series in History, 1905) ; and Miller, Legal 
Qualifications for Office (Am. Hist. Assn. Report, 1899). 

For the history of individual colonies the following are convienent and generally 
reliable : Palfrey, History of New England, 6 vols. (ed. 1890) ; Belknap, History of 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 133 

New Hampshire, 3 vols. (1784-1702); Barry, History of Massachusetts, 3 vols. 
(1858-1864) ; Arnold, History of Rhode Island, 2 vols. (ed. 1899) > Trumbull, 
History of Connecticut, 2 vols. (ed. i8q8) ; Fiske, Dutch and Quaker Colonies, 2 vols. 
(1899) ; Smith, History of New York (1757 and various later editions) ; Brodhead, 
History of New York, 2 vols. (1871) ; Mereness, Maryland as a Proprietary Province 
(1901); Fiske, OW Virginia and Her Neighbors, 2 vols. (1898); (Zsim\)hiA\, History 
of Virginia (i860); Ashe, History of North Carolina, vol. I (1908); McCrady, 
South Carolina under Proprietary Government (1897); Ihid., South Carolina under 
Royal Government (1899); and Jones, History of Georgia, 2 vols. (1883). 

On the French in Canada and their conflict with England the best American 
work is Parkman's standard series, France and England in the Nnv World, 12 vols., 
in many editions. The sub-titles are : Pioneers of France in the New World (1865) ; 
Jesuits in North America (1867) ; La Salle (1869) ; The Old Regime in Canada 
(1874); Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV. (1877); A Half-Century 
of Conflict, 2 vols. (1892); Montcalm and Wolfe, 2 vols. (1884); and The Con- 
spiracy of Pontine, 2 vols. (1851). Kingsford, History of Canada, 10 vols. (1887- 
1898), is the best English authority. It lacks Parkman's readable qualities, but is 
more concise. Corbett, England in the Seven Years' War, 2 vols. (1907), is excellent; 
Miles, History of Canada under the French Regime (1872), is a good short work, and 
VVinsor, From Cartier to Frontenac (1894), is valuable for its treatment of explora- 
tions. The French side of the war is presented in Faillon, Histoirc dc la Colonie 
Franqaise en Canada, 3 vols. (1865) ; Ferland, Cours d'histoire du Canada, 2 vols. 
(1861-1865); and Garneau, Histoire du Canada, 4 vols. (ed. 1882-1883). For 
the last struggle for Canada see : Wood, The Fight for Canada (1906); Bonnechose, 
Montcalm et la Canada Fran<;aise (1877) ; Martin, Montcalm et les Dernieres 
Annees de la Colonie Franqaise (ed. 1898). 

For early Louisiana see : Gayarre, Louisiana under French Dominion, 4 vols, 
(ed. 1904); Fortier, History of Louisiana, 6 vols. (1904); and Villiers du Terraget, 
Les Dernieres Annees de la Louisiane Franqaise (1903). 

For Independent Reading 

Fiske, Old Virginia and Her Neighbors, 2 vols. (1898) ; Madam Knight, Journal, 
1704-1705 (ed. 1865), relates chiefly to New England; Byrd, Writings of Colonel 
William Byrd of Westover in Virginia, Esq. (Bassett ed., 1901) ; Parkman, La Salle 
(1869) ; Ibid., Montcalm and Wolfe, 2 vols. (1884) ; Wright, Life of Wolfe (1864) ; 
Guenin, Montcalm (1898); Halsey, The Old New York Frontier, 2 vols. (1882); 
Grace King, New Orleans (1895). 



CHAPTER VII 

SOCIAL PROGRESS IN COLONIES 
The Conditions of Settlement 

The desire to own land was the impelling cause of most of the early 
migration to America. Land was sold cheap, but the amount one 
person might buy was sometimes restricted. Free dis- 
?'^*"f*th tribution to settlers was usually made. Such allotments, 
Land. "importation rights," were as large in some colonies as 

fifty acres for each adult brought in, and they were allowed 
to male indented servants at the expiration of term of service. In the 
South, where money crops could be raised, the tendency was to own 
large farms ; for though the men of a community were usually poor at 
first, some would be thrifty and would eventually buy up and con- 
solidate into large holdings what had originally been a series of small 
farms. In New England agriculture was not as profitable as in the 
South, the soil was stony, the crops were not abundant, and the 
farms were small. Where the farms were large, population was widely 
dispersed, and where they were small it was denser. 

In all the colonies the settlers first took up the richest land, gener- 
ally along the rivers. This was advantageous because the rivers were 
the best means of transportation. In the southern col- 
onies, in which streams abounded, the land between them 
came slowly into settlement. This "ridge land" was the home of the 
poorer people, and the result was that roads came slowly into existence. 
When constrvicted, they were merely traced through the forest and 
became very difficult in wet weather. In the compact settlements of 
the North roads were early laid out, bridges were built, and inns were 
provided. But land traveling was not comfortable before the revolu- 
tion in any part of the colonies. 

In the royal colony land was granted by the governor and council 
in the name of the king, in a proprietary colony it was granted either 
directly or indirectly by the officers exercising a similar jur- 
E^^^ d^ isdiction. In New England the assembly created trustees 
Town." of a town with authority to grant the land to settlers. The 

trustees then met and selected the site for the meeting- 
house, reserving a portion of the land for a common, and assigning the 
lots around it. Land not granted was held by the town for common 
use, as grazing, the taking of firewood, and wood for necessary build- 
ings. From the compact nature of New England settlements the 

134 



LOCAL GOVERNMENT 135 

towns were relatively small, from ten to fifteen miles across, and most 
of the settlers were located conveniently near the meetinghouses. 
When the danger of Indian wars passed and the inhabitants became 
numerous at the "center" of the town, they began to form outlying 
villages on the better land in other parts of the town. Sometimes they 
moved to the frontier and established another town with the con- 
sent of the assembly. 

The county was the unit of organization in the South. It was from 
four to ten times as large as the New England town. The frontier 
county was usually a vast area with only a fringe of settle- 
ment on the edge nearest the older settlements. When I^^.. 
this fringe thickened a new county was set off still nearer county, 
to the frontier. The county was created by the assembly. 
As the colony grew in wealth, the oldest counties were more conserva- 
tive than the newer ones and were unwilling to create the latter as 
rapidly as the growth of population seemed to demand, lest the control 
of the assembly pass into the hands of "back counties." The early 
counties were relatively small, and they took pains to have the newer 
ones very large. As representation was not in proportion to popula- 
tion, the older counties were thus able to keep a large influence in the 
assemblies. This led to bitter conflicts. As the people of the newer 
counties were, from Pennsylvania southward, largely of Scotch-Irish 
stock and poor men, the contest often took the shape of a democracy 
against an aristocracy. In North Carolina the controversy between 
the counties was peculiarly bitter, because those in the Albemarle 
region, the oldest in the province, had five representatives each, while 
the new ones had only two. The old counties thus had an overweening 
influence in the assembly, which the governor sought to break down. 
He finally called the assembly to meet on the Cape Fear, so remote 
from the Albemarle region that not all of the large delegation from the 
old counties could attend. The result was that all the Albemarle 
delegates refused to attend, disputed on the ground of no quorum 
the legality of the laws passed without them, and refused to pay taxes 
levied as well as to recognize the legality of a new law apportioning 
representation. So unpleasant a situation was created that for eight 
years the wheels of government were nearly at a standstiU. Ulti- 
mately there was a compromise by which the older counties retained 
their disproportionate representation and a number of new counties 
were created. 

By 1760 the opposition between new and old settlements had taken 
on a territorial character. In Massachusetts, as well as in Virginia 
and the Carolinas, the wealthy men lived on the coast. 
As men of education and conservative business instinct, '^^® Mob," 
they were at odds with the small farmers of the interior Aristocrats." 
over many questions. They called the popular party 
"the mob" and its leaders "demagogues," while the popular party 



136 SOCIAL PROGRESS IN COLONIES 

called them "aristocrats" and oppressors of the poor. When the 
revolution was coming to the explosion point, the latter class held back 
a long time and many of them ultimately repudiated a movement in 
which were so many of the "demagogues." It must not be forgotten 
that each side gave an important impulse to our development. One 
was a conservative force and checked the dangers which came from 
inexperienced leaders : the other incited to liberty and political 
equality and checked the tendency of society to settle down into an 
aristocracy of wealth. This tendency of the newer communities 
towards democracy has continued throughout our history, steadily 
following the frontier westward. 

When an individual had a right to a grant of land, that is, a warrant, 
he sought a surveyor, a public officer, who ran the bounds of the grant 

from any ungranted lands open to settlement. The sur- 
TaWngup ^^^^ ^j^^ ^^iq warrant was returned to the proper officer, 

in most cases the secretary of the colony, who made a deed 
which when signed by the governor constituted a legal title. For the 
warrant, survey, and deed fees were paid ; and they constituted a large 
part of the remuneration of the officers concerned. There were many 
complaints, especially in the royal provinces, that the fees were ex- 
orbitant. In all but trading and fishing communities land specula- 
tion was the favorite means of making money. The surveyor, who 
from his travels into all parts of the forest had opportunity to find 
the best tracts of ungranted land, was much concerned in the opera- 
tion, either buying outright and selling later when the advance of 
population had raised the price, or becoming the agent of some rich 
man who could make the investment. Many of the great fortunes of 
the colonies at the beginning of the revolution were derived from land 
speculation. This was particularly true in the southern colonies, 
into which immigrants moved rapidly from 1730 to 1775. The 
shrewd men who bought the frontier land in the early part of this 
period reaped handsome profits from their ventures. 

In 1760 the total population of the colonies was 1,596,000, of which 
New England had 473,000, the middle colonies 405,000, and the South, 

including Maryland, 718,000. Virginia was the largest 
^°i76o*^°° colony, with 315,000 inhabitants, and Georgia was the 

smallest, with 9000. At that time slavery existed every- 
where, but in the colonies north of Maryland it had only 10 per cent 
of the population, while in the others it had 41 per cent. North 
Carolina alone of the southern colonies had not yielded largely to 
this form of labor, the slaves being here only 1 7 per cent of the popu- 
lation, while in South Carolina they were 70 per cent, and in Virginia 
47 per cent. 

Most of the immigrants to America, both before and after the 
revolution, were poor people seeking to improve their fortunes. In 
all the colonies were exceptions to this statement. There were per- 



THE LABORERS 137 

sons who came as oflEicials, or ministers in early New England, and 
in Virginia were a number of gentlemen adventurers in the Crorawellian 
days, and always a few superior men to whom the charm 
of the wilderness was strong ; but all these together were ^°f^ 
a small part of the population. And yet this part had Poor People, 
an influence larger than its size would seem to warrant. 
It contributed the social ideals of a new community. The educated 
clergy and other leaders of early New England were the models for 
later clergymen and leading men of colonial birth. The early gentle- 
men adventurers of Virginia, Maryland, and South Carolina were the 
men whom the colonials who became rich sought to imitate. Thus the 
aim of the South became to found estates like those of the lower 
English gentry and to reproduce their manners, their sports, and their 
intellectual life. In New England, sports, manners, and intellectual 
life had the serious cast of the early Puritans. In every royal colony 
the governor and other officers sent over from England were very in- 
fluential in all social matters. The history of American society re- 
veals the evolution of a healthy, earnest, and teachable democracy, 
forming its social ideals by those of Europe, and seeking to reject 
what was bad in the old and to improve in its own way that which it 
had inherited from its own past. 

Laboring Classes 

In the beginning the colonists had white laborers, persons who ar- 
rived with their masters under contract to work for stipulated periods. 
But when the settlers needed more servants it was diffi- 
cult to get them in the colony, where any industrious ggryants 
freeman could easily become a proprietor. Orders were 
accordingly sent to agents in England to send over servants, the 
employer paying the commission of the agent who secured the servant 
and the passage money demanded by the ship captain who brought 
him over. Under these conditions the supply was small, while the 
demand was ever greater. Colony products were bulky and many 
ships sailed to America in ballast, and their captains were eager to 
get cargoes wherever possible. The agents who collected servants 
were urged to furnish servants and no questions asked about those 
they produced. Thus grew up the practice of kidnapping, or "spirit- 
ing" children, or even adults. They were enticed on 
board a short time before the ship sailed and were soon 
beyond the reach of effective protest. Arrived in the colony, the 
captain delivered the cargo to the planters who paid most. If such 
a servant was a minor, he was apprenticed to the master who paid his 
passage under forms prescribed by law. Many instances of hardship 
occurred in the English ports ; for the kidnappers were of the lowest 
class of criminals and stood on little ceremony in selecting their vie- 



138 SOCIAL PROGRESS IN COLONIES 

tims ; but most of those whom they sent to America were the children 
of the laboring class, whose condition in the colony was probably 
better than that of their parents. After such an apprentice completed 
his term of service, he was a free man, and in most colonies received a 
grant of land. In many a community was a man of mark who had 
come to America in this way. 

The free servants who could not pay their passage had the habit of 
contracting to serve for a term of years the captain who took them to 

America, and he would transfer the contract to a planter 
Voluntanly j^j. money. This class made up most of the indented serv- 
Servants. ants. Colonial law fixed the period for which they could 

be required to serve, usually from three to five years, pro- 
vided that the master must furnish proper food and clothing and that 
the servants should each receive a small tract of land when the term 
of service expired. In some colonies persons who had thus served out 
their time were called "redemptioners." A third source of labor for 

the colonies was convicts and "sturdy vagabonds," whom 
Convicts ^Yie English authorities sent abroad to be rid of the burden 
bonds. o^ supporting them. Virginia passed many laws to forbid 

these importations, but the king vetoed them. Maryland 
seems to have had little objection to them. Industrial conditions in 
New England did not favor a large servant class. Neighbors fre- 
quently hired themselves to neighbors, or even bound out their chil- 
dren to learn trades, but doing so did not imply a loss of social esteem 
on the part of the servants. In the colonies in which large plantations 
were the rule this was otherwise. To be a servant was to belong to a 
lower social rank than the master, and it was difficult for time and 
success to remove the stigma. The liberated servant in this part of 
the country found his refuge in the frontier, where he settled among 
persons as lowly born as himself and where his future rank was de- 
termined by his own exertions. 

The three classes named did not furnish sufl5cient labor for the 
tobacco and rice growers of the South. Here were two crops for 

which the world was willing to pay liberally and capable, 

as the producers thought, of extensive production. On 
the other hand, everywhere was an abundance of cheap land. Noth- 
ing was wanting but labor. The white servants were hard to obtain 
and rarely served longer than the term of the indenture, so that they 
must continually be replaced by new. ones, who in turn would be 
away to the frontier in four or five years. Under these conditions 
negro slaves, already largely used in the Spanish colonies, began to 
be employed. The first African slaves in America arrived in Virginia 
in 1619, but they were not satisfactory laborers. They were intract- 
able and unacquainted with the labor requirements of a civilized com- 
munity. To control them and get them to labor profitably was 
difficult, and most planters objected to it. The number in the colony 



SLAVERY IN THE COLONIES 139 

grew so slowly that in 1700 it was only 6000. By this time it was ob- 
served that "new negroes," those recently imported from Africa, 
worked very well if distributed among colony-born negroes ; and this 
reconciled the planters to the use of this form of labor. The wide 
expansion of tobacco culture fixed the practice of slavery in Maryland 
and Virginia. The early South Carolinians were chiefly from Barba- 
dos, where slavery had already gone through its experimental stage, 
and they had this kind of labor from the beginning. Slavery existed 
in the North as well as in the South ; for there was at this time very 
little public opinion against it. But it was not profitable on the small 
farms of the North, and in this region the slaves were chiefly in the 
towns as domestic servants or laborers. In 1760 there were only 87,000 
blacks north of Maryland to 299,000 in the other colonies. 

When England began to have colonies, her law had no provision for 
slavery. In fact, the institution had nearly died out in later Roman 
times, and from that period the impression prevailed in Europe that 
no Christian could be enslaved. Negro slavery existed in Morocco, 
and when the Spaniards found that Indian slaves suc- 
cumbed before the hard work in the American mines Slavery, the 
they introduced it into their colonies. The African has xype. 
accepted bondage more readily than any other race. The 
Spaniards found him a satisfactory slave, and their example was fol- 
lowed in the British and French West Indies. In this part of America, 
therefore, slavery was formed after the ancient model, and the absolute 
dominion of the master over his slave was generally recognized. In 
the continental colonies this was not at first the case. 
Here early slavery was a kind of continuous indented ^^^ "^'^ 
service, the master being required to give his slave proper 
food and care. But slowly a code of laws evolved which recognized 
slavery and gave it a legal status. 

The settlement of South Carolina chiefly by men of Barbados in- 
troduced the West Indian type of slavery on the continent ; and the 
success which followed undoubtedly stimulated the spread 
of slavery in the tobacco colonies. In 1739, when the slave Code* 
number of slaves in South Carolina largely exceeded that 
of the whites, there was a serious slave outbreak. One result was a 
revision of the slave code in the colony, and this example was followed 
in other colonies. Out of these codes one may gather the following 
general features. All negroes or persons of mixed negro blood were 
slaves whose mothers were slaves. They could be punished by their 
masters, and if one died from chastisement where malice was not 
evident the slayer was not punished. But maliciously killing a slave 
was forbidden. For serious offenses, as murder, arson, theft, and 
maiming, the slave was not punished by the master, but he was tried 
by a court of two or three justices and several freeholders, who took 
such evidence as they saw fit, and, sitting as a jury but without form of 



I40 SOCIAL PROGRESS IN COLONIES 

law, gave the verdict. For minor offences the usual punishment was 
thirty-nine lashes. A negro could not testify against a white person, 
the assumption being that all negroes, bond or free, were hostile to the 
whites and unreliable witnesses, either from prejudice or from mental 
incapacity to observe accurately. Slaves were not allowed to go about 
without written permission, they might not have firearms, and restric- 
tions were placed on their trading and their meeting together. At 
this time the fear of slave insurrections was as great as later, and it 
was provided that conspiracy against the whites should be punished 
by death. If a negro showed violence to a white person, he might be 
whipped, or even killed if the case were aggravated. The slave codes 
of this epoch remained in force with slight modification until the 
general revision which followed the inauguration of the abolition move- 
ment in I 83 I. 

The slave code was made to meet a peculiar condition. If men of 
a lower stage of civilization were brought into the colonies, they must 
not, it was held, be admitted to the same privileges as the whites. 
That this was the opinion of all parts of the country is shown by the 
regulations enforced in all parts of the North where there were many 
negroes. Boston, the ports in Rhode Island and Connecticut, Phila- 
delphia, the town of New York and the great plantations along the 
Hudson held most of the slaves in the North. In all these places 
restrictions were imposed on the slave's right to go about at night, 
and his right to traffic and to have arms ; he was tried by special tri- 
bunals, and freely whipped- by his master. 

Colonial Industry 

Agriculture was the most extensive industry. Every colony pro- 
duced its own food in normal times, and most of them had some for 

export. The sugar islands, foreign as well as British, offered 
Agriculture ^ good market for such supplies, for they found it most 
Lumber. profitable to devote themselves exclusively to their one 

staple. To them the middle colonies sent great quantities 
of flour, pork, and beef, and New England sent potatoes, vegetables, 
and fish. From Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina went out 
tobacco for the world, and from South Carolina rice and indigo. The 
Carolinas also exported tar, pitch, and turpentine. Lumber, either 
as sawed timber or as boards and staves, was exported from all the 
colonies. The masts which came from the New England forests were 
famous in western Europe. 

Manufacturing in the modern sense was unknown in 
fac^res ^^^ colonies, but it must be remembered that the factory 

system had not yet developed in Europe. In England 
weavers, shoemakers, and other handworkers lived in villages and fol- 
lowed their trades solely. In the North most of the farmers knew some 
trade which they followed when they could not work on the farms. 



MANUFACTURES AND FISHERIES i|r 

Thus the coarser grades of cloth, hats, shoes, joiner's work, tools, 
and nails were made in the colonies. In the South each large plan- 
tation had its artisans, many of them slaves. Importations were 
usually the better grades of cloth, ironware, implements, etc., and 
articles which in the very nature of things the colonists could not 
make, as queensware, cutlery, silks, articles of luxury, and wines. 
Iron ore was found and smelted from New Jersey to Virginia. In 
1755 pig iron to the amount of 3425 tons was sent to England. Rum 
was extensively manufactured in New England. It was 
made out of the molasses which the sugar islands gave 
in exchange for fish, lumber, and food products. It is estimated that 
early in the eighteenth century 1,260,000 gallons of rum were made in 
Boston annually. Until the whiskey of the Scotch-Irish supplanted 
it late in that century, this form of spirits was the common tipple in 
America. It was sold everywhere, north and south, and largely ex- 
ported to Africa, where it was exchanged for slaves. 

England made many restrictions on colonial manufactures ; for 
she was determined to keep the American market open for her own 
inhabitants. In 1700 the colonies learned that they might 
not export woollen goods, or send them from one colony British Re- 
to another, or send them from place to place in the stnctions on 
same colony. In 1732 the exportation of hats and their Manu- 
intercolonial sale were forbidden by an act of parliament, factures. 
This was done at the instance of the London hat makers, 
for it was known that the colonists made beaver hats cheaper than 
the same articles could be made in England, and were beginning to 
gain the market for them both in England and on the continent. 
The growth of the iron industry caused alarm to the English iron 
makers, and to satisfy them it was enacted in 1750 that the colonies 
should export to England only pig and bar iron and that no more 
mills for the higher iron products should be erected in the colonies. 

Fishing was an important industry in New England. The fact that 
French and British fishermen reaped a large harvest in adjacent 
waters naturally led the colonists to seek to share it. ^. . . 
When the first settlers arrived, the cod was found as far 
south as the cape which now bears its name ; but being taken in 
large numbers, it retreated northward until finally it must be sought 
off Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. In the early stages a rowboat 
and some lines sufficed to outfit a fisherman. When one must go to 
the northern waters, a larger vessel and a crew of several men were 
necessary. Fishing then became a matter of capital and organization. 
Sometimes the boats were owned by those who sailed them, the crew 
serving for shares. Sometimes they were owned by capitalists, who 
gave the crew shares in proportion to the value of the ship. The 
early spring witnessed the departure of the fishing fleet. If luck was 
good, the craft came in early and were even known to make a second 



142 SOCIAL PROGRESS IN COLONIES 

voyage in the same season. The Ufe was perilous and demanded the 
best qualities of character and physical endurance. It was an ex- 
cellent school of democracy. By the end of the colonial period share 
fishing was being replaced by capitalistic enterprise. The fish mer- 
chant, who bought and exported the catch, now became a great factor 
in the industry. He sent out the ships, hired the crews, and reaped 
the larger part of the reward. Alongside of the cod fisheries de- 
veloped whaling. This industry was at first confined to off-shore 
fishing, the waters around Nantucket being especially full of these 
great fish. But here, too, in time it was necessary to follow the 
quarry into distant seas. Large ships were built, voyages became 
lengthened from weeks to months, and from months to years, and at 
last every ocean was the hunting ground of these hardy New Eng- 
landers. The whaling industry lost much of its prosperity with the 
discovery of mineral oils in the central West, about the middle of the 
nineteenth century. 

Trade 

In the northern colonies trade established itself in much the same 

way as in England, that is, trading towns on shore and river supported 

^ a merchant class which distributed merchandise to, and 

Towns 

collected the products from, the people around them. 

Also, there arose such large importing centers as Boston, Providence, 
New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston. The growth of these 
places was rapid, for each was the commercial metropolis of a large 
and rapidly developing back country. In 1760 Boston and Phila- 
delphia each had a population of 20,000. New York came next with 
10,000 ; Charleston, whose merchants exported rice to many parts of 
Europe, had 9000, and was the home of much wealth and luxury. 
Boston's size was not what might be expected from the oldest city of 
the group, located in a large commercial colony. The explanation, 
however, is not far to seek. The New England trade was shared by a 
number of smaller towns, as Salem, Marblehead, Gloucester, Newport, 
Providence, Portsmouth, Falmouth, New Haven, New London, and 
Hartford. It was not until the era of manufactures that Boston by 
becoming the financial center of a large industrial area attained her 
modern predominance. 

Meanwhile, Virginia, and to a certain extent Maryland, had a com- 
mercial development of their own, the basis of which was the tobacco 
trade. No town of importance was established. In Mary- 
Trade in j^j^(;^ ^-j^g j-^gg Qf Baltimore begins with the settlement of 
and^arv- ^^^ Susquehannah valley in the first decades of the eight- 
land, eenth century, and in 1760 it had less than 5000 inhabit- 
ants. The planters of this region dealt directly with 
London or Bristol commission agents. Ships came to their planta- 
tion wharves, took aboard the year's crop of tobacco, and returned 



REGULATIONS OF TRADE 143 

next year with the proceeds in merchandise ordered by the seller. 
The river planters were the rich men of their communities. Behind 
them on the less fertile high land were the poorer farmers whose small 
crops were not profitably consigned to English agents. The large 
planters, therefore, became traders, buying the tobacco of their poorer 
neighbors and opening plantation stores in which the small 
farmers bought necessary merchandise. Under these circumstances, 
competition in trade was difficult, and towns could not develop. 
More than once the governor by instructions from the crown tried to 
get laws passed in the Virginia assembly to encourage them, but the 
planters, who controlled that body, were able to defeat his efforts. In 
1760 the largest Virginia town was Norfolk, whose prosperity arose 
chiefly from the trade which came to it from the Albemarle section of 
North Carolina, where the poor harbors prevented the coming of 
ocean-going ships. Rice grew in the Cape Fear section which, after 
its settlement about 1725, had a thriving export trade from Wilming- 
ton ; for its harbor was adequate for the ships of the day. 

Spite of the navigation acts (see page 83) colonial trade prospered. 
These laws, in fact, benefited colonial shipping in some respects, 
since they allowed it to share the monopoly due to ex- 
cluding foreign ships from the British trade. Moreover, Navigation 
they left fish, food products for the West Indies, lumber, Trade. 
and many other articles, untouched. Of the "enumerated 
commodities" of the act of 1660 only one, tobacco, was grown in the 
continental colonies. The price of this article, it is true, fell steadily 
after 1660, and much suffering ensued in Virginia and Maryland; 
and this was of great significance, since tobacco aggregated about 
half of the total colonial exports. But with the operation of the law 
of 1660 went a series of duties on tobacco in England by 
which in Queen Anne's time a pound paid six and a third V^f^ 
pence to the royal treasury, which was three times the Trade, 
price of the commodity in Virginia. At the same time 
there was a vast increase in the colonial supply. It is impossible to 
say to which of these three causes one should attach most importance 
in accounting for the distress of the planters. 

As time passed other articles were added to the "enumerated com- 
modities." Rice was placed on the list in 1706, which raised the price 
so much that South Carolina lost her trade to Spain and 
Portugal, one-tenth of her entire exportation. This, History of 
however, was regained in 1730, when parliament opened t a"' 

the trade to ports south of Cape Finisterre. In 1706 commodi- 
naval stores and molasses were also added to the list ; ties." 
but a bounty was placed on the former, and of the latter 
only that had been exported which formerly was brought into con- 
tinental ports in exchange for products in the West Indies. In 1722 
copper, of which very little was produced, and beaver and other 



144 SOCIAL PROGRESS IN COLONIES 

skins were placed on the " enumerated " list. Undoubtedly these laws 
limited the development of trade, and they raised the price of mer- 
chandise by requiring that all goods imported into the 
Commerce colonies must come from British ports. But spite of 
/Restric- * these restrictions colonial commerce developed rapidly, 
tions. Fish, food products, lumber, and many less important 

things were not directly affected by the navigation laws. 
Moreover, one must not forget that the navigation acts were never 
strictly enforced. Their very existence made it profitable to violate 
them ; for both trader's profits and freights were enhanced 
Eva^on of ^^ ^^le prohibited channels. The most alluring field of 
tion Laws^" such operations was the French and Spanish colonies in 
the West Indies and in Central and South America. 
Various means of violating the law were used. One was to bribe 
officials to issue permits to trade with foreign sugar colonies, another 
was to clear for a British port and visit a foreign place under a false 
registry. On returning home a few casks of British sugar on the top 
of a large quantity of French sugar would satisfy a conniving customs 
inspector ; and if a vessel was seized now and then because the game 
did not go smoothly, the ordinary profits were so great that the owner 
could stand the loss. Before condemning these people we should re- 
member that they considered the laws unjust and that many British 
officials in the colonies themselves winked at their violation. The 
same conditions followed the enactment of the navigation acts in Eng- 
land, where it was estimated that 40,000 persons were engaged in 
illegal trade. 

In 1733 parliament passed the "Molasses Act," laying prohibitory 
duties on molasses, sugar, and rum made in foreign colonies and im- 
ported into the British colonies in America. It grew out 
The" Mo- ^ of the complaint of the British sugar islands that the 
m^a^ ^ ' French and Dutch islands sold their molasses to the New 
England rum manufacturers, who, it was intended, should 
now take their raw product from the British colonies, whatever the 
price. The British islands did not produce enough molasses for the 
rum makers, and the situation thus created was preposterous. The 
law became practically a dead letter soon after it was passed. Some 
ingenious Yankees avoided it by sailing from Jamaica with cargoes of 
empty casks formally cleared as molasses. Stopping at a French island 
these barrels would be filled, and the Jamaica clearance protected them 
on the return to New England. The "Molasses Act" did much to 
turn New Englanders against England and to teach them to despise 
her laws. 

The slave trade was an important feature of the commerce of 
Boston, Rhode Island ports, New York, and Philadelphia. Laden 
with rum, a vessel would sail for Guinea, the Congo, or Madagascar, 
and exchange her cargo for slaves, palm oil, or gold dust. The slaves, 



RACE ELEMENTS 145 

"black ivory," were bought in 1676 for three pounds each and were 
worth seventeen in Jamaica. By 1760 the demand for them had 
raised the prices so that they now cost twelve pounds each 
in Africa and brought thirty-five in Jamaica. A ship -j-r^de *^* 
that carried two hundred negroes under these conditions 
netted a handsome profit to her owner. Before 1698 the slave trade 
was monopolized by the Royal African Company ; but in this year it 
was thrown open, and the colonial shipowners took an active part in 
it. Most of the slave ships sailed from Africa to the West Indies or 
to the southern English colonies. The slave trade necessarily inflicted 
horrors on the imported negroes. They were crowded into holds 
without ventilation. If a storm was encountered, the hatches were 
nailed down and left so until it abated, when the hungry and thirsty 
wretches were allowed on deck again, and at such a time there were 
usually dead bodies to be brought out. The "Middle Passage," as 
the voyage was called, was long a synonym of terror; and this was 
true in spite of efforts of the slave's captain to reduce the hardship. 
For since his slaves sold best if they seemed healthy and strong, it was 
to his interest to feed and care for them as well as possible. 

Race Elements in Colony Planting 

The beginning of all the colonies but New York and Delaware was 
English. The English life and law was the rule, or became so when 
the foreign planted colonies fell into English hands. New 
England, dominated by peculiar ideals, received only a ^^^}^^^°^, 
small stream of immigration after the restoration of the English. 
Stuarts, 1660. It remained the most English of the great 
sections of America until the era of manufacturing began about 1808. 
The English stock filled the eastern parts of Virginia, Maryland, and 
the Carolinas, and most of New Jersey, while it mingled with the 
Dutch of New York and Delaware and was the controlling element in 
early Pennsylvania. But in all the middle and southern colonies 
were many non-English persons who came singly or in small groups. 
Such was the situation about 1680. At that time opened a new era 
of American immigration. Into the valleys that lie 
east of the Alleghanies, from southern New York to Georgia, g *^^gg ^f 
came a vast tide of settlers — some of them colony born. Population, 
but most of them of foreign Protestant origin. The 
foreigners are to be distinguished in the following groups : 

I. The Huguenots. They began to arrive with the revocation of 
the Edict of Nantes, 1685. They settled in several colonies, but the 
Santee river region of South Carolina received the largest 
number. Here in a compact settlement they preserved 
their own church organization, accumulated fortunes, and became a 
center from which a French influence was transmitted to other parts 



146 SOCIAL PROGRESS IN COLONIES 

of the colony. Some of the leading soldiers, politicians, merchants, 
and literary men of South Carolina were of this stock. Another 
Huguenot settlement was on the James river, near Richmond, Vir- 
ginia ; and another, on Pamplico river in North Carolina, began well 
but was nearly extinguished in the Indian war of 171 1. There were 
also many of this faith among the settlers in New York. Coming 
singly or in small numbers, Huguenots settled in many places. Of all 
the great European nations France has contributed the smallest por- 
tion of the American population. 

2. The Germans. The Mennonites, German Quakers, were induced 
to come to Pennsylvania soon after it became a colony. The move- 
ment began in 168^ with the settlement of Germantown 
by a group under Rev. Daniel F. Pastorious. About 
1 7 10 a great wave of German immigration began, the origin of which 
was the devastation of the Palatinate by Louis XIV of France. 
Most Palatines were Protestants, and a large number fled to England 
for succor. Huddled together in tents, objects of charity, it seemed 
well to send them to the colonies. The government gave aid, and 
five hundred were sent to the help of de Grafifenreid, who was taking 
a small Swiss colony to found New Berne, North Carolina. The 
Indian massacre in 1711 fell heavily on this settlement, many of whose 
members fell or fled ; but a small remainder continued on the spot. 
In the same year three thousand Palatines arrived in New York, where 
Governor Hunter set them to preparing pine trees for making tar. 
The industry proved a failure, and the Palatines moved to the Scho- 
harie valley, where the Mohawks sold them land. When the colonial 
authorities demanded that they also have English deeds from their 
hands, a large number refused, and moved to Pennsylvania, settling 
near Reading. In this migration was the father of the noted Conrad 
Weiser, long prominent as an intermediary between the whites and the 
Indians. By this time the Pennsylvanians had discovered the possi- 
bilities of the German peasantry as a source of indented labor. Plausi- 
ble agents went everywhere in the Rhine valley, proclaiming the riches 
of the province. They collected great numbers who articled came to 
Philadelphia, where they were transferred to agents who led them 
about the colony until they were disposed of to the farmers. The 
German "redemptioners" suffered much hardship, as did most of 
the indented servants who came to the colonies ; but they had good 
powers of resistance, and, their service ended, they settled into sturdy 
and thrifty citizens. Not all the German immigrants were servants, 
however. Many came as small farmers, or artisans. The Pennsyl- 
vania counties of Berks and Lancaster, and the Lehigh and Lebanon 
valleys received most of this stock, and in 1760 they were about one- 
third of the population of the colony. They were divided into many 
sects, and clung tenaciously to their language. From the Pennsyl- 
vania settlements an overflow reached Virginia, in the Shenandoah 



THE SCOTCH-IRISH 147 

valley, and North Carolina, where they made a large portion of the 
population of the Yadkin and Catawba valleys. Among the Germans 
a prominent group were the Moravians, followers of Huss, who after 
a discouraging attempt in Georgia settled Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 
from which a colony about the middle of the century settled Salem, 
in North Carolina. Many Germans moved from Pennsylvania into 
New Jersey. 

3. The Scotch-Irish. It was also Penn's liberal policy which first 
turned these people toward America. They were the descendants of 
those Scotch Presbyterians whom James I settled in North 

Ireland, hoping thus to turn that country from Catholi- j^^j^^ co c - 
cism. After a century of conflict with a barren soil and un- 
friendly surroundings they were as poor as when they began, and the 
native Irish were no whit less Catholic. Seasoned by this experience 
they made the best frontiersmen in America, where both natural and 
human environment was more favorable than in Ireland. They began 
to come to Pennsylvania in considerable numbers early in the eight- 
eenth century, settling in Lancaster county and to the west of it as far 
as Pittsburg. From that region they turned into New Jersey, or 
crossed the narrow part of Maryland into Virginia, moving thence 
into North Carolina. By 1760 they were going into every valley in 
this region, and another stream, coming from Charleston, was filling 
the South Carolina uplands. The sons of these immigrants, still 
loving the pioneer life with its perils and its rewards, passed over the 
Alleghanies and laid the foundations of Kentucky and Tennessee. 
Of this stock came John C. Calhoun, Andrew Jackson, and many 
another important leader. 

4. Minor Groups. Besides the Dutch in New York and the Swedes 
in Delaware one ought also to remember the Swiss. If but few of 
them remained in de Graffenried's settlement at New 

Berne, North Carolina, a still larger number settled and ggujces. 
survived in Pennsylvania. Speaking the same language, 
most of them were confounded with the Germans. Another dis- 
tinctive element was the Scotch Highlanders, vv^ho came in large bands 
to the Cape Fear valley after the failure of their cause at Culloden, 
1745. Like the Scotch-Irish, they were stout Presbyterians. Scotch 
traders were found in every port. The same was true, but to a less 
extent, of the Jews. In New York, Rhode Island, and Philadelphia 
these shrewd traders of both races were important factors in business. 
The Welsh were not a large colonizing race, but small settlements 
were found in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and per- 
haps other colonies. The Irish, as distinguished from the Scotch- 
Irish, furnished no distinct colony group of importance ; but they 
contributed largely to the laboring class from the earliest times, and 
were widely distributed. 

But the best coloni/jers were native-born colonists. Every settled 



148 SOCIAL PROGRESS IN COLONIES 

community produced men of adventurous disposition, to whom the 
forest was more attractive than the farmsteads of the 
TheAmeri- East. Selling their lands, if they had any, they turned 
Fr"' f*ere- westward where axe and rifle would enable them to found 
men. homes and enjoy freedom in a new settlement. They 

were not thrifty, and they have left few memorials except 
the paths they made and the fields they cleared, but they did important 
and lasting work for posterity. 

Religion in the Colonies 

The Puritan churches in New England, and the Established Church 
elsewhere were the strongest religious organizations in the colonies. 

Along with them went a large number of smaller 
'^3*®/^°'^^ churches, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Dutch Reform, and 
Churches. Baptist. This enumeration does not include the Roman 

Catholics, who were numerous only in Maryland. After 
the first days of settlement most of the immigrants came to America 
from purely economic motives. They took land where they wished, 
and for years a new community might care little for church or baptism. 
But as it became populous the churches concerned were apt to begin 
to gather up their own people into congregations, to establish meeting- 
places, and to send preachers. This was especially true of the settle- 
ment of the interior. Too much cannot be said in appreciation of 
these efforts as a civilizing influence. Often the preacher was the 
only man from the outside world who ever visited the valley in 
which his flock was located. He was usually the herald of schools, 
and the counselor of social reform. 

Creating two royal provinces in New England — Massachusetts and 
New Hampshire — weakened Puritanism there. Anglican churches 

appeared in the principal towns, and in them the royal 
TheAngli- governors and their friends, to the horror of the stricter 
ta New"'^*^ Puritans, instituted the celebration of Christmas and 
England. Easter, as well as funerals and marriages according to the 

elaborate ceremonies of the English Church. Anglicans 
also protested against being taxed by the towns to pay the Puritan 
ministers' salaries ; and it was finally enacted in Massachusetts and 
Connecticut that this burden should be remitted when there was an 
Anglican organized congregation in the town in question. 

But the Puritan regime received its strongest check from internal 
causes. By 1690 the original settlers were dead. The new generation 

was American-born and did not feel so keenly as their 
T^^t'""^ fathers the old resentment toward the Anglican Church. 
Puritanism, ^^^ ^^^ ^^^Y ^o\d SO Strictly to the older dogmas. At 

the head of this modernist feeling was Harvard College 
and some of the Boston ministers. Opposed to it was a reactionary 
party, regretting the decay of the old faith, and striving under l]\: 



SALEM AND THE WITCHES 149 

lead of Increase and Cotton Mather to bring back the existing 
generation to the older faith. This party was strong in the rural 
towns. It was through its predominance that the witchcraft incident 
of 1688-1693 stained the page of Massachusetts history. 

During the Middle Ages, all Christendom believed in witchcraft 
and voiced in laws the Biblical injunction, "Thou shalt not suffer a 
witch to live." The Puritans, accustomed to interpret j. e " t- 
the Bible literally, accepted this as final ; and in the ence of 
colonies as well as in England they thought death should Witches 
be the penalty for witchcraft. It is for opposing witch- Generally 
craft with death that history condemns the ruling party in ^°°*^^'*^°- 
Massachusetts, but it should be content to condemn the excessive 
and blind zeal with which the law was executed in this particular case. 
New England Puritans believed thoroughly in the guidance of God. 
When, for example, their charter was threatened the council implored 
divine enlightenment and believed that God wished them to resist. 
For all that, the charter was lost. This but increased the despair of 
those who saw everywhere a relaxation of the pure faith of their 
fathers. The ravages of the Indians were not forgotten 
before this new calamity was upon them. To the stricter jr^"^^" 
party it seemed that the anger of God was heavy on his 
people, and the natural consequence was a heightening of mysticism. 

Circumstances turned this tendency of the time so that it hit upon 
witchcraft. About 1680 a number of clergymen around Boston began 
to investigate the history of witchcraft in New England. A short 
time later Increase Mather, in a book called "Illustrious 
Providences," described the nature of witchcraft, and his '^^^ 
pedantic son, Cotton Mather, desiring to study the sub- and^wuch- 
ject experimentally, began to gather data for a book on craft. 
"The Wonders of the Invisible World," a discussion of the 
"nature, number, and operations of the devils." In 1688 two chil- 
dren of Boston declared themselves bewitched by an Irish laundress, 
who was tried and executed. He took the two girls to his own house, 
observed their actions, and published his conclusions in 1689. Thus 
the pubHc mind was made ready for the sad affair at Salem. 

In a village (now Danvers) in the town of Salem some girls who had 
been reading about and discussing witchcraft began to act in the 
strange ways bewitched persons were said to act, and they 
alleged that certain friendless old persons had cast spells v*^^?"*" 
upon them. The pastor of the town accepted their state- saiem. 
ment and demanded the punishment of the witches. In- 
vestigation was had, but the whole community was so excited that a 
cool judgment was impossible, and the verdict of ministers and lay- 
men was that witches, emissaries of the devil, were brazenly established 
in the village. Many accused persons were arrested, while the village 
and several other communities held days of fast and prayer to avoid 



I50 SOCIAL PROGRESS IN COLONIES 

this additional infliction of divine anger. Then the governor was re- 
quested to appoint a special high court to try the imprisoned ones. 
He compHed, and in the summer of 1692 nineteen persons were con- 
victed and executed for witchcraft. By this time the people of the 
country were in terror of the witch-hunters, and many persons when 
accused admitted guilt and sought to escape punishment by throwing 
the blame on others. The court took "spectral" evidence, i.e. when 
a "bewitched" person declared he saw an alleged witch coming in the 
form of a yellow bird it was held good evidence, though no one else 
could say he saw a yellow bird. To declare that the prosecutions were 
foolish was to bring down a charge of witchcraft on oneself. At 
first only miserable old men and women were accused. But in time 
people of high social position were aimed at, one of them being the 
wife of the governor himself. At last public opinion underwent a 
revulsion, the special court was dissolved, and the prisons were emptied. 
After a while reason resumed sway and the conservative leaders 
suffered a loss of influence. 

The doctrines of the liberals, however, caused dismay in many quar- 
ters. One of the innovations was a relaxation of the old doctrine of 

conversion. In 1662 it had been agreed that conversion 
The "Half- ^^g ^^^ essential to church membership. In a regime in 
nant."°'^^" which civil status depended on church relations this was 

rather a natural conclusion. But it found steady opposi- 
tion with those who insisted that the ancient faith should be preserved. 
It was scornfully referred to as "The Halfway Convenant." It was 
even declared by the more venturesome of the party that many min- 
isters had not been converted. In 1734 there began in Northampton, 
Massachusetts, through the preaching of Jonathan Edwards, a great 

revival, the foundation of which was the necessity of con- 
A^akeSrT^* version. The preacher was eloquent and fervid, and under 

his fiery words many persons were convcted of sin, fell into 
trances, or shouted joyfully in the assurance of forgiveness. The 
meetings attracted attention throughout western Massachusetts, and 
much was done to create a more fervent spiritual life. In 1740, when 
the fame of the Northampton meetings was still fresh, George White- 
field, former associate of the Wesleys and a most remarkable preacher, 
arrived in New England. At first he was received favorably by all 
parties and his meetings, attended by immense crowds, resulted in pro- 
fessions of conversion by many thousands. His strong insistence on 
the necessity of conversion at last aroused the opposition of the liberal 
clergy. He replied in kind, and soon the colony was divided into two 
religious factions. The same result appeared in Connecticut. Both 
Harvard and Yale colleges were opposed to the revival in its later 
stages. Whitefield is not prominent in the movement after 1745, but 
he was followed by many earnest preachers who had less ability. The 
upshot was a separatist movement, the seceders largely joining the 



THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND 151 

Baptists. The "Great Awakening" was also strong on Long Island 
and in New Jersey, where many New Englanders had settled. 

In this connection one must not forget the significance of Rhode 
Island in the cause of toleration. To Roger Williams and his followers 
was due the steady assertion of this theory, in the face of 
the strict Puritan conformity in the adjacent colonies. Religious 
Small as his colony was, it was a safe refuge for all who R^o^jje'is- 
demanded freedom of worship. He received the Quakers land, 
and refused to persecute them, although he believed their 
doctrines false and dangerous. The seed he sowed bore fruit many 
years afterwards. Rhode Island, through this course, became a home 
of sects, and their clashing purposes often produced social confusion, 
but the religious history of America could not well do without their 
influence. 

The English Church was established by law in Virginia, Maryland, 
and the Carolinas. In the first it was recognized in the beginning of 
of the colony's existence. At this time the Puritans had 
not begun to leave the Church of England, and the result v^^Ch^^'h 
was that "Low Church" forms were planted in this, the in Virginia, 
oldest colony, the effects of which survive to this day. 
But dissenters were not tolerated, and in 1643 3- ^^^w, passed under the 
influence of Governor Berkeley, forbade any other than an Anglican min- 
ister to conduct religious services in the colony. Late in the century 
the Baptists began to appear, and seem to have suffered little inconven- 
ience. The coming of the Scotch-Irish, all of them Presbyterians, 
in the eighteenth century made matters worse. At first they were 
ignored by the religious authorities, but when traveling preachers ap- 
peared and began to gather them and any others whom they could in- 
fluence into churches the Anglican pastors protested. The ministers 
were arrested because they had no licenses, but the juries generally 
acquitted them. Thus broke down the attempt to exclude all but the 
Anglican faith from Virginia. By 1760 the Presbyterians, Baptists, 
and Quakers were well planted in the colony. 

In the beginning, Maryland, though settled by Catholics, had no 
church estabHshment. In 1649, when Puritanism was supreme in 
England, the assembly passed an act for religious tolera- 
tion. If it was passed, as seems probable, to enable Balti- ?° ^^^^7 
more to contmue m possession as proprietor, it at least caroiinas. 
was a good example. But it did not satisfy the Protes- 
tants, who were a large majority of the population ; and in 1692 and 
1702 they carried laws estabhshing the English Church, and those 
were followed by severe laws against the Roman Catholics. South 
Carolina established Anglicanism in 1706, after a long struggle with the 
dissenters, the victory being won at last by a combination with the 
Huguenots, who were in return given the status of an establishment in 
the parishes in which they were the large majority of the population. 



152 SOCIAL PROGRESS IN COLONIES 

In North Carolina a law to establish the church was adopted about the 
same time by manipulation during the troublous era of the Cary Re- 
bellion, but there were so few adherents to the Anglican Church in the 
colony that it was enforced in only three or four parishes. In 1765 
there were only five Anglican clergymen in the province. In these 
colonies the law provided for parishes, usually identical with the 
counties and for a tax paid by all to support the clergymen. The 
parish affairs were left to vestries, self-perpetuating in Virginia and 
North Carolina, but chosen by the freeholders in Maryland and South 
Carolina. There was much complaint about the morals of the es- 
tablished clergy in Virginia and Maryland, "Cock-fighting parsons" 
being the term with which posterity dubbed them. Some of the 
clergymen seem to have fairly won the epithet. 

In New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware no laws 
could be passed to establish one form of religion. Here the dissenters 
prevailed, each racial element having its own religious 
Colonfes forms to which were added many others of non-racial 
origin. Pennsylvania was particularly concerned with 
them. "Africa is not more full of monsters," wrote a horrified Anglican 
clergyman, "than Pennsylvania is of sects." In New York the gov- 
ernor tried to give the Anglican Church the position of an establishment 
by limiting the right of ministers of other churches to preach. The 
attempt failed, but he got the assembly to give certain churches the 
right of support by public taxation. The British Toleration act of 
1689 giving liberty of worship to dissenters in England and Wales, but 
in no way favoring the Catholics, had its reaction in America. It was 
reenacted in Virginia, Massachusetts, New York, and in other colonies. 
Feeling in England and America was then strong against the Catholics, 
who were believed to be plotting to regain England through the res- 
toration of the Stuarts. Virginia required them to take the test-oath 
if they gave evidence or held ofhce; New York and Massachusetts, 
with eyes on the missionaries to the Indians, forbade a 
/ th*™^°* Catholic priest within their respective jurisdictions. 
Catholics. Maryland, although only about 3000 out of a total pop- 
ulation of 40,000 were Catholics, forbade the public cele- 
bration of the Roman services, nor could any of that faith teach school 
or purchase lands. 

The administration of the Anglican Church was under the direction 
of the Bishop of London, who ordained ministers for the provinces. 
In 1689 he adopted the policy of having a commissary 
of London^ to represent him in a colony, James Blair being appointed 
* ' for Virginia and Thomas Bray for Maryland. A com- 
missary had the right to inquire into the conduct of the clergy, but he 
could not dismiss an incumbent. In 1701 was organized the Society 
for the Propagation of the Gospel, a missionary organization which sent 
ministers to most of the colonies. The reports of these missionaries 
are an important source of knowledge of colonial social conditions. 



SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES 153 



Education and Culture in the Colonies 

In another place this book treats of the origin of the New England 
public school system, probably the chief educational institution of 
the day (see page 476). Aside from that one must notice 
the beginning of the American college and the general s^hcfois 
attitude of the people toward middle schools. The first 
step toward providing higher education in any continental English 
colony was taken by the liberal group of which Sir Edwin Sandys was 
leader, when in 1620 a university was decreed for Henrico, in Virginia. 
A beginning was actually made, a teacher was employed, and funds 
were subscribed, but the Indian massacre of 1622 wiped out all traces 
of town and university. As the enterprise had depended on philan- 
thropic gentlemen in England, who now lost control of the colony, 
and as it had little support by the people in Virginia, it was not revived. 

The next step was taken by the general court of Massachusetts, 
which in 1636 voted 400 pounds for a "shoale or coUedge" to educate 
the English and Indians in "knowledge and Godliness." 
In 1638 Rev. John Harvard died, leaving the college a Harvard 
legacy of books and money, and from him the institution p^y^ded 
was called Harvard College. In 1650 it was formally in- 1636. 
corporated. The town in which it was situated was called 
Cambridge, from the English university town in which several of the 
Massachusetts ministers had studied. Two degrees were offered, 
Bachelor of Arts, for which the requirement was ability to read the 
Old and New Testaments in the originals and to translate them into 
Latin ; and Master of Arts, for which seven years' study was necessary, 
as in Cambridge and Oxford. In a new colony it was not always 
possible to live up to these excellent standards, but for over half a 
century Harvard was the only center of learning in America, and it 
furnished New England during this time with a body of well-taught 
ministers. 

By 1700 Harvard was identified with the religious liberals, spite of 
the fact that Increase Mather was its president. This displeased the 
conservatives, who were at length rejoiced to know that a 
new college, sound in theology, was in 1701 established p^'^ 9 °l'*^® 
in Connecticut. Eli Yale, who had been governor of ^^^^ ' 
Madras, gave it a sum of money, and in 17 18 it was called 
Yale College. After tentative location at several places, it was in 
1 7 16 definitely placed at New Haven. Its governing body and 
faculty were required to accept the Saybrook Platform, a statement 
of faith formulated by a legislative commission and adopted by the 
assembly in 1708. Yale maintained outward conformity to this type 
of orthodoxy for a century, but by 1750 it had advanced far on the 
road of liberalism. 



154 SOCIAL PROGRESS IN COLONIES 

In 1 69 1 Commissary Blair arrived in London to try to get a royal 
charter and to raise funds for a college in Virginia. When he broached 
the matter to Attorney-General Seymour, whose aid he 
William and needed, he was asked why the colony desired a college. 
w^^^ The answer was that it would furnish an educated ministry 

Founded, ^^ save the souls of the colonists. ''Souls!" exclaimed 
1693. Seymour, "D — n your Souls! Make tobacco!" But 

the commissary had great Scotch persistence, his request 
succeeded, and in 1693 a royal charter was issued for William and 
Mary College. It created a college and "free school" under the aus- 
pices of the Anglican Church. Commissary Blair was its first presi- 
dent, and its professors were clergymen. It had a large influence in 
colonial Virginia. Williamsburg, where it was located, soon became 
the capital of the colony and an attractive colonial society grew up under 
the protection of the governor and the college. For some years the 
"free school," free only in the sense that it admitted all students who 
met the intellectual and financial requirements, was the chief feature. 
When the curriculum of the college was organized, it had less Hebrew 
and Syriac than Harvard, but there was more of general culture. 

Thus at the beginning of the eighteenth century Anglicanism and the 
two branches of New England Puritanism had each its college. Fifty 
years later other religious organizations were developed 
^ J "". so strongly that they also could venture to establish seats 

Colleges. <^f learning. The first of these was the College of New 
Jersey, now Princeton University, established in 1746. 
Its support was Presbyterian, and it drew largely for a hundred years 
from the Scotch-Irish population extending from New Jersey south- 
ward. It is probable that the Great Awakening stimulated its crea- 
tion. By this time the desire for colleges as expressions of local pride 
had come into existence ; and in 1749 the University of Pennsylvania 
was founded, in 1754 King's College, now Columbia, in 1764 Rhode 
Island College, now Brown University, and in 1769 Dartmouth Col- 
lege in New Hampshire. In all these institutions except 
'^^^ the University of Pennsylvania the chief impulse to found 

and Hi lier ^^^ college came from a church. Higher education at the 
Education, time found its support in America in the necessity for the 
education of the ministers. In the charters of Yale, 
William and Mary, Princeton, King's (Anglican), and Brown (Bap- 
tist) arrangements were made to perpetuate the influence of the re- 
spective churches which founded them. Higher education in America, 
now so well able to stand on its own feet, was born of religion and long 
nourished by it. 

As to subjects taught, the colleges began with the high ideal of re- 
producing English college curricula. Harvard is supposed to have 
been modeled after Emanuel College, Oxford, at which several Massa- 
chusetts men had studied. But the wilderness does not favor intel- 



LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN THE COLONIES 155 

lectual culture. The Emanuel men eventually passed away, and a 
colony-born generation took their places. Neither here nor elsewhere 
was actual education higher than in a good modern prepar- 
atory school. The colleges, like other features of American , ^^"^'^~ 
life, began low and developed slowly out of their own ex- 
perience. The very conditions around them made them in colonial 
times but large academies, but they have gradually lifted themselves 
out of these conditions. 

The southern and middle colonies had a few public schools, but 
private schools were widely established. Often they were taught by 
clergymen. In the towns, as Philadelphia and New York, 
schools were early established. In the South the planters S(,^ools ^ 
cooperated in supporting schools for their own children. 
The subjects taught were elementary. The elements of Latin and 
Greek were given to those who sought to enter a college. How much 
this was may be seen in John Adams's entrance examination at Harvard 
in 1 7 5 1 . He was required to write a good hand and with the aid of a 
Latin grammar and dictionary to translate a piece of English into 
Latin. 

Cultured men were found in the colonies from the beginning. Prob- 
ably they were more numerous in the early years of a colony's history, 
because the contact with England was then closest. In the 
first fifty years of her existence Virginia saw the production c°i°^g 
of many books about her history ; in the second fifty years 
the output was smaller. The richest planters of Virginia, Maryland, 
and South Carolina educated their sons in England. Colonel William 
Byrd, of Virginia, a man of fine mental gifts, was trained in England 
and Holland, though not in a university, and spent many years in 
London, where he had some of the leading literary men for his 
associates. His old age he spent in Virginia, where he relieved the 
tedious hours by writing some of the sprightliest English prose that 
colonial America produced. Philadelphia was distinguished for a 
group of scientists, chief of whom were Franklin and James A. Logan. 
Boston was the center of an indigenous literary movement. It 
showed little immediate English influence and was, undoubtedly, the 
flowering of New England culture, nourished faithfully by Harvard 
and the congregational ministry. Several of the royal governors were 
notable friends of culture. But in this field we must not assert too 
much. Poets and essayists we had, and a few historians ; but they 
rarely rise into high rank. 

Local Government in the Colonies 

Three types of loyal government appeared in the English colonies ; 
the county, the town, and the mixed tyi^e. The first came with the 
settlement of Virginia and was an adaptation of the English county 



156 SOCIAL PROGRESS IN COLONIES 

to Virginia conditions. The county was a unit of representation in the 
lower house of the assembly. Over it was a sheriff and a lieutenant- 
colonel of the militia. It had local justices of the peace 
The County. ^^^ were appointed by the governor and council, as a rule 
men of social and political prominence. They held the county court 
of quarter sessions, which was both an administrative and judicial 
body. In the former capacity it supervised the roads, apportioned 
taxes, cared for county property, and looked after any general business 
relating to the county. As a court it tried minor cases, although few 
justices were lawyers. Sheriff, lieutenant-colonel, and clerk of the 
court were generally appointed by the governor. In the southern 
county, as normally organized, the only elective ofhce was member 
of the assembly. He was chosen by the freeholders, all meeting at one 
voting precinct, the ballot being viva voce. Under such conditions 
the governor with the council had great power. He selected the 
county officials from the leading families, and they usually controlled 
the election of assemblyman, who in turn became the governor's ad- 
viser as to the further appointment of county officials. The ofiice- 
holding oligarchy of a southern county was an aristocratic influence, 
genuinely English in character, usually honest and efficient, and of 
sound American principles, as the local history of the revolutionary 
era shows. 

The New England town was a revival of the early English town, 
which for centuries had survived in the English parish, both a civil and 
an ecclesiastical institution. The fundamental idea was 
E^^^d^ that the business of the town should be transacted in 
Town. town meeting by all the qualified freemen. In earliest 

New England these were the persons of good standing in 
the town church; but as the king objected to the exclusion of An- 
glicans from the suffrage, it was provided that any person of good 
character could be admitted to the suffrage on the certificate of a min- 
ister. This rule, discretely administered, relieved pressure from the 
exclusion of Anglicans, but left the control of town affairs safely 
within the church. The town meeting levied the taxes, appointed 
selectmen who executed its rules, chose subordinate officers, and 
supervised roads, bridges, and public property. Any voter might 
speak in town meeting ; but it was part of the genius of the people to 
respect the advice of the elders. The minister had great influence in 
town affairs, the selectmen were the men of wealth and prominence, 
and between the two the direction of local affairs was in as restricted a 
group as in the South. Here, too, it must be said that the oligarchy 
ruled well. It was honest, patriotic, and economical, and it gave 
satisfaction to the majority. 

The mixed form first appears in New York. When NicoUs con- 
quered New Amsterdam, eastern Long Island was settled by New 
Englanders, who had never acknowledged the right of the Dutch over 



PAPER MONEY 157 

them. They had bought their lands from the Indians, established 
town meetings without authority from any superior, and desired to go 
on as they had begun. As they had helped NicoUs 
against Stuyvesant he could not ignore their request. "^^^ Mixed 
Neither could he grant it ; for the Duke of York meant to lqc^qo^. 
rule his province by absolute right, so far as he could. The emment. 
result was a compromise which the Long Islanders accepted 
with disappointment. NicoUs prepared a code of laws on the basis of 
the enactments of the assemblies at Boston and New Haven and pro- 
claimed it as law for the Long Island towns, where it was known as the 
"Duke Laws." It provided that the town administration be in the 
hands of overseers and constables elected by freeholders, but there 
was to be no town meeting. Local justice was to be administered, as 
in the South, by judges appointed by the governor. In a few years the 
"Duke's Laws" were extended to the rest of the province. In 
NicoUs's time there was no legislature. When it later came into 
existence, the county, made up by a union of several towns, became the 
basis of representation. Thus we have a system of counties divided 
into towns, or townships, imitated in the other middle colonies, and 
largely reproduced in the newer states of the union. Indeed, its ad- 
vantages are so obvious that it has since the civil war been adopted in 
modified forms in the Southern states. 

Paper Money in the Colonies 

Until the end of the seventeenth century specie was the money 
generally used throughout the world, but shortly before that time it 
had been discovered that a state's promise to pay might be 
made to serve as currency, although no country had used '^^® Cause 
the invention extensively. To issue bills which might be of'paner*^ 
paid back to the government for taxes and then destroyed Money, 
seemed a wonderful idea, and it was destined to be tried 
on a large scale in the colonies, where neither gold nor silver was 
mined, and where there was always a demand for money to develop 
the abundant natural resources. The idea was seductive, but it ig- 
nored the fundamental law that the volume of currency should be 
nearly stable in proportion to population. To increase it by a new issue 
would undoubtedly aid the debtors temporarily, but it worked a 
counteracting hardship to the capitalists, and to contract it would in- 
jure the borrowers while it benefited the capitalists. As the majority 
of people were not lenders they were continually asking for more paper 
money, once they learned of its effects, and they generally protested 
loudly against attempts to reduce its volume. The capitalists, mer- 
chants, and town's people generally, continually opposed such cur- 
rency, and they had the support of the crown, which usually was 
tender of the interests of the trading class. Out of this opposition of 



158 SOCIAL PROGRESS IN COLONIES 

purpose grew up in most of the colonies important political divisions 
which seriously affected the people's loyalty to the mother country. 

The first colony to have paper money was Massachusetts. In 
1690 an unsuccessful expedition against Quebec left the treasury in 
debt and to pay it off notes were issued and made receivable 
Massa- fgj- public dues. In the wars that followed and lasted until 

Leads the ^^® French were driven out of Canada there were many 
Way. similar issues, so that by 1745 a silver dollar was worth 

eleven dollars in currency. Other New England colonies 
had followed the example set them, and the whole country was over- 
whelmed with depreciated paper. The ruling classes, chiefly in the 
seacoast towns, were dismayed at the situation, and when parliament 
voted 175,000 pounds sterling to repay Massachusetts for her expenses 
in the expedition which took Louisburg, 1745, they were able to get a vote 
passed for the redemption of the outstanding notes at the rate of seven 
and a half for one. After that the currency of the colony was specie. 
Massachusetts's lead in issuing paper currency was followed in most 
of the other colonies, Virginia being the most conspicuous opponent of 
the paper money system; and even she yielded in 1755. 
Colonies '^^^ largest issues were in Rhode Island, New Jersey, Penn- 
sylvania, and the Carolinas. In these colonies the de- 
mand for currency became a veritable fiat money craze. Bills were 
printed and lent to individuals on the security of lands and commodi- 
ties. Sometimes it was issued by the public direct and sometimes 
through corporations on a very slender basis of specie. Virginia's 
reluctance to employ this kind of money was not so much due to cor- 
rect ideas of finance as to her habit of using tobacco for currency. 
Tobacco when not sold immediately was deposited in public ware- 
houses, and the certificates received by the depositors were transferred 
to other persons in payment of debt or for trade. 

The protests of the merchants against the payment of debts in 
colonial paper soon reached the ears of the British government. 
Accordingly, colonial governors were instructed to allow 
Efforts of \}^Q passage of no more acts authorizing paper money, 
to^Check^ and sometimes those already passed were vetoed in Eng- 
the Craze. land. But the governors were not always able to obey their 
instructions without arousing more resistance than they 
cared to encounter. During the last struggle with France, 1754 to 
1763, the colonies took the plausible ground that they could not fur- 
nish troops in aid of the war unless they be allowed to issue more 
paper money, and when this argument was insisted upon it usually 
prevailed. The irritation occasioned by the efforts of the crown to 
check paper money weakened the respect of the people for the British 
government, and was a powerful factor in preparing them for participa- 
tion in the revolution. It also opened the way for the flood of public 
notes which inundated the country as soon as independence was declared. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 159 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

General social conditions in the colonies are described with commendable fullness 
in Channing, History of the United States, 3 vols. (1907-1912); Andrews, 
Colonial Self-Goveniment (1904); Greene, Provincial America (1905); and Doyle, 
English Colonies in America, 5 vols. (1882-1907). On special sections or colonies 
see: Weeden, Economic and Social History of New England, 2 vols. (1896) ; Bruce, 
Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century, 2 vols. (1896); Ibid., 
Institutional History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century, 2 vols. (1910) ; 
Ibid., Social History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century (1907) ; William Byrd, 
Writings of (ed. 1901), the introduction, by J. S. Bassett, presents a history of 
the Byrd family with its various industrial, social, and political activities ; McCrady, 
South Carolina under Royal Government (1899). 

On conditions of labor see : McCormac, White Servitude in Maryland (Johns 
Hopkins Studies, 1904) ; Ballagh, White Servitude in Virginia (Ibid., 1895) ; Bassett, 
Servitude and Slavery in the Colony of North Carolina (Ibid., 1896) ; Geiser, Redemp- 
tioners and Indented Servants in Pennslyvania (Supplement to Vale Review, 1901); 
Brackett, The Negro in Maryland (1889); Ballagh, Slavery in Virginia (1902); 
Weeks, Soutlwrn Quakers and Slavery (1896) ; Du Bois, Suppression of the African 
Slave Trade (1896) ; and Channing, Narragansett Planters (Johns Hopkins Studies, 
1886). 

Books of travel are: Kalm, Travels in North America (trans. 1770, and later 
eds.), by a Swede who visited the colonies in 1749-1750; Madam Knight, Journal, 
1704-1705 (ed. 1825, 1865), relates chiefly to New England; Whitefield, Journal 
of a Voyage from London to Savannah [1737-1738] (1739); and Keith, Travels 
from New Hampshire to Caratuck (1706, 1851), warmly Anghcan and bitter against 
dissenters. A most valuable contemporary source is Samuel Sewall, Diary, 1674- 
1729 (Mass. Hist. Soc. Collections, sth ser. V-VII). 

See also : Dunton, Letters from New England, 1686 (Prince Society Publications, 
1867); .^Isop, Character of the Province of Maryland (1666, 1903); Hammond, 
Lea-h and Rachael, or the Two Fruitful Sisters, Virginia and Maryland (1656) ; 
Wilson, Account of the Province of Carolina (in Carroll, Hist. Collections, 2 vols. 
(1836); Ashe, Carolina, a Description of the Present State of the Country (Ibid.), 
both Wilson and Ashe deal with South Carolina; Denton, Brief Description of 
New York (1670, 1903) ; IMiller, Description of the Province and City of New York 
(1695; 1903); Wolley, Two Years' Journal (1701, 1902); Thomas, Historical and 
Geographical Account of West New Jersey and Pcnsilvania (1698, 1903) ; and 
Budd, Good Order Established in Pennsylvania and Neiv Jersey (1685, 1902). 

For race element see: Kuhns, German and Swiss Settlements of Colonial Penn- 
sylvania (1901), with a bibliography; Bernheim, German Settlements in North 
and South Carolina (1872); Fries, The Moravians in Georgia and North Carolina 
(1905); Green, Scotch-Irish in America (Am. Antiqu. Soc. Proceedings, vol. X), 
a good essay; and Baird, Huguenot Emigration to America, 2 vols. (1885), good 
for genealogical purposes. 

On religious conditions : Cross, The A nglican Episcopate and the A merican Colonies 
{Harvard Studies, 1902) ; Anderson, The Church of England in the Colonies, 3 vols, 
(ed. 1856); Perry, History of the American Episcopal Church, 2 vols. (1885); W. 
Walker, Ten New England Leaders (1901) ; Dexter, Congregationalism as Seen in 
Its Literature (1880) ; Lauer, Church and State in New England (Johns Hopkins 
Studies, 1892) ; Backus, History of New England with Particular Reference to the 
Baptists (ed. 1871); Checkley; Evolution of Religious Tolerance in Massachusetts 
Bay, 2 vols. (1897); Upham, Solemn Witchcraft, 2 vols. (1876), to be read with 
Poole's criticism {N. Am. Rev. CVIII) ; and Tracey, The Great Awakening (1842). 

Intellectual and educational development are described in : Tyler, History of 
American Literature, 1607-1765, 2 vols. (ed. 1897); Thomas, History of Printing 
(Am. Antiqu. Soc. Archccologia Americana, 1874); Trent, American Literature 
(1903), a short manual; Quincy, History of Harvard University, 2 vols. (ed. i860); 



i6o SOCIAL PROGRESS IN COLONIES 

Dexter, Sketch of the History of Yale University (1887) ; Kingsley, Yale College^ 
2 vols. (i87q) ; Adams, The College of William and Mary (U. S. Bureau of Edu- 
cation, Circulars, 1887); and Thwing, History of Higher Education in America 
(1906). 

On the colonial local government: Osgood, The American Colonies in the 
Seventeenth Century, 3 vols. (1904-1907) ; Mereness, Maryland as a Proprietary 
Province (1901) ; Howard, Local Constitutional History, vol. I (1889); Channing, 
Town and County Government in the English Colonies (Johns Hopkins Studies, 
1884) ; and Greene, The Provincial Governor (Harvard Studies, 1898). 

For Independent Reading 

YxdinkXm, Autobiography (many eds.) ; Mrs. Earle, Sabbath in Puritan New England 
(1891) ; Fisher, Men, Women, and Manners in Colonial Times (1898) ; Wendell, 
Cotton Mather, the Puritan Priest (1891) ; Allen, Jonathan Edwards (1889) ; and 
Eliza Lucas, Journals and Letters (1850), on South Carolina matters. 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION 

The Principles at Stake 

When the British government was about to make peace with 
France in 1763, it was suggested that the French hold Canada as a 
restraint on the colonies. The suggestion brought forth 
a pamphlet from Franklin in which he said the colonies p^^^^ 
would not desire independence if they were treated fairly. 
Pitt accepted his argument but was out of office before the treaty 
was concluded. Bute, his successor, grasped at Canada, but forgot 
all about Franklin's stipulation that the colonies be treated fairly. 
In fact, if we interpret his policy in the way which seems most justi- 
fiable, he was bent on holding Canada and making British authority 
sufficiently energetic to deal with whatever spirit of self-assertion 
America might manifest. He meant that the colonies should con- 
tribute to the commercial support of England, that the king's 
prerogative should have ample scope in colonial administration, and 
that parliament should exercise the right to lay taxes on the colonists. 
That the colonists should consider this treatment fair was impossible ; 
that they should find legal arguments in opposition to it was natural. 
Had the British government been in the hands of wise and well- 
informed men, the crisis of 1763-17 76 might have been avoided, which 
does not, however, mean that it would not have come later. 

But the government acted on a basis of strict legality. It was 
legal for parliament to legislate in any way it saw fit ; it was legal 
for the crown to exercise its prerogative in the veto of 
laws ; it was legal for the royal governors to interfere in ^^^' ^^^^ 
many ways with the growth of colonial self-government ; yg^ poUcy. 
and finally it was legal for England to impose the navi- 
gation laws on the colonies and to exploit the children's labor for 
maternal prosperity. These things had been done until they had 
all the sanction of precedent. Moreover, the Englishman thought 
them reasonable. Of all the moderns he is least liable to take other 
people into consideration. A few statesmen have proved an excep- 
tion to this rule, but George III, Lord Bute, and the existing cabinet 
were not of the number. Those who directed English colonial affairs 
in 1763 knew little of that better art of government by which the 
mind of the governed is as much respected as the interests of the 
governing class. 

M 161 



1 62 THE CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION 

The colonies were developing rapidly in numbers and in ideals. 
In twenty-five years the population had doubled, and with greater 
strength came greater confidence in the future ; and they naturally 
felt disposed to demand a clearer definition of their relation to the 
British government. This was difficult because of two apparently 
conflicting principles which had hitherto been considered binding. 
One was that the colonists had all the fundamental rights of English- 
men. Under this they believed themselves entitled to the benefits 

of Magna Charta, the Habeas Corpus Acts, and such 
Two Con- other great statements of personal liberty as the Bill of 
Principles. Rights of 1689. There was no disposition in England 

to deny this claim in its abstract form, but the applica- 
tion given it by the Americans was disputed. From English expe- 
rience the colonists also deduced the clear right of "no taxation without 
representation," a principle at the bottom of every great English 
reform of the preceding two centuries. The other principle related 
to the power of parliament to legislate for the colonies. From time 
immemorial Englishmen have held parliament absolute in regard 
to the scope of its authority. No colonial charter ever dealt with 
the matter explicitly ; but in most of them the assembly was given 
the right to make such laws as did not conflict with the laws of England. 
It had come about that the assemblies dealt with local matters and 
had nothing to do with afifairs involving the empire, such as external 
commerce, the regulation of money, and the collection of debts due 
to British subjects. To see that this principle was not violated, the 

king insisted on the right to veto colonial statutes, although 
i^^!?'^d'°^' ^'^ England his veto of an act of parliament was long 
the Colonies since abandoned. The colonists could not but look on 

this as a wrong. Their own view of their rights was that 
a colonial assembly was in a small way another parliament, guardian 
of popular rights and liberties, and ruling its colony as formerly the 
Scottish parliament ruled Scotland under British supervision. They 
did not in general dispute the authority of parliament to legislate for 
the colonies ; but they resented the exercise of the right in a very 
vital way. Never did a more perplexing problem of imperial 
federation and home rule arise in British political history; and 
in 1763 England was not ready for it. 

Grenville's Policy 

The men into whose hands the problem fell were George III and 
George Grenville. The former had been three years king, and had 

just got the reins of government firmly in his hands. 

The power of Newcastle and Pitt displeased him, and 
he drove them out of office by combining under his patronage all who 
had a grudge against either. The war was popular with the country 



GRENVILLE'S POLICY 163 

and enhanced Pitt's influence with the people. The king, therefore, 
hastened to make a peace which many EngHshmen regarded as a 
sacrifice of national interests. The obloquy of it fell on Bute, the 
tool who formulated the terms of peace, and he was forced out of 
ofhce. But George III would yield nothing to the old whig party. 
He made Grenville prime minister, and by favor and flattery consoli- 
dated a parliamentary majority in his support. From that time his 
purpose was to rule England. He knew little of the colonies and would 
not have distressed them capriciously. But his love of prerogative 
was a ruling passion, and once it was questioned by the Americans, 
his stubborn nature would risk much in its support. 

Walpole and Newcastle had paid little attention to the colonies ; 
Grenville, more conscientious and more given to detail, not only gave 
them attention, but prepared a definite scheme involving _ . 
their relation to the empire. The national debt was exorbi- 
tant, 140,000,000 pounds, and much of it grew out of the late war, 
fought in behalf of the colonies. To protect the empire a large fleet 
and a standing army were necessary. To Grenville, logical and prosaic 
statesman, it seemed the most natural of conclusions that the colonies, 
a part of the empire, should share this imperial burden. He did not 
think of the practical difflculties before him, nor did he stop to look 
at the matter from the colonists' standpoint. His conclusion was 
made, and three measures were devised to carry it into effect. The 
situation was well summed up in the remark of a treasury official that, 
"Grenville lost America because he read the American dispatches, 
which none of his predecessors had done." 

The first of these three momentous acts provided for the strict 

enforcement of the navigation and customs laws in America. On 

examination Grenville learned that the duties, paid in 

America did not exceed 2000 pounds a year, and that it I: ^^^*sa- 

lion l>3.ws to 
cost nearly 8000 pounds a year to collect this sum. Smug- jjg Enforced. 

gling existed on a large scale, and he proposed to break 
it up. Ships-of-war were sent to patrol the American coasts, rigid 
instructions were given to the resident customs officials, and delin- 
quents in ofl5ce were replaced by men who seemed more trustworthy. 
In 1764 the "molasses act" of 1733, which had been generally violated 
with the connivance of the government, was revived and enlarged 
by the addition of coffee, Spanish and Portuguese wines, and several 
other less important articles. Thus on the chief articles which 
New England received in return for her fish, lumber, staves, and 
food products sold in French and Spanish colonies, such duties must 
be paid as would practically annihilate the trade. The effects of 
this would be more far-reaching than Grenville could have known. 
Besides furs. New England and the middle colonies exported little 
to England, which did not take their flour, lumber, staves, and cheaper 
fish ; and yet they bought English merchandise heavily. As a result, 



1 64 THE CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION 

there was a large annual balance against them for which they paid 
from the cash proceeds of the trade to the islands. Take from them 
the French and Spanish parts of this trade, and not only would colonial 
industry suffer, but English merchants would find American orders 
restricted and American merchants would be hopelessly involved 
in debts to their British creditors. The act of 1764, therefore, with 
the stricter revenue regulations accompanying it, brought consterna- 
tion not only to the smugglers but to all the colonial merchants. 

The second measure concerned an army. Grenville decided to 
maintain 10,000 men in the American colonies and announced that the 
duties arising from the act just mentioned would defray 
2. A British one-third of the expense. The other two-thirds he would 
Africa. have the king pay. This measure was justified on the 
ground that the troops were needed to defend the colonies 
against foreign attack. To the Americans it seemed that the soldiers 
were designed to overawe them, to support the collection of customs, 
and to nip in the bud any plans which might be made to support 
the colonies in their contention for what they considered their rights. 
And they asked with much pertinence why, if protection were needed, 
it had not been sent earlier, when French and Indians were a real 
menace? To this question no satisfactory answer has been given 
by those who see in Grenville's second measure merely a precaution 
against foreign dangers. 

The third measure was a stamp act. It was not offered in 1764, 
but Grenville introduced, and parliament passed, a resolution declaring 
that it might be proper to enact it. A protest came at 
Stamn Act once from every colonial agent in London, to which Gren- 
ville replied by saying that the colonies must assume a 
part of the military burden, that a stamp tax was easily laid and 
collected, but that he would be pleased to consider any better scheme 
of raising the money if the colonies would suggest it. He intimated 
that by seizing this opportunity the colonists might make a precedent 
for giving money to the crown only when previously consulted by 
the ministry. A little reflection showed that this was impracticable 
unless the colonies should first adopt some satisfactory form of 
authoritative cooperation in apportioning their respective shares of 
a contribution and in devising the means of raising the funds. 

News of Grenville's measures aroused the apprehension of all the 
colonists, but it created consternation among the traders of New 
England. A Boston town meeting declared: "There is 
Connies ^° room for further delay. . . . These unexpected pro- 
ceedings may be preparatory to new taxations upon us ; 
for if our trade may be taxed, why not our lands? Why not the 
produce of our lands, and everything else we possess ? " In this way the 
commercial class endeavored to make the rural classes see that the 
cause of one was the cause of all. It was a peculiarly opportune 



POSITION OF THE COLONISTS 165 

time for such agitation ; for New England was then in commotion 
over a proposition, urged by the Anghcans in England and in the 
colonies, for the creation of an American bishopric. Such a step 
could not but strengthen the position of that church, lead to the 
enlargement of its membership, and promote its wider 
influence in political affairs. New England was especially ^^^s^'^*^ 
opposed to such a step, her ministers, the most influential 
class of her people, were debating the question in every town, and 
to the alarms they thus felt was now added the feeling that parlia- 
ment was asserting the right to tax Americans at will. The fact 
that Grenville's policy bore more hardly on New England than on 
other sections may explain why it was that the first steps of the 
revolution were taken by her people. 

In July, 1764, was published in Boston James Otis's "Rights of 
the British Colonists Asserted and Proved." The author was the 
most advanced of what was to become the revolutionary 
group, and his pamphlet may be taken as a statement of Position of 
the constitutional views of the most extreme Americans. Americans. 
In it is no advocacy of independence. Could the colonists 
choose, he said, they would prefer the status of British subjects to 
independence, unless the former condition involved absolute slavery 
to England. The right of parliament to make laws for the 
general good of the colonies was admitted, but to allow it the right 
to tax American trade was to say it might tax any form of American 
property. In England a distinction had laeen made between " external " 
and "internal" ta.xes : Otis rejected the distinction, saying taxes 
were taxes, wherever collected. For remedy he suggested that the 
colonies should have representation in parliament "in some proportion 
to their number and estates." Already the cry had been raised, 
"Taxation without representation is tyranny." 

Two objections may be made to these arguments. One is that 
they were always overstated. The patriots talked about "British 
tyranny," and declared that they were about to be "re- 
duced from the character of free subjects to the miserable ^.^t^ns' 
state of tributary slaves." Such lurid phrases must 
have been unconvincing to the British ministry, on whose good will 
depended an exit from the existing confusions. Moreover, these 
arguments lacked that self-restrained dignity which thoughtful 
men admire. The cause of the patriots was a good one. The rela- 
tion of the colonies to England was threatened with a precedent 
full of possible future calamity, but it was not likely to be removed 
by calling names. The second objection is that the suggestion of 
colonial representation was impractical. If it had been adopted, 
the Americans would have had very little influence in parliament, 
and they could not have prevented taxation of the colonies. This 
was so apparent that the demand was soon dropped by the Americans. 



1 66 THE CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION 

By the spring of 1765 Grenville knew the views of the colonists 
on a stamp tax. Instead of suggesting any other method of contrib- 
uting to the burden of empire they had given unmis- 
A^t^p*^™d takable evidence of repudiation of all British taxes. 
j„5g^ ' Determined to have the revenue, which he thought essen- 
tially just, he now brought in the stamp act, and like the 
revised "molasses act" of 1764, it passed parliament without serious 
challenge. It required stamps on all legal and commercial documents, 
bonds, insurance policies, and newspapers, the proceeds to be expended 
exclusively on the colonies. Offenses against the act were to be tried 
by admiralty courts in America or in England, and Grenville proposed 
to appoint only Americans as agents to distribute the stamps. He 
wished to soften the execution of the law as much as possible, and he 
thought the colonists would accept it calmly after a brief state of 
irritation. 

When news of these proceedings came to America there was a 
storm of protests. The memorials of colonial assemblies to parlia- 
ment were not received by it, the vote in the House of 
inAmericT Lords was unanimous for the tax, and in the commons 
it was 205 to 49. Truly it seemed that the wishes of the 
children were despised by the mother. One notable speech had been 
made against the bill in the commons by Colonel Isaac Barre, who 
fervently praised the Americans as "Sons of Liberty." The phrase 
was taken up in America, and bands of "Sons of Liberty" were soon 
organized to express the popular disapproval. 

But the outburst did not come at once. For some weeks after the 
act was known to have passed there was a stupefied feeling of outrage, 
but no one suggested a means of action. The man who 
Patrick ^qqJj^ j-^g initiative in protest was Patrick Henry, a Vir- 

Resoiutions. gi^ia lawyer of Scotch ancestry, who in 1763 had made 
himself the popular hero in a Presbyterian community 
by his wonderful speech in the celebrated "Parson's cause." He 
was now a member of the Virginia house of burgesses, but was dis- 
trusted for his extreme views by the old and experienced leaders of 
the body. To the consternation of the latter, he introduced resolu- 
tions condemnatory of the stamp act, in which he claimed for Virginians 
the exclusive right of taxing themselves in their own assembly. The 
leaders of the aristocratic East had hitherto been masters of the house, 
and they considered the young backwoodsman's resolutions too 
extreme. After a hot debate he carried the day by a close majority. 
It was here that he made the famous utterance : "Tarquin and Caesar 
each had his Brutus ; Charles the First his Cromwell ; and George 
the Third" — [from the speaker and others, "Treason ! Treason !"] 
— "may profit by their example. If this be treason, make the most 
of it." Having won the victory, Henry departed for his home, and 
his opponents, taking advantage of his absence, carried a motion 



THE STAMP ACT OPPOSED 167 

to expunge the most significant words of his resolutions. But the 
effect was not what they intended. Henry's words had aroused 
Virginia, and his original resolutions were printed everywhere and no 
notice taken of the expunging action of the conservatives. Henry 
became a conspicuous leader in the struggle then beginning. As 
governor of the state and as counsellor among the revolutionists 
his work was hardly more than ordinary, but in the task of arousing 
public sentiment by means of burning and exaggerated descriptions 
of colonial wrongs he was unequalled in the South. James Otis, 
of Boston, was his counterpart in the North. Each played his part 
in the drama about to open. 

The popular indignation was general, and associations of "Sons 
of Liberty" were formed in every colony. They found leaders as 
fervent as Henry and Otis, intimidated the stamp agents, . 
and forced them to resign, in many places employing Foru^ng, 
violence. In Boston the mob destroyed a building which 
they thought was to be the stamp office, and pillaged and wrecked 
the residence of Chief Justice Hutchinson. Defenders of the crown 
were now denounced as "tories" while friends of the colonies were 
called "whigs." But the "Sons of Liberty" were only a part of the 
whigs ; for there were in America many conservatives who opposed 
taxation by parliament but who did not participate in the demon- 
strations of the radicals. At this time no one openly advocated 
independence. 

The hope of the conservatives was in appeal to the crown, and for 
that purpose, at the suggestion of Massachusetts, the Stamp Act 
congress met at New York, October 7, 1765. Delegates 
came from all the colonies but New Hampshire, Virginia, ^tamp Act 
North Carolina, and Georgia, and from these came mA. ^>j/ ^ 
unofiEicial messages of encouragement. The result was ^^ 
petitions to king and parliament and a declaration of the rights of 
Americans. In the latter we have the first statement of a purpose 
common to all the colonies. The congress repudiated the notion 
that the colonies should have parliamentary representation as impos- 
sible "from local circumstances," and it admitted the right of parlia- 
ment to make general and trade laws in reference to the colonies, 
but denied its authority to lay taxes. The right of taxation, said the 
delegates, was a sacred right of Englishmen, guaranteed to all the 
colonists in their charters, and on it they stood. After the congress 
adjourned committees of correspondence, formed as an afterthought 
through the suggestion of New York whigs, took up the 
question of trade reprisal. Thus were made non-impor- potation 
tation and non-consumption agreements, which secured 
wide acceptance by the people. "Touching the pocket nerve," 
as this course was called, was sensibly felt by the British merchants, 
who signed many memorials for the repeal of the stamp act. 



i68 THE CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION 

The state of affairs in America was well known in England when 
parliament met, December 17, 1765, and it was evident that the 
objectionable measure must be executed by force or 
Repeal of repealed. For the former course neither king nor people 
^pj_ were ready. The latter was made easier by the recent 

retirement of the Grenville ministry for causes not 
connected with its colonial policy. The first sign of retraction was 
when inquiry was made to know if the colonies would be satisfied 
if the stamp act were "moderated." Franklin, agent for Penn- 
sylvania, was interrogated on this point at the bar of the house of 
commons, and declared that nothing but absolute repeal would be 
accepted by the colonies. Asked if there were no means by which 
they would erase their resolutions against parliamentary taxation, 
he answered, "None that I know of; they will never do it unless 
compelled by force of arms." Pitt, who was ill when the act passed, 
now took the floor for repeal. Twitted by Grenville for encouraging 
the Americans to defy England, he exclaimed : "I rejoice that America 
has resisted. Three millions of people so dead to all the feelings 
of liberty, as voluntarily to submit to be slaves, would have been 
fit instruments to make slaves of the rest." He urged the repeal 
of the stamp act, but favored a strong assertion of the authority of 
parliament to "bind their trade, confine their manufactures, and 
exercise every power whatsoever, except that of taking their money 
out of their pockets without their consent." The outcome was that 
March 18 a repeal bill was signed by the king. At the same time 
passed the "declaratory act," an explicit statement that parliament 
could rightfully make laws for "the colonies and people of America, 
subjects of the crown of Great Britain, in all cases whatsoever. ^^ 

In America a few stamps had been sold in South Carolina and 
Georgia : in all the other colonies the law was not executed in the 
four and a half months it was formally in force. November 
Stamp Act a j^ \\-yQ (\^y get for the beginning of its enforcement, was 
b i 'ts*^'^ ushered in with the tolling of bells, and processions marched 
Repeal. through the chief towns to bury or burn the stamp act. 

In Connecticut the stamps themselves were seized and 
burned. In North Carolina the governor found his house surrounded 
by more than 700 Sons of Liberty, who did not go away until the 
stamp agent resigned and with other officers swore not to attempt 
to enforce the odious act. When this situation began, business 
came to a standstill. No one dared accept an unstamped instrument, 
and no ship could get stamped clearance papers. But with the 
triumph of the protestants courage came to the timid ones and business 
went on as before in disregard of the stamp act. 

From such confusions the colonies were thrown into joy by the 
news of repeal. The bells now rang another tune, liberty poles 
were erected, and the health of the king was drunk in every kind 



THE HAND OF TOWNSHEND 169 

of tipple from the rum of the laboring man to the punch and Madeira 
of the wealthy merchant. Virginia ordered a statue of the king 
and New York ordered statues of both the king and 
Pitt. In Philadelphia the substantial citizens gave their r!!!^*^"^^** 
homespun clothes to the poor and appeared in handsome 
suits of British cloth. In their excitement the colonists thought 
little of the declaratory act, the Sons of Liberty dissolved as a 
society, and every thought of resisting the mother country dis- 
appeared. 

Growing Irritation 

Popular rejoicings did not last long ; for spite of the repeal of the 
stamp act the colonists and the king were wide apart in principle. 
In New York was a large detachment of regulars who 
by a parliamentary billeting act of 1765 were to be fur- Rgo "^d'^ 
nished with quarters by the colony. When the matter 
was laid before the assembly a partial refusal was obtained and trouble 
began, with the result that in 1767 the assembly was suspended until 
it complied with the law. In Massachusetts the governor blundered 
into a quarrel when he demanded of the assembly compensation 
for the sufferers through the stamp act riots. Objection was made 
to the demand, as well as to a call for supplies for the garrison under 
the billeting act. Next the governor vetoed the election of James 
Otis as speaker of the assembly. There was much bickering, but a 
compromise was effected. Old quarrels might have been forgotten 
if Charles Townshend had not been at the head of the British ministry. 
His first prominent appearance in colonial affairs was in 1763, when 
he was first lord of trade in Bute's cabinet. He then formulated 
a plan to remodel the colonial government on a uniform scale, to 
enforce the acts of trade, and to use the revenue raised in America 
to support an army and civil establishment at the will of the crown. 
The scheme was more thoroughgoing than that inaugurated by 
Grenville, but it passed out of sight with the fall of the Bute ministry. 

Townshend did not forget it, and when through the fall of the 
Rockingham ministry in 1766 he became head of the exchequer 
he returned to his older policy. Without the support 
of his colleagues in the cabinet he announced that he ^^^V^T^' 
would bring in a bill to raise in the colonies the money ^^^^ * 
to support an army in America, a bill, he said, which 
would have the approval of the Americans themselves. Had the 
cabinet been a strong one, he would probably have been forced to 
resign ; but Pitt, now Earl of Chatham, was ill, and Grafton, the 
nominal head, was weak-willed, and Townshend was allowed to pro- 
ceed in the course he mapped out. In May, 1767, he secured the 
passage of three acts relating to America. In one, duties were laid on 
tea, glass, red and white lead, and paper. The colonists had admitted 



lyo THE CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION 

the legality of external taxes, and such was the kind now laid. But 
as the revenue from the five articles named would not be more than 
£40,000, this act was inadequate to the support of an army, for which 
ten times that much was necessary. . It was designed, it seems, for 
a precedent, to be followed by a much wider list of taxable articles. 
To secure larger revenues immediately he carried through a law 
creating a board of commissioners to supervise the execution of the 
navigation acts in America ; and as this would likely lead to commo- 
tions, he got a third bill passed as a warning to any colony which 
disputed the parliamentary act to billet soldiers. It suspended the 
New York assembly for its recent refusal to furnish supplies at the 
demand of the governor. The blow fell heavily on that province, 
in which were many tories, and in 1769 the assembly yielded and was 
restored to full vigor. The Townshend acts were carried through 
parliament without serious difficulty. The landed interest controlled 
both houses and were pleased to throw off their own shoulders any 
part of the heavy burden of taxation. To them the colonies seemed 
ungrateful and rebellious children, for whom a little parental sternness 
would be good. The king fully approved the sentiment. Recalling 
now the prophecy of 1762 it seems well to say that England lost the 
colonies, not because Canada was no longer French, but because 
the mother country thought that the time was come to take them 
into a stricter control than had hitherto been exercised over them. 
Whatever might have happened later, the American revolution came, 
when it did come, as the result of events which England, and not the 
colonies, initiated. 

The colony most affected by trade restrictions was Massachusetts, 
and she was the first to move in protest. The assembly had a good 

leader in Samuel Adams, who was the author of several 
Protests protests of the assembly to king and parliament. He 

also wrote a circular letter which the assembly sent to 
the other colonies, suggesting that cooperation was essential in a 
cause that touched all the continent. Most of the colonies revived 

the non-importation agreement ; but the state of feeling 
^^™-^^*™^ differed from that of 1765 in that it was less vociferous. 
Dickinson. There were no riots, and the conservative whigs played 

a larger part. This feeling was well expressed by John 
Dickinson, of Pennsylvania, in his "Farmer's Letters." He declared 
that a most serious crisis was on the country and urged that it be 
met in the spirit of prudence, bravery, and magnanimity. He 
set aside all thought of independence, saying, "Let us behave like 
dutiful children, who have received unmerited blows from a beloved 
parent." But he asserted that if England could tax American im- 
ports, she could tax in a prohibitive way the articles she did not wish 
the colonists to manufacture, and that done, he concluded, "the 
tragedy of American liberty is finished." From 1767 we hear little 



RESISTANCE IN MASSACHUSETTS 17 r 

in America about the difference between "external" and "internal" 
taxes. Indeed, it was now freely asserted that England had no 
right to "legislate" for the colonies. 

Townshend died September 4, 1767, Lord North succeeded him 
as head of the exchequer, and Lord Hillsborough became secretary 
for the colonies, a new office of cabinet rank ; but the 
Townshend policy was not to be relaxed. When Hills- New Minis- 
borough saw the Massachusetts circular to the other col- oicTpolicy 
onies, he pronounced it seditious, and ordered the individ- 
ual governors to adjourn their respective assemblies, if notice was 
taken of it. To Governor Bernard, of Massachusetts, he sent a 
demand that the assembly should revoke the circular. In a secret 
session, by a vote of 92 to 17, the demand was refused, and an 
address was sent to Hillsborough in which it was said that the colony 
stood on the principles of the English revolution of 1689. All the 
colonies were now keenly alive to the situation, and Virginia, the 
oldest and largest, took a determined position by the side of the 
trading colonies of the North. When parliament knew of this it 
passed resolutions of censure on Massachusetts and suggested that 
the leaders of the whigs in America be sent to England for trial 
under an obsolete law of Henry VIII 's reign. This suggestion 
brought out a protest from every colony. From this time the con- 
troversy was probably beyond the possibility of compromise, although 
there remained in America many "who still hoped England would yield. 

Meanwhile the spirit of mob violence reappeared, its first out- 
break being in Boston, where it was impossible to enforce the revenue 
acts. In 1768, for example, a cargo of wine was landed 
without paying duty and carried boldly through the ^'^"(fg^tjfn"' 
streets under a guard of "stout fellows, armed with 
bludgeons," and the revenue officials were not rash enough to attempt 
a seizure. On the contrary, they asked that troops be sent to the 
town. The request was reasonable from the British point of view ; 
if the laws existed, they should be executed. So thought the govern- 
ment, and in September two regiments with artillery, about 1000 
men in all, landed in Boston. The people refused to submit to the 
billeting law on the ground that there was room for the troops in the 
barracks at Castle William. General Gage, commander-in-chief 
in the colonies, protested, but the soldiers had eventually to be placed 
in buildings hired at dear rentals. They had come to intimidate the 
town, and between them and the inhabitants relations were unpleasant 
from the beginning. 

For eighteen months officers and soldiers avoided serious conflict. 
They were criticized in the journals, flouted in the streets, 
and sometimes involved in personal conflict with the more r'^"^^ * 
violent townsmen. Nor were they always patient and 
considerate of the people. They raced horses on Sundays, played 



172 THE CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION 

unseemly music near the meetinghouses during divine worship, and 
planted cannon to command the state house, in which the general 
court sat. In 1769 Otis was attacked by a revenue commissioner 
for an article in a newspaper and received a sword cut, from which he 
sank into insanity. Though the troops had nothing to do with the 
outrage, it produced high popular resentment for every British agent. 
Early in 1770 violent affrays became numerous. It is evident 
that the long residence of the soldiers in the town had given the 

more radical leaders a text for agitation, and it may 
Bloodshed j^g ^^iSit the populace had reached a point of excitement 
'" °^ °°' beyond the control of the leaders. In February a wooden 

image appeared over the door of a shop whose keeper 
flouted non-importation, and a mob interfered when a friend tried 
to remove it. Thereupon the friend fired into the crowd, killing a 
boy. At the victim's funeral 500 children walked in front of the 
remains and 1300 persons followed them to the grave. Such an 
outburst of sympathy shows how well the whig side was controlled 
by its leaders. March 5, 1770, came a more serious affair. Two 
soldiers were attacked and beaten by townsmen, and an ugly spirit 

was aroused. The bells were rung, a large crowd gathered, 
The and a sentinel in front of the customhouse was attacked. 

"Boston ^^ Captain Preston, officer of the day, with thirteen men, 
Marches ' went to his support. The mob was not intimidated. 
1770. ' They threw snow, shouted vile epithets, and cried: "Fire 

if you dare, fire and be damned ! We know you dare 
not !" The soldiers behaved well until one of them, struck with a 
stick, discharged his musket without orders. The mob rushed for- 
ward to take him, but fell back when several other muskets were 
fired. Drums were beat and all the troops in Boston seized arms 
to repel a general attack. At this point the governor appeared, and 
by his appeals induced the angry citizens to disperse. At the first 
shot, Crispus Attucks, a mulatto, was slain, and subsequently four 
others were killed and six were wounded. Preston and several of 
the soldiers were indicted for murder, John Adams and Josiah Quincy 
appearing as their counsel. All were acquitted but two, who, con- 
victed of manslaughter, pleaded benefit of clergy and escaped with 
branding on the hand. The day after the shooting a town meeting 
was held under the leadership of Samuel Adams and John Hancock. 
The latter was a rich merchant and many times a smuggler. 
Before their determined protest the governor yielded, and the soldiers 
were withdrawn from the town. The victims of the "Massacre," 
as the affair was called, were given a public funeral, and for a dozen 
years the anniversary of their death was observed in Boston. The 
incident, described in a pamphlet as the culminating act of British 
tyranny, had a marked influence on all the colonists. It was the kind 
of argument that the average citizen could understand. 



TAXATION ON PRINCIPLE 173 

Meanwhile, events moved rapidly in England. The cabinet, 
now headed by Lord North, but delivered hand and foot to the will 
of the king, was surprised to find the revenues from 
America were only £295 more than the cost of collection j°^ 1770^* 
and to learn that extraordinary military expenses there 
were £170,000. For these results the government was creating 
the spirit of resistance in the colonies ; and although North declared 
in parliament that the Townshend acts ought not to be repealed "till 
we see America prostrate at our feet," it is certain that he and the 
king were anxious to escape from the situation without complete 
defeat. It was with this hope in mind that he announced on the day 
of the " Boston Massacre," March 5, 1770, a bill to repeal all the duties 
imposed by the Townshend acts, save that on tea, which was kept to 
maintain the rights of parliament. "The properest time to assert 
our right of taxation is when the right is refused," said he with a tone 
of confidence which must have been assumed for the occasion. For 
to make palatable the tax of threepence a pound he allowed a draw- 
back of nearly twelve pence a pound on the tea sent from England to 
America ; thus offering cheaper tea to the colonists than to the people 
of England. The law passed, and its financial effect was good. Co- 
lonial imports from Great Britain, which aggregated £2,378,000 in 
1768, and fell to £1,634,000 in 1769, rose to £4,200,000 in 1771. Non- 
importation was relaxed on all articles except tea, but public opinion 
in regard to that article was expressed in the formation of societies 
to refrain from tea-drinking. The issue between parliament and 
the colonies now appeared in a new form : the Grenville plan to 
tax America for revenue was given up, and in lieu of it was the king's 
plan to tax it on principle. 

At this stage we may take a glance at the general situation pro- 
duced by seven years of controversy, i. The colonial loyalty of 
1763 was gone, and instead were suspicion and bitterness. 
2. With it were mingled a feeling of self-confidence and view™'"*'^^ 
a conviction that England could not carry out the program 
she had undertaken. She had been obliged to confess failure in 
regard to the stamp act and the larger part of the Townshend duties ; 
and was to see the same result in regard to the tea duties. 3. The 
losing controversy provoked a spirit of bitterness between the royal 
officials in the colonies and leaders of the people there. The former 
felt impelled to assert their rights, and there were numerous incidents 
which they took for challenges. The colonials were equally stout- 
hearted, and in fiery appeals aroused the people on the one hand while 
they awakened the wrath of the officials on the other. Each side 
accused the other of usurping authority, and mutual hatred became 
strong. 4. The colonial assemblies became the centers of resistance 
to the king. Persons who felt otherwise could not be elected to these 
bodies ; and if any man was disposed to balance between the two 



174 THE CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION 

sides the prospect of defeat by his constituency was apt to make him 
decide against the crown, and 5. Colonial politics acquired dignity 
and strength from having a great common cause of protest. Hitherto 
the contention was about some local matter, as issuing paper money, 
or the favoritism of a class, and on such a subject men might divide 
in mere factious feeling. But now there was a cause as great as any 
that had ever aroused a people. It involved equally the upper and 
the lower class ; it appealed alike to the reason and to the highest 
emotions ; and it had in it every hope of the future. 

In 1770 the colonists were divided into three groups: i. The 
tories, out and out prerogative men, who either believed that a 

government was strongest when ruled by the crown or 
Three ^^^ found it their interest to say so. In this party were 

America"^ those who derived advantage from royal favor, many 

others who were conservatives by nature and believed 
the mihtant whigs were irresponsible and led by demagogues. 2. 
The whigs, ardently protesting against the plan of king and parlia- 
ment to bring America under a stronger British control. Some of 
them were undoubtedly now willing to carry resistance to extremities, 
but felt it was not wise to say so. Among the leaders were chiefly 
those who had hitherto dominated the assemblies. Both inclination 
and interest prompted them to their course ; for by establishing the 
principle of colonial control of taxation they enhanced the power of 
the assembly, which but increased their own influence. Some whig 
leaders were accused of demagogy. They organized bands of working 
men, whom they harangued most passionately against British des- 
potism. Others, and the majority, were more quiet. There was 
always some difficulty in keeping the extremists from going too 
fast. 3. A middle class, who considered the defenders of royalty 
either selfish or misled, but who looked on the whigs as agitators. 
For the most part, they thought more of their personal affairs than 
politics. This class was very numerous, especially in the agricultural 
sections. The desire to bring them to the support of the revolution 
was a wholesome check on the more impetuous whigs. 

At this time Massachusetts was most prominent in opposition to 
the British policy, and for this Samuel Adams was chiefly responsible. 

He was able and persistent, and he lost no opportunity 
Adams' to appeal to the people. In 1772 he carried a vote in 

a Boston town meeting to create a committee of corre- 
spondence to exchange views and information with other towns in 
the colony. The other towns accepted the suggestion, and thus 
Adams became the head of a colonial organization in the whig cause. 
In the following year a group of Virginia whigs, among them Patrick 
Henry and Thomas Jefferson, carried a resolution in the assembly 
to appoint a committee for Virginia to correspond with committees 
of the other colonies in reference to all matters relating to the common 



THE BOSTON TEA PARTY 175 

good. Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, 
and South Carolina adopted this suggestion, and thus was created 
a central organization in behalf of the continental cause. When 
these steps were taken three years had elapsed since North had sub- 
stituted the tea tax for the Townshend duties, and although there 
had been various irritating occurrences ^ in the several colonies, there 
was nothing to which the colonies could point as an act of aggression 
on the part of parliament. Why then should this step toward a 
united America have been thought necessary? The answer must 
be that the whigs were gaining in power, and themselves becoming 
more aggressive. They had ample reason to know that the king and 
his officers had not relaxed their purpose to exercise the mastery, 
and they were preparing to meet a danger they felt inevitable. 

A small incident brought the blow they were expecting. In 1773 
the East India Company, which imported England's tea, was in 
financial straits, due, it seems, to its inability to sell tea 
in the American colonies. It appealed to the government J^^-^^* 
for a remission of duties. Lord North and the king p^^y^ 
willingly gave the relief asked for, and the company was now 
allowed to send its tea to America without any duty paid in England. 
North was asked to give up, also, the duty of threepence a pound 
imposed by the act of 1767; but he refused, saying the king was 
determined to make its collection a test of authority with America. 
On this small point, it seems safe to say, hung the question of American 
revolt. 

The company took the favor granted it, and in 1773 sent to the 
colonies a number of ships laden with the tea which for months had 
been accumulating in its warehouses. All this was 
known in the colonies, and the people were determined ^^^^"^^ ° 
to resist. The whig leaders at once put into operation 
their machinery of arousing opinion. The governors and higher 
officials who led the tories had no means of checking the whigs, and 
the middle group were indifferent. At Charleston the agents of 
the company resigned before the popular storm, and as the duty 
had not been paid at the end of twenty days the tea was seized by the 
collector and stored in damp vaults. Three years later it was sold 
at auction. In Philadelphia the whig leaders called large popular 

' The most important was the destruction of the Gaspee, a small ship with eight guns 
which was very active in arresting smugglers in Rhode Island. The commander was ap- 
plauded by his superiors for his zeal, and became overconfident. He went so far as to send 
some of the seized property to Boston for adjudication, alleging, with probable truth, that 
justice would not be obtained in Rhode Island. He became very unpopular in this colony, 
and when, on June g, 1772, his ship ran aground near Providence, a group of citizens 
attacked it, wounded the commander, overpowered the crew, and burned the hated craft. 
The party were well known by common report, but when a commission appeared to in- 
quire into the outrage no evidence could be had. The incident promoted colonial defiance 
and strengthened the conviction of the British government that the supreme problem in 
the colonies was to teach the colonists to respect authority. 



176 THE CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION 

meetings which denounced the tea tax. Here, as in New York, the 
agents declined to act, and the cargoes went back in the ships which 
brought them. In Boston excitement was high. The agents, two 
of whom were sons of Governor Hutchinson, refused to resign, and 
took refuge in the castle. When the captains of the tea ships wished 
to go back to England with their cargoes, the governor forbade their 

departure. He seemed determined to force the issue 
" Boston ^^ ^Q 2i settlement, and Adams met it squarely. On the 
Dec i^^' night of December i6, 1773, about fifty men disguised 
17173. ' as Indians and directed by Adams himself went aboard 

the ships at the wharf and emptied 342 chests of tea into 
the water. No effort was made by the town officials to prevent this 
affair, nor were any of the participants prosecuted for destroying 
property. This act of violence is to be defended only on the ground 
that Adams and his associates considered war inevitable and looked 
upon themselves as its heralds. 

Continental Organization and Attempts at Adjustment 

While the news of the "Boston Tea Party" was fresh in England, 
parliament came together, March 7, 1774. The king was determined 
that Boston should be made to respect his power and lost 
The Colo- no tij^-^g jn calling to the attention of the lawmakers the 
ObevthT state of affairs in America. With the majority the only 
Laws. question was to make authority respected, and though 

Chatham in one house and Burke in the other pleaded for a 
restoration of the laws to the state they were in before Grenville, a 
policy of coercion was adopted. It was stated in five acts, the sub- 
stance of which was as follows : 

1. The port of Boston was closed, the customhouse was moved to 
Salem, and ships were stationed in the harbor to enforce the law. 

The ban was to be removed by the king when compensa- 
tes on or j.j^j^ ^^g made for the tea destroyed and when he was 
satisfied that the duties would be paid in the future. 

2. The charter of Massachusetts was remodeled so as to remove 
several of its liberal features. Councillors, who had hitherto been 

chosen by the assembly, were now to be appointed by the 

The Massa- Q^own. All the minor executive and judicial officers were 

Ciiusctts 

Charter. ^^so to be appointed, and not elected, as formerly ; and 

the town meeting was not to meet, except for elections, 

without the consent of the governor, who must specifically authorize 

the kind of business that could be transacted. Lawyers were then 

divided on the question of the authority of parliament to annul 

or amend a colonial charter; but so good an authority as Chief 

Justice Mansfield supported the right. He proceeded on the theory 

that the English parliament may do anything but a physical impossi- 



RETALIATORY LAWS 177 

bility. But granted this be true, what shall we say of the political 
wisdom of the men who thus jauntily tried to uproot a form of govern- 
ment which had developed through a century and a half ? Could 
they have expected any other answer than resistance ? From being a 
home of democracy Massachusetts was now to be a centralized prov- 
ince, with no other feature of popular government than the right to 
choose the members of the lower house. 

3. To secure a fair trial for officials charged with capital crimes 
while executing their duties, the governor might, if he saw fit, send 
them to England for a hearing. In such a case he must 

send witnesses. The law seems to have been suggested England 
by the trial of Preston and the soldiers concerned in the 
Boston "Massacre." 

4. The law of 1765 to authorize quartering troops had been al- 
lowed to expire ; but it was now revived. It was omi- 

nous, also, that General Gage, commander of troops in jjjg ^^t ^^' 
America, was made governor of Massachusetts. 

5. The domain ceded by France in 1763 was organized into 
a province of Quebec, governed by a legislative council appointed 
by the crown, with the Catholic Church established by law, and with 
limits including the region between the Ohio and the lakes. The 

The act was the result of a long investigation by English " Quebec 
officials and lawyers, and plausible reasons not connected ^'^*-" 
with the seaboard situation are assigned for its important features. 
But it came at an inopportune moment. Virginia, New York, Con- 
necticut, and Massachusetts claimed territory in the Northwest and 
resented the loss of it. To all the whigs it seemed that England wished 
to build up beyond the mountains a great power dependent on the St. 
Lawrence and lake systems of transportation, with a government 
highly centralized and held firmly in hand by the crown, and with an 
established religion which would preclude any sympathy with the 
Atlantic colonies. Recent investigations have shown that these as- 
sumptions were unwarranted. The Northwest was attached to 
Canada, it is said, for the better regulation of the fur trade, and the 
government and religion established in the province were necessarily 
adopted for a population mostly French Catholic and accustomed to 
the French regime. The seaboard colonies knew nothing of this. Had 
they known, the "Quebec act" must have aroused their apprehension. 
From early days they had dreamed of the time when they should sub- 
due the wilderness as far as the Mississippi. It now seemed evident 
that the dream was shattered, for whatever the motive of the govern- 
ment the Northwest was to be closed to the Atlantic colonies by being 
handed over to a people peculiarly dependent on the crown and largely 
alien in political and religious sentiment. 

The acts of 1774 brought consternation to the colonists, for they 
left no choice between resistance and submission. June i, Boston was 

N 



1 78 THE CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION 

blockaded, no goods might go out or come in, business stood still, 

and want invaded the homes of the poor. May 13 General 

r)°^-ou^^ Gage arrived with four regiments, and assumed the duties 
Pumshea. - ° ... _° ' 1 i 1 

01 military governor, it was expected that the town 

would soon be forced into submission and the other colonies be over- 
awed by the fate of Massachusetts. 

But there was little thought of submission. From the neighboring 
towns and from the remotest colonies came relief for Boston's poor. 

A shower of pamphlets appeared in every quarter arguing 
Elsewhere ^^^^ ^^^ cause of Massachusetts was the cause of all the 

colonies. So threatening became the situation that Gage 
fortified the neck of land then joining the town to the mainland, and 
gave up all thoughts of offensive operations against the interior. The 
officials appointed under the remodeled charter dared not show them- 
selves outside of his lines. 

By this time much was being said about a congress representing the 
whole continent after the manner of the stamp act congress of 1765. 
A Conti- The suggestion was generally approved, and Virginia took 
nentai the initiative. In May her burgesses set aside June i , the 

Movement, (jg^y ^.he Boston Port Bill began to operate, as a day for 
fasting and prayer, and for this Governor Dunmore dissolved the 
house. Then the members, in a meeting at the famous Raleigh tavern 
in Williamsburg, sent out a summons for an annual congress to con- 
sider "the united interest of America," and called a Virginia conven- 
tion to elect delegates to such a congress. The response was imme- 
diate and hearty. In three colonies only, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, 
and Pennsylvania, delegates could be chosen by the assembly. Else- 
where the royal governor adjourned that body to keep it from acting, 
and the people followed Virginia's example of calling a convention on 
their own authority. How completely the whigs now controlled 
colonial politics is shown by the fact that the personnel of these con- 
ventions was usually the same as that of the several assemblies. 

When the delegates assembled in Philadelphia, September 5, 1774, 
all the colonies were represented but Georgia. They were the best 

men among the whigs, all trained by years of leader- 
The First gj^jp j^ their respective struggles against royal govern- 
Conere^ss ^^^ ^^ rival factions. The sessions were secret, but we 
1774. ' know that two groups appeared among the delegates. 

One wished to have a union of the colonies, with a president 
appointed by the king and a council of delegates which could make 
laws subject to parliamentary veto and which could also veto laws of 
parliament relating to the colonies. Had this plan been adopted and 
allowed by England the colonies would have remained English. It 

was favored by the most conservative, among them Jay, 

Duane, Golden, Galloway, and Edward Rutledge. It had 
the serious defect thai it would most certainly be rejected by the king. 



FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 179 

The delegates from Virginia and Massachusetts led the other group. 
War alone, it was evident, could shake the will of George III, and if 
we must fight, let it be for independence. This was a bold idea and the 
supporters of it did not venture to announce it openly. A great many 
whigs clung lovingly to the name "Briton," and it was finally de- 
cided to publish the American contention to the world and await the 
formation of public opinion. Thus it was that the congress took up 
the preparation of a series of "Declarations and Resolves." The 
differences among the delegates show in the utterance in regard to 
legislation. It distinctly claims for the colonies the "exclusive power" 
to legislate for their own affairs, subject only to the king's veto, but it 
promises acquiescence to parliamentary acts for the bona fide regula- 
tion of external commerce and made in the commercial interest of the 
empire. As to ordinary rights of person and political liberty the 
resolutions were clear and strong. The congress also prepared ad- 
dresses to the king, the British nation, and to the people of the 
colonies. 

The most important action of the congress was the adoption of the 
"Association," an agreement to import no English products after 
December i, 1774, and to export nothing to any British 
port, European or colonial, after September 10, 1775. Non-im- 
This action occasioned serious opposition from New Eng- ^°^s^ocia- 
land and the middle colonies ; but every section must sacri- tion." 
fice something. Virginia gave up the exportation of tobacco 
to England, Massachusetts the West India trade, and Rhode Island the 
slave trade. The local committees were urged to see that the "As- 
sociation" was not violated. They became a very important factor 
in the revolutionary movement, administering oaths to those who 
seemed of doubtful loyalty, publishing lists of persons who violated 
the Association, and in many other ways making life unpleasant for 
tories, as all opponents of revolution soon began to be called. The 
"Association" was readily ratified by all the colonies but New York, 
where there was a strong tory element, and Georgia, which was badly 
divided between factions of New England and Southern origin. But 
in both these colonies the whigs were numerous and organized local 
committees to promote the colonial cause. 

October 26 congress dissolved, ordering a new congress to meet 
May 10, 1775, unless the grievances of the colonies were previously 
redressed. Its chief significance was that it gave cohesion 
to the whigs. They had come to understand one another. ^^** *^® 
Their appeals discountenanced independence, but advised signified, 
that the people be ready for the worst. At the same time 
the country was full of warlike preparations. Arms were bought 
and military companies were formed. Provincial congresses and com- 
mittees of safety gave the revolutionary movement an efficient or- 
ganization. The royal governors reported to the home government 



I So THE CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION 

all that happened, but they were powerless to arrest the preparations 
which led daily toward revolution. 

Gage, behind his Boston barrier, watched anxiously the gathering 
storm in Massachusetts. Reliable information convinced him that the 
advent of spring, 1775, would make his task a difhcult 
and^Concord ^^^" ^^ anticipate his opponents seemed good policy, 
and on the evening of April 18 he sent 800 men to seize 
some stores at Concord, 18 miles away. The whigs were on the watch, 
and sent messengers to arouse the countryside. A lantern in the tower 
of the North church flashed information of the departure to Paul 
Revere, on the other side of Charles river, who rode hastily to Lexing- 
ton. Signal guns and galloping horses soon told the regulars that their 
movements were known. On Lexington common at dawn they en- 
countered sixty minute men in military line, who refused to disperse. 
Suddenly there was a single shot, and then a volley, before which the 
militiamen fled, eight killed and ten wounded. The British lost none, 
and proceeded to Concord, where they destroyed such stores as the 
natives, warned of the movement, had not carried away. By this 
time the countryside swarmed with militia, and the British hastily 
retreated. Every rock, tree, or fence that offered cover concealed 
angry Americans from whose fire the regulars suffered severely. 
Gage, informed of the situation, sent Percy with 1500 fresh troops to 
escort the column to safety. By this means it came back to Boston, 
but with a loss of 273 killed, wounded, and missing. The militia lost 
93 in all, and following the retreating column in force began the siege 
of Boston. 

The news from Lexington and Concord flew rapidly southward. In 
five days it reached Philadelphia, six days later it reached Virginia, 
and May 4 it was at Eden ton. North Carolina. Every- 
The Meek- where it brought forth patriotic resolves and preparations 
Resolves. ^°^ '^^'"- ^^^ most outspoken reception was in Mecklen- 
burg county. North Carolina, the center of a large Scotch- 
Irish population. Here on May 31, the militia companies being met 
for their muster, a series of resolutions was passed, declaring the com- 
missions of civil and military officers null and void, and appointing a 
method of local government "until laws shall be provided for us by 
Congress." A copy of these resolutions was sent to England, where 
it is preserved, and they were also printed in a Charleston news- 
paper. The original was destroyed by fire, and being rewritten from 
memory survived in a form resembling the national declaration of in- 
dependence. Many people have taken this paper, whose date, May 
20, is supposed to be accounted for by the difference between new 
and old chronology, for the resolutions actually passed on May 31. 
This "Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence" is not supported 
by reliable contemporary evidence, and is now rejected by the best 
historians. 



BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL 



l8l 



Second 
Continental 
Congress, 
1775- 



May lo, 1775, the second continental congress assembled in Phila- 
delphia. Events in Massachusetts filled every heart with dismay, and 
preparations were made for war. The New England 
volunteers, which had been called out to the number of 
20,000, were taken into the pay of congress, and Washing- 
ton was appointed to the command. But still the con- 
servatives hesitated to declare for independence, and to 
preserve harmony the advanced wing consented to defer that step. 
All united in a declaration of "the Causes and Necessity for taking up 
Arms, " and made a last address to the king. The march of events was 
bringing the colonies inevitably to separation from England, and the 
progressives could afford to wait. 

In this sense nothing could have been more propitious than the 
progress of the siege of Boston, where Gage, with more than 6000 men, 
was held in close lines. His position was insecure by reason 
of high ground behind Charlestown on the north and be- 
hind Dorchester on the south. If either place were fortified, his own 
position would be untenable. On the night of June 16 the Ameri- 
cans attempted to secure 
the former position, and 
for that purpose Colonel 
Prescott occupied Breed's 
Hill, constructing re- 
doubts, at which the 
British opened fire from 
fleet and batteries early 
on the 17th. Prescott 
held his position, and 
throughout the morning 
groups of colonials came 
to his support. Gage saw 
this, and sent General 
Sir William Howe with a 
strong attacking column 
to carry the redoubts 

in front. Breed's Hill, like the adjacent Bunker Hill, which gave 
name to the battle, is on a peninsula whose upper part, a narrow plain, 
was commanded by the fleet. Had Howe taken this point and fortified 
it, the Americans must have hastened from their position or been 
starved into surrender. But neither Howe nor Gage had respect for 
the fighting qualities of their foes, and for their rashness paid dearly. 
It was in the afternoon when the regulars landed and slowly formed 
their lines along the shore. Prescott, following the best tradition of 
the American frontiersmen, ordered his men not to fire "until you see 
the whites of their eyes." At close range they delivered such deadly 
volleys that the attacking column recoiled, and fell back with great 




AND 
BOSTON 

J).iC»..N.r. 



1 82 THE CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION 

loss. Rallied again, they again were driven back. A third time they 
approached the crest, now supported by a body of marines, and mov- 
ing carefully. At first the Americans fired effectively, and then, to 
the surprise of Howe, their fire ceased and they retired from the field. 
Their ammunition was exhausted, and they had no bayonets to with- 
stand a charge. The British took possession of the crest, having lost 
over looo killed and wounded. The American loss was 441, and 
General Nathanael Greene remarked, "I wish we could sell them 
another hill at the same price." This engagement was considered a 
brilliant victory by the Americans, and after it the revolutionary war 
was inevitable. 

Washington, commander-in-chief, arrived in Cambridge July 2. 
The army was in confusion, supplies were lacking, enthusiasm was 

cooling, and many of the men were going home at the 
Wellington expiration of their terms of service. Had Howe, who 
mand. succeeded Gage in command, attacked vigorously, the 

Americans must have given way. Washington's presence 
worked a change. He was a man to be respected ; order reappeared, 
recruits came in, and the army recovered spirits. Supplies came from 
an unexpected source. Ethan Allen, of Vermont, acting on his own 
authority, raised a force of "Green Mountain Boys," surprised and 

captured Ticonderoga and Crown Point, after which Fort 
Aiien^ St. John fell. At these points the British had left large 

quantities of guns and ammunition, which now proved very 
helpful to the Americans. Especially useful were the cannon, which 
were carried to Boston over the snow. Other important assistance 
came from an improvised fleet, one ship of which, the Lee, commanded 
by John Manley, took an ordnance brig with 2000 muskets with bay- 
onets and a large store of ball and powder. 

Thus provided, Washington, in the spring of 1776, determined to 
force the siege to an end. March 4 he seized Dorchester Heights and 

placed cannon there. Howe sought to drive him away, 
Evacuated ^^^ '^ storm luckily kept the British for several days from 

crossing the harbor, and when it subsided the Heights 
were too strong to be taken. Boston and the fleet were now at the 
mercy of the American guns, and Howe agreed to go away and leave 
the city without further damage if he was not molested. March 17 
the departure began, the British carrying with them to Halifax about 
1000 residents of the town who were loyal to the king, and some of 
whom had been so prominent on that side that they did not trust 
themselves in a community ruled by the whigs. 

While Howe spent the winter inactive in Boston the 
Loyabsts British projected an e.xpedition against the Carolinas, 
Carolinas. where the loyalists were numerous. It was expected that 

a fleet would easily take Charleston and overawe the rich 
planters of the South Carolina coast, who were the leaders of the 



BRITISH ATTEMPT IN THE CAROLINAS 183 

American cause in the colony. It would then go to the mouth of 
the Cape Fear, where it would be joined by a loyal army from North 
Carolina and the British authority would thus be reestablished in the 
two colonies. Along the Cape Fear were many Highlanders, who 
had no sympathy with the whig doctrines, and it was certain that 
most of them would come out to defend the crown. In this province, 
also, were the Regulators, members of an organization which existed 
from 1767 to 1 77 1 to deal with extortionate lawyers and exorbitant 
country officials in what were then called the "back counties." 
They at last rose in impotent wrath, whipped such lawyers as they 
could lay hands on, and broke up the Hillsborough court. Governor 
Tryon suppressed them at the battle of Alamance, 1771 ; 
at which most of the men now prominent in the revolution j^^^^.^ ®^"" 
in North Carolina fought under the governor. The Reg- 
ulators had good memories, they would have little to do with the 
whig movement, and when the news went abroad that a force was 
gathering at Fayetteville by command of the king to deal summary 
punishment to Caswell, Harnett, Ashe, and others of the old legis- 
lative oligarchy, they came to its assistance to the number of several 
hundred. 

Thus it was that 1600 Highlanders and former Regulators under 
Donald MacDonald started from Fayetteville February 18, 1776, to 
join the expected fleet at Wilmington. Caswell was on 
the alert, and they were intercepted by a whig force of ^^^ ?^ 
1000 men at Moore's Creek Bridge on February 27. In creek. 
a sharp battle the loyalists were defeated, their baggage 
taken, and all who were not killed or captured were driven in confusion 
to their homes. 

Meanwhile the cooperating fleet was delayed, and it was the middle 
of April when it reached the mouth of the Cape Fear. Here it loitered 
six weeks until convinced that no successful demonstra- 
tion would be made in the interior, and then it proceeded ^"}^^^ 
against Charleston. Six thousand militia held the town, Charleston, 
and a fort of green palmetto logs on Sullivan's Island 
commanded the channel, Colonel Moultrie in charge. The British 
might have surrounded this work and forced it to surrender, but with 
characteristic contempt for the colonials, they tried to batter it down, 
June 28, 1776. Their solid shot only buried themselves in the soft 
logs of the fort, whose well directed fire swept the decks of the fleet, and 
the attacking party were glad to withdraw with the loss of only one 
vessel. The Carolinas were saved, the South remained unshaken, and 
the Americans were encouraged generally. 

At Boston and in the South the patriots acted on the defensive and 
succeeded. The result was otherwise in Canada, where they assumed 
the offensive. It was thought that the French Canadians would gladly 
throw off the British yoke, and in the autumn of 1775 two columns 



i84 THE CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION 

marched against Quebec. One, led by Montgomery, 1500 strong, 
took Montreal by way of Lake Champlain, while another, under Arnold, 

starting with 1 100 men, marched through Maine and came, 
Expedition after terrible sufferings, with only 500 survivors before 
cfuebec. Quebec. Here the two columns united, but a joint attack 

failed to take the place. Montgomery was killed, and 
Arnold remained through the winter before Quebec. The natives 
gave him no assistance. Reenforced, he was gradually forced back by 
Sir Guy Carleton, commanding in Canada, but by disputing every mile 
of the way he delayed his antagonist and prevented Carlton's coopera- 
tion in the movements which Howe, as we shall see, was about to 
make against the lower Hudson. 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

The ante-revolutionary controversy has usually had a biased treatment, whether 
described by Americans or Englishmen. But one may rely on the fairness of 
Howard, Preliminaries of the Revolution (1905) ; Channing, History of the United 
States, vol. Ill (191 2) ; and Woodburn, Causes of the American Revolution (Johns 
Hopkins Studies, XI, 1893). Of the older histories Bancroft, History of the United 
States, 10 vols. (1834-1874), is full, but pro-American; and Hildreth, History of 
the United States, 6 vols. (1851-1856, 1882), which is accurate and just, is patriotic 
and lacks perspective. An admirable piece of work, but from the American 
point of view, is Frothingham, Rise of the Republic (new ed. 1890). Lecky, 
History of England in the Eighteenth Century, vol. Ill (i 878-1 890), treats the 
causes of the revolution in a spirit of fairness. Professor Woodburn has pub- 
lished all Lecky 's treatment of the revolution under the title, The American 
Revolution, iy6j-i^8j (1898). G. O. Trevelyan, The American Revolution, 4 vols. 
(1899-1912), is well written and is in sympathy with America; Doyle's chapter in 
the Cambridge Modern History, vol. VII (1903) is a good summary. Of the older 
histories of England, Mahon's (1853-1854) and Adolphus's (1840-1845) are of 
tory sympathy, and Massey's (1855-1863) is whig in feehng. 

For general sources, on the American side see: Force, American Archives, 
4th series, 6 vols., and 5th series, 3 vols. (1837-1853) ; Niles, Principles and Acts 
of the Revolution (ed. 1876) ; Moore, Diary of the American Revolution (1863), 
chiefly reprinted from newspapers ; Gibbes, Documentary History of the Revolution 
(1889) ; and Durand, New Material for the American Revolution (1889), from 
French sources. The British official sources are : Cobbett-Hansard, Parlia- 
mentary History, vols. XV-XVIII ; Cavendish, Debates of the House of Commons, 
1768-1771, 3 vols. (1841-1843); Journal of the House of Commons, vols. XXIX- 
XXXVI; Journal of the House of Lords, 3 vols., ed. Rogers (1875); Calendar of 
Home Office Papers, 1760-1775, 3 vols. (1878-1899) ; and Statutes at Large, 109 
vols, (i 762-1866). These British sources are quite unwieldy, but for the careful 
student of the period they are essential. MacDonald, Select Charters (1899), 
contains the most important documents. 

Of the Works and lives of the leading Americans of the time the following are 
important: Samuel Adams, Writings, Gushing, ed., 4 vols. (1904-1908); Dick- 
inson, Writings, ed. by P. L. Ford, vol. i (1895) ; Franklin, Complete Works, 
ed. by Bigelow, 10 vols. (1887-1888) ; Stephen Hopkins, Works, 3 vols. (1854); 
Theodoric Bland, Papers, 2 vols. (1840-1843); Henry, Life of Patrick Henry, 
3 vols. (1891), contains valuable correspondence; Josiah Quincy, Memoirs of 
Josiah Quincy, Junior (1824 and 1875) ; and Rowland, Life of George Mason, 
2 vols. (1892). On the British side see: Edmund Burke, Works, 12 vols. (ed. 
1871); Chatham, Corre5/>OM(/eMce, ed. Taylor, 4 vols. (1838); Francis Thackeray, 



7 6»°~ 




THE NORTH DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 185 

Chatham, 2 vols. (1827); Almon, Anecdotes of William Pitt, 3 vols. (ed. 1810) ; 
Grenville Papers, ed. Smith, 4 vols. (1853) ; Keppel, Memoirs of the Marquis of 
Rockingham, 2 vols. (1852); Donne, Carres ponJdcncc of George III with Lord 
North, 2 vols. (1867) ; Horace Walpole, Memoirs of the Court of George III , 4 vols, 
(ed. 1894); and Ibid., Letters, ed. by Cunningliam, 9 vols. (1857). Of great value 
are the letters from British officials in America, especially : Hutchinson, Diary and 
Letters, 2 vols. (1883-1886); Bernard, Select Letters (1774); Bradford, Speeches 
of the Governors and Ans%vers of the Representatives [of Massachusetts], 176 ^-ijj^ 
(1818) ; Kimball, Correspondence of the Governors of Rhode Island, 1723-1775, 

2 vols. (1902-1903) ; Browne, Correspondence of Governor Sharpc [of Maryland], 

3 vols. (1888-1895) ; and theColden Papers, 2 vols., in N. Y. Hist. Soc. Collections, 
(1876-187 7). Valuable documents on this period are to be found in all the pub- 
lished records of the individual colonies. See also .A.lmon, Collection of Papers 
Relating to the Dispute (1777). 

Of local histories and other works see : Hutchinson, History of the Province of 
Massachusetts Bay, 3 vols, (i 795-1828), by a royal governor, but commendably 
impartial and accurate; Minot, History of Massachusetts, 1748-176$, 2 vols. 
(1798-1803), on the American side; Moultrie, Memoirs of the Revolution, 2 vols. 
(1802); Drayton, Memoirs of the American Revolution, 2 vols. (1821) ; Ramsay, 
History of the Revolution in South Carolina, 2 vols. (1785) ; and Jones, Ncvd York 
in the Revolutionary War, 2 vols. (ed. of 1879). The material in the Annual 
Register on the period Just before our revolution is believed to have been chiefly 
from Edmund Burke. On two important episodes see: Ba.asett, The Regulators of 
North Carolina (Am. Hist. Assn. Report, 1894), and Hoyt, Tfie Mecklenburg Declar- 
ation of Independence (1907). The state histories generally contain valuable 
information on the causes of the revolution. 

On special topics see : Tyler, Literary History of the American Revolution, 2 vols. 
(1897); Beer, The Commercial Policy of England toward the Colonies (Columbia 
Univ. Studies, vol. HI, 1893); Ibid., The Old Colonial System [1660-1754], 2 vols. 
(1912) ; Ibid., British Colonial Policy, 1754-1765 (1907) ; Lord, Industrial Experi- 
ments in the British Colonies (Johns Hopkins Univ. Studies, extra, 1898) ; Cross, 
The American Episcopate a>id the American Colonies (Harvard Historical Studies, 
1902); Van Tyne, Loyalists in the American Revolution {Ihid., 1902); Hunt, The 
Provincial Committees of Safety of the A merican Revolution (1904) ; and Cotifin, Province 
of Quebec and the Early American Revolution (Univ. of Wisconsin Bulletins, I, 1896). 

For Independent Reading 

Tyler, Patrick Henry (1893) ; Anne Maury, Memoirs of a Huguenot Family 
(1872); Burnaby, Travels through the Middle Settlements [1759-1760] (1775); 
G. O. Trevelyan, The American Revolution, 4 vols. (1899-1912); Hosmer, 
Samuel Adams (1893) ; Morse, Benjamin Franklin (1892) ; Frank Moore, Songs 
and Ballads of the American Revolution (1856) ; and Sargent, Loyalist Poetry of the 
Resolution (1857). 



CHAPTER IX 

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 

The Declaration of Independence 

By the close of 1775 only the exporters and merchants in England 
thought of yielding to America. The landholders, who controlled 

parliament, and Englishmen generally, believed that re- 
converting bellion existed and should be suppressed. The king was 
servatives. ^*^^ coercion. He would not receive the petition of the 

second continental congress, and when he heard of Bun- 
ker Hill, proclaimed the Americans rebels and forbade commercial 
intercourse with them. Parliament closed the American ports and 
authorized the impressment of American sailors for service in the royal 
navy. As further notice of the unyielding intention of the British, 
Falmouth, Maine (Portland), was burned in October and Norfolk, Vir- 
ginia, on January 1,1776. At this time the second continental congress 
was sitting in a second session, holding back such impetuous members 
as Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry, and waiting for sentiment to 
form. It was now so evident that the colonies must submit or fight 
that most of the conservatives gave up their opposition to independ- 
ence. Jefferson expressed the general opinion when he wrote : 
"I will cease to exist before I yield to a connection on such terms as 
the British Parliament proposes." 

In January, 1776, appeared at Philadelphia a pamphlet called 
"Common Sense," by "an Englishman." It stated the case of the 

colonies in the plain language of the people, and was widely 
Sen*s™™°'^ read. What all had been thinking was here plainly stated. 

"The period of debate," said the author, "is closed. 
Arms, as the last recourse, must decide the contest. The appeal was 
the choice of the king and the continent hath accepted the challenge." 
At first this bold utterance was attributed to Franklin, but it soon 
became known that it was written by Thomas Paine, an Englishman 
then resident about a year in America. In later years he became un- 
popular on account of his writings against the Christian religion ; but 
history cannot forget that he was an important promoter of the rev- 
olution. 

By the spring of 1776 the conservatives were driven to the last 
ditch. They desired some form of colonial home rule which should 
preserve British sovereignty and leave the colonies a large measure 

186 



INDEPENDENCE ASSERTED 187 

of self-direction. They were strong in the middle colonies, especially 
in Pennsylvania and New York, where the older settlements felt 
much apprehension at the prospect of a democratic up- 
heaval which should disturb the political center of gravity. Waning in- 
New England, Virginia, and North Carolina were clearly tj^^^on- 
with the radicals, and South Carolina and Georgia servatives. 
were undecided. Colonial home rule was far from 
the thought of king and parliament, and as this fact became more ap- 
parent in America the more the conservatives found themselves at sea. 

While Congress thus hesitated in the hope of uniting the two fac- 
tions within its membership. North Carolina, the one democratic 
Southern colony, authorized her delegates at Philadelphia 
to support independence. It was the step uppermost in ^tate Action 
the minds of the radicals, and other colonies followed indenend-" 
rapidly. May 15 congress advised the colonies to con- ence. 
tinue no longer in the parlous state in which they then 
were, but to erect themselves into states, with governments resting on 
the consent of the people. The advice had already been anticipated 
by Virginia, where a convention met on May 5, and on the 15th de- 
clared Virginia independent of Great Britain. This action by the 
oldest and largest of the thirteen colonies had a most powerful effect 
on the hestitating ones. South Carolina and Georgia could not hold 
out longer, and Maryland and New Jersey showed signs of weakening. 

June 7, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia gave further evidence of the 
leadership his state had assumed when he introduced in congress three 
important resolutions. They declared : (i) that the 
thirteen colonies were and ought to be free and independ- J^^ P®*^" 
ent, (2) that foreign alliances should be made, and ^^^J^^^^_ 
(3) that steps should be taken to adopt a general plan of ence. 
confederation. The conservatives, led by Dickinson of 
Pennsylvania, who still clung to colonial home rule, suggested that the 
first resolution might well await action on the third, and the idea was 
adopted ; but a committee consisting of Jefferson, Franklin, John 
Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston was appointed to 
draught a declaration. Preparing a form of general government 
proved a slow affair, and July i the question of independence was 
again taken up. Little discussion was necessary, and July 2 congress 
voted in its favor and called on the committee for a written declaration, ' 
the New York delegates refusing to vote. Then was brought in the 
famous paper, chiefly the work of Jefferson, which with slight changes 
was formally adopted on July 4. August 2 an engrossed copy was 
signed by the members present, some of whom were not in attendance 
on July 4, and later on some signed who were absent on August 2. 
By this time the New York delegates had been instructed to sign, and 
thus the declaration had the support of all the thirteen colonies. The 
report of the committee to prepare a plan of confederation was made 



i88 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 

July 12, but it met such opposition that it was not until November 
17 J 1777) that an agreement could be reached (see page 238). 

The Declaration of Independence is one of the great documents of 
history. All that Locke and his followers in England and France had 
It c t t S'Sserted about the nature of government was here re- 
asserted and made a practical matter. Here we read that 
"all men are created equal," that they have the right to "life, liberty, 
and the pursuit of happiness," to secure which governments are es- 
tablished, that the right to rule is derived "from the consent of the 
governed," and that when a given government ceases to guarantee 
these privileges, "it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, 
and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such prin- 
ciples, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem 
most likely to effect their safety and happiness." Here was stated the 
theoretical basis of the American government. In justification of the 
revolution the Declaration further set forth a long series of acts of 
tyranny committed by the king and parliament against which the 
colonies had protested in vain. It closed with the noble assertion 
that "these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and 
independent states," and for the support of this assertion they mu- 
tually pledged to each other "our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred 
honor." 

The Campaign around New York, 1776 

The central position on the Atlantic coast is New York. Howe, in 
Boston, well knew it, and would have gone thither directly had he not 

been forced to leave that city with a beaten army. His 
St°7^ T ^^^y ^^ Halifax was short. Gathering supplies and re- 
land, cruits he soon sailed southward, and June 25 was off Sandy 

Hook, welcomed warmly by Governor Tryon and the 
loyalists, whom the whigs had forced to leave the city. By the be- 
ginning of August he had 32,000 men on Staten Island, and an ex- 
cellent fleet under his brother. Earl Howe, lay in the lower harbor. 

Washington also appreciated the importance of New York, and 
repaired thither with his army as soon as the evacuation of Boston 

gave him opportunity. He strengthened the defenses of 
The De- ^^iq city, then on the lower end of the island. The ap- 

16IIS6S of 

New York, proach by water was defended by works on Governor's 
Island, and at Paulus Hook (Jersey City), and Red Hook, 
on Long Island, and by obstructions in the channel. As a second 
line of defense, if such should be necessary, Forts Lee and Washington 
were constructed on opposite sides of the Hudson at a point near 
what is now 183rd street. So far the work was good; but reflection 
showed that the easiest approach was by way of Brooklyn, and that 
the key to that position was a wooded ridge, Brooklyn Heights, or 
the Heights of Guana, two miles behind the village and extending 



THE BRITISH ON LONG ISLAND 189 

from the Narrows to the northeast. It was passable by artillery at 
the shore, at Flatbush Pass, and at Jamaica Pass, the last six miles 
or more from the shore. To hold Brooklyn and this approach to it he 
detailed General Nathanael Greene with 7000 men. The rest, about 
21,000, were distributed among the various fortified positions or held 
in readiness in the city. 



CiMPAiay AROUND 

NEW YORK 




10 c E A y 



Howe's first operations against New York, unlike his later move- 
ments, were energetic, and showed a disposition to utilize his 
advantage of superior strength. August 22, he threw a 
large part of his army across the Narrows and lay before 
Greene's force at the western end of Brooklyn Heights. 
This American commander was ill from fever, and Washing- 
ton sent General Israel Putnam to take command. Put- 
nam's courage and patriotism had been proved on many 
occasions, but he was not a commander either by training or natural 
endowment, and in this case he left the several parts of the army to 
take care of themselves. Howe's attack was made on the morning of 
August 27. Dividing his army into three columns, he sent the first 
to threaten the Americans along the shore, another was to move 



The Battle 
of Brooklyn 
Heights, 
August 27, 
1776. 



I90 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 

through FlatbushjOn their center, while a third, which he led in person, 
was to make a wide detour around their left. The turning move- 
ment was made in the night of August 26, and took Putnam completely 
by surprise. Knowing by the cannonading that it was time to ad- 
vance, the first and second columns then attacked vigorously, and the 
Americans, taken in front and rear, were forced back into the defenses 
of the village of Brooklyn with a loss of 1500 men, iioo of whom were 
captured. 

Washington threw reenforcements across the East river to save the 
remnant of the army. He was reluctant to abandon the position; 

for the cliff-like "Heights" of Brooklyn, now the abode 
The Escape ^f ^-^e city's most prominent families, and not to be con- 
Brooklyn, founded with the scene of the battle of the 27th, dominated 

lower New York. A day's experience showed him that 
he had committed an error. If the British fleet forced its way into 
the river, he would be caught in a trap from which he could not hope 
to escape. That such a thing did not happen probably was due to 
a strong northeast wind which held for three days, and made it im- 
possible for the ships to beat up the river. In the evening of the 29th 
Washington began to transfer his army in such boats as he could find. 
Late in the night the wind fell, and in the following morning a dense 
fog settled over the scene. Under its protection the army and ah the 
supplies except a few heavy guns were removed to safety, to the 
extreme disgust of Howe, who had thought the victims all but 
taken. 

New York was now abandoned, the Americans retreating toward 
the north end of the island. A British force followed, but was beaten 

off in a rear-guard action, the Battle of Harlem, over 
of Harlem ground on which Columbia University now stands. It 

was now, September 22, that Captain Nathan Hale, 
formerly a Connecticut schoolmaster, was shot for a spy. He had 
volunteered to go into New York to obtain information, and when 

arrested avowed his mission. His dying words, "I only 
Hale*'^ regret I have but one life to lose for my country," were 

soon repeated at every patriot's fireside in the land. For 
a short time there was an interval of inaction, after which Howe moved 
eastward to get around Washington's strongly intrenched position 

north of Harlem. At Pell's Point Colonel Glover, of 
White Massachusetts, with 750 men held back the British column 

October 22. ^f 4000, inflicting a loss of 800, and by his spirited resistance 

changing Howe's determination to make a turning move- 
ment. The result was the battle of White Plains, October 22, an 
attack on Washington's front, delivered deliberately. The Americans 
were driven back after inflicting a serious loss. Howe had penetrated 
their lines, but a rain storm intervened, and Washington withdrew to a 
strong position at Newcastle. 



GLOOM IN NEW JERSEY 191 

Howe now gave up the idea of crushing his antagonist, who was 
clearly too wary for such a fate, and attempted to take Forts Washing- 
ton and Lee. His ships had passed freely between them, 
and Washington told Greene, who was in direct command, ^'"^^ . 
to abandon them if it seemed advisable. He himself an^\e°^°° 
took steps to construct in the Highlands other defenses of captured, 
the important river, which seemed to invite invasion from 
Canada. As the British threatened New Jersey, he moved a portion of 
his army across the river, thus dividing his force. Then Howe closed 
in on Fort Washington and forced it to surrender with 2600 men, the 
best in the American army. Rapidly moving across the Hudson he 
took Fort Lee with a large quantity of supplies, barely giving the garri- 
son opportunity to escape to the western wing near Hackensack. 
The eastern wing, 7000 strong at Newcastle, was com- 
manded by Lee, whom Washington vainly ordered to his The Contest 
aid in New Jersey. Lee was willful and selfish. Second transferred 
in command, he enjoyed the prospect of promotion to *° ^®^ 
first place if calamity befell his superior ; and by his dis- •'®''^®y- 
obedience he was willing to contribute to that end. 

Flushed by success, Howe now believed the war all but ended. His 
opponents were divided and discouraged, and many of their regiments 
anxiously awaited the end of the year when their terms 
of enlistment would expire. All this he well knew from the P^® Retreat 
tories, who were numerous. It seemed easy to complete New Jersey, 
the destruction of a foe thus situated, and that honor he 
awarded to Lord Cornwallis, who with 5000 men moved quickly against 
the 6000 Washington now had at Newark. Under these circumstances, 
battle was impossible, and the campaign resolved itself into an Ameri- 
can retreat. At Brunswick most of the Maryland and New Jersey 
militia marched home, spite of the pleas of their commander, because 
their terms of service had expired. Washington, left with only 3000 
men, fell back rapidly, and December 8 placed his army with the 
baggage on the south side of the Delaware at Trenton. As he trans- 
ferred his last battalions, the British vanguard arrived, but he had se- 
cured all the boats for seventy miles along the river and was safe for 
the time. To congress he appealed for help, urging that militia were 
inadequate, and asking that a continental army be enlisted for the war. 

Meanwhile, to many people, the cause of independence seemed 
doomed. Howe issued a proclamation, offering pardon to those who 
submitted, and 2700 people accepted it, among them the 
president of the New Jersey committee of safety. In ^1^^^^ 
Philadelphia, thirty miles from Trenton, there was great Americans, 
terror. Merchants closed their stores, congress adjourned 
to Baltimore, martial law was established, and the roads were thronged 
with fugitives. In its dismay, congress gave Washington full power 
to carry on the war as he saw fit. 



192 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 

The manner in which he justified their confidence is one of the 
gratifying stories of the war. At Trenton was Colonel Rail with 1400 

men, mostly Hessians, who by committing numerous 
The Battles outrages on the inhabitants had made themselves thor- 
and Prince- ^^g^^Y hated. On Christmas night Washington under- 
ton. took to seize this force. Dividing his army into three 

columns he ordered them across the Delaware to surround 
the enemy's position. Two were turned back by obstacles, but the 
third, with which he himself marched, reached the north bank of the 
river, advanced eight miles through a storm of sleet, seized the only 
road which offered a means of escape, and forced the Hessians to a 
battle in which Rail was killed and 1000 of his men were captured and 
carried safely into Pennsylvania. Immediately recrossing the Dela- 
ware, he again faced the enemy, who concentrated a strong force at 
Trenton and believed they were about to crush their opponents. But 
Washington, leaving his camp fires burning brightly, slipped away 
during the night, passed the British flank, and in the early morning of 
January 3, 1777, defeated a strong column at Princeton. From these 
two victories came a revival of hope, which promoted the enlistment of 
troops, and as the remnant of Lee's army had now joined, the worst of 
the recent danger was passed. Washington manifested his confidence 
by taking position at Morristown, New Jersey, where he was not dis- 
turbed. Howe, on the other hand, did not dare leave his army in 
outposts throughout New Jersey, and that province once more passed 
under American authority. Washington's military prowess has 
sometimes been questioned, and one cannot deny that there were long 
intervals when he seemed to be content to let well enough alone, but 
in the battles of Trenton and Princeton, as in the campaign against 
Yorktown, when spurred by a great necessity, he showed aggressive- 
ness and resourcefulness of the highest order. Frederick the Great 
said that Washington's success from December 25, 1776, to January 
4, 1777, was "the most brilliant" in military history. 

The Campaigns of 1777, PmLADELPHiA and Saratoga 

For a time events had seemed to confirm the hope of the king that 
the war would be short and easy. But the end of the year 1776 

changed the prospect. "All our hopes," said Germain, 
inA^eri^a'^^ the colonial secretary, in 1779, "were blasted by that 

unhappy affair at Trenton." In fact, when spring came 
in 1777, two years after the affair at Lexington, the British held no 
parts of the colonies except New York and Newport, Rhode Island. 
Elsewhere the people went quietly about their business, saw the whig 
politicians call provincial congresses and adopt state constitutions, 
read the laws of the continental congress, and gave a passive obedience 
to the new regime. But the call for soldiers was slightly heeded, 



POPULAR SENTIMENT 



193 



partly because the people were accustomed to look to the states for 
political authority, and had no love for the newborn congress, partly 
because of inherited jealousy of a standing army, and partly because 
there had in the past been so little popular participation in govern- 
ment that the ordinary man felt little responsibility on its account. 
Try as it might, congress could not raise an army. Making allowance 
for the tories and slaves, there were in the thirteen states in 1777 about 
200,000 men of the miHtary age, yet Washington, with power to 
offer as liberal terms as he chose, had in the early spring no more than 




4000 regulars. Besides these, his hope was the militia, which the ex- 
perience of the preceding year taught him to esteem lightly. 

It was a small force to oppose the operations then being planned by 
the British government. Three strong columns were to cooperate in 
seizing the Hudson in order to cut in two the area of re- -o .^. , 
sistance ; one under General Burgoyne was to move from pj^^g j,^„„_ 
Montreal by way of Lake Champlain ; another under St. 
Leger was to march from Oswego through the Mohawk valley, and 
a third, Howe's army, was to advance up the Hudson from New York. 
The three armies were expected to meet at or near Albany. By 
Germain's carelessness, an order to participate in this movement was 
not sent to Howe, who, thinking himself free to fight where he chose, 
decided to take Philadelphia. 



194 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 

Leaving the militia of New England and New York to impede Bur- 
goyne, Washington kept a sharp eye on the force in New York. To his 
astonishment that force first moved to Staten Island, then 
Brandvwine embarked on a great flotilla of 250 vessels. This action 
Washington considered a ruse, but as the ships stood 
southward the American army entered Pennsylvania. After some 
days of anxiety lest Howe, doubling his tracks, should get far up the 
Hudson before the Americans reached New Jersey, Washington at 
last learned that his opponents were at Elkton, at the head of Chesa- 
peake Bay, thirty-five miles southwest of Philadelphia. He moved 
southward immediately to protect the capital, and on September 11 
the two armies faced one another on opposite sides of Brandywine 
Creek. The Americans, including the militia, were 11,000, and the 
British 18,000. Howe used his superior numbers, as at Brooklyn 
Heights. Leaving 5000 men in front of Washington, he marched 
around the American right wing and placed his opponents between 
two fires. Washington was taken by surprise. While the flanking 
movement was being made he gave orders to fall on the British in 
detail. The attack was just beginning when an erroneous dispatch 
arrived, seeming to indicate that Howie's flanking movement was a 
feint. Then followed an hour's hesitation, by which the opportunity 
of defeating a divided foe was lost. The Americans threw themselves 
bravely on the two divisions, and by hard fighting held the field until 
night enabled them to withdraw in safety to Chester, each side losing 
about 1000 men. September 26 the British entered Philadelphia and 
began to fortify it. 

Most of the British army went into camp at Germantown, seven 
miles from Philadelphia, and Washington, hovering in the neighbor- 
hood, determined to surprise it early in the morning of 
Battle of October 4. He now had 9000 continentals to whom recent 
town. campaigning had given the fiber of regulars. The attack 

was made in a dense fog, which made the surprise a success, 
but led to confusion on both sides. But the Americans carried all 
before them and seemed to have won a \dctory, when six British com- 
panies took refuge in the stone house of Chief Justice Chew and of- 
fered such resistance that the attacking line was delayed untfl the re- 
treating regiments could make a new stand. By that time reenforce- 
ments had come up from Philadelphia, and Washington withdrew from 
the battle with a loss of iioo men, while his opponents lost 500. In 
December he went into winter quarters at Valley Forge, where he could 
keep his eye on Philadelphia. 

Burgoyne's campaign was the sequel of the American 

^°^^ expedition against Quebec in 1775. After Montgomery's 

Carleton. death, Arnold remained in command of the invaders and 

contested every foot of the ground over which they fell 

back. Sir Guy Carleton, his opponent and governor of Canada, pressed 



BURGOYNE'S SLOW ADVANCE 195 

him vigorously, and when Howe began his campaign against New York, 
August, 1776, the two forces had reached the northern end of Lake 
Champlain. To hold this lake each side began to construct a fleet of 
small boats. Arnold's squadron was weaker than that of his foe, but 
he directed it with great skill, and though twice defeated, delayed the 
British until early November, when Carleton concluded that it would 
be unwise to continue a progress involving the capture of Ticonderoga 
in the winter. He accordingly withdrew his entire force to Canada. 
Arnold's bold resistance had been of great service ; for had Carleton 
found less opposition he would have reached the Hudson in time to 
join hands with Howe before Washington was able to escape out of 
New Jersey. 

A practical difficulty now arose in regard to the command. Carleton 
ranked Howe in the British army, but the latter had been promised 
a free hand in America. To avoid an unpleasant clash of 
authority the command of the former was, therefore, by co^^nV° 
orders from England limited to Canada, and the conduct 
of the invading operations of 1777 was given to Burgoyne, a man of 
less ability. Carleton could only submit, but it was a bitter pill to 
see 8000 of his best troops march away in June, 1777. Of this force 
675 went with St. Leger, the rest with 1 urgoyne, both columns ac- 
companied by Indians. 

The main body were before Ticonderoga on July i, and St. Clair, 
who commanded there with 3000 men, abandoned the place rather 
than allow himself to be besieged. The Americans with- 
drew in good order, fighting a sharp rear-guard action at j^^^g^^^^ 
Hubbardton. They were in good spirits, and by obstruct- 
ing the roads made the enemy's progress tedious. Boats and supplies 
must be carried overland to Lake George, and from the southern end 
of that body of water by portage to the Hudson, at Fort Edward. It 
was July 29 before the latter place was reached, and another month 
passed before thirty days' rations were transported thither. By that 
time Burgoyne's commissary was so much depleted that he was im- 
pelled to replenish it by a raid in Vermont, then a part of New Hamp- 
shire. Thus was projected Baum's expedition to Bennington. 

Burgoyne had been told that the people of Vermont were loyal, and 
he thought 500 men, all Brunswickers, enough for the task assigned 
to Baum. The event showed how much he was misin- 
formed. The Vermonters rose in great numbers when they Bemdneton 
heard that the Germans were among them. They found 
an excellent leader in John Stark, until recently a colonel under Wash- 
ington, but now without a command on account of the indifference of 
congress to his worth. Placed in command of the New Hampshire 
militia, he raised 800 men and was beyond the mountains before Baum 
knew of his movement. He came upon the Germans at Bennington, 
cleverly surrounded them, and in a vigorous battle on August 16 



196 



THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 





, TICONDEROGA, 




Gates in 
Command 
against Bur 
goyne. 




:-**■ 



^ 



Bennliigton 



killed or captured nearly all. In the moment of victory a second 

body of British came up to reenforce Baum, and they too were 

defeated, the total British loss being 800. 
Burgoyne heard the news with dismay. 

Hard after it came the information that St. 

Leger's expedition through the Mohawk val- 
ley was driven back to Canada. 

Drive^n Back ^^^^ officer had reached Oswego 
safely. Proceeding up the Seneca 

river to Lake Oneida, and thence by a short 

portage, he came to Fort Schuyler, or Stanwix, 

on the upper Mohawk. This post had, to 

his surprise, been recently strengthened, and 

was so well held by a garrison of 750 men 

that St. Leger was obliged to resort to a 

regular siege. By this time a large number 

of settlers, mostly Germans, occupied the 

valley. They were loyal Americans, and flew 

to arms under General Herkimer, who led 800 

of them to the relief of the beleaguered fort. 

At Oriskany they marched into a trap set 

for them by St. Leger. But instead of re- 
treating they leaped behind trees and stones 

and fought so well in the frontier fashion 

that the British were driven back to the 

fort, only to find that during their absence 

the garrison, sallying out of the walls, had 

entered the camp of the besiegers and car- 
ried off enough supplies to enable them to 

protract their defense many days. This 

success aroused enthusiasm in the American 

army on the Hudson, and Arnold, with 2000 

soldiers, was sent to drive off St. Leger. 

That officer was now in extreme danger, and 

withdrew hastily to Lake Ontario, August 22, 

his Indian allies deserting in a body. 

These two successes encouraged the Ameri- 
cans, and militia from New England and New 
York gathered daily at Albany 
and marched up the Hudson to 
meet the invaders. By Septem- 
ber I they were 10,000, and a 
month later 20,000. Massachu- 
setts sent a large number commanded by General Lincoln. At 

first General Schuyler was in chief command, but he was unpopular 

with the New Englanders, and dissension was imminent. To secure 



BURGOYNE DEFEATED 197 

harmony, congress now sent General Gates, formerly an English 
officer who, like Charles Lee, had offered his services early in 
the war and had been made a major general. Like Lee, also, 
he had intrigued against Washington. He was loyal to the cause, but 
incompetent, and the success he now won was chiefly due to his able 
subordinates, Lincoln, Arnold, and Morgan. He placed his army 
across the British line of approach, at Bemis Heights, on the Hudson, 
about twenty-five miles south of Fort Edward. Before it Burgoyne 
appeared September 19, his force reduced to 5000 men 
by recent losses, by desertion, and by the necessity of First and 
leaving garrisons behind him. In front of this position, E^??,'^^ 
at Freeman's Farm, or Stillwater, was fought a very vig- Freeman's 
orous skirmish, in which the British lost nearly 500 men. Farm. 
Then Burgoyne, although his troops were on reduced 
rations, lay inactive for three weeks. October 7 he threw out his right 
wing to ascertain Gates's strength, and the result was another en- 
gagement at Freeman's Farm, the British loss being 600 men, several 
cannon, and much ammunition. Convinced that he could go no 
farther southward, Burgoyne turned about in an indecisive manner and 
came to Saratoga. His position was precarious, for the Americans had 
already appeared in strength on his line of communica- 
tions ; but had he acted with energy after the 7th he might Sun-ender 
have escaped to Fort George without entire defeat. His goyne. 
slow movements enabled his opponents to surround him, 
and at Saratoga, October 17, he surrendered his army, the conditions 
being that the troops should march to Boston, whence they might 
return to England with the understanding that unless they were ex- 
changed they were not to serve again in North America during the war. 
Two weeks before the capitulation Clinton had started from New 
York for Albany with a naval and military force. He took Forts 
Montgomery and Clinton, and a part of his force reached Kingston, 
but at that point it turned back because the channel was too shallow 
for the ships. Thus ended the British campaign on the Hudson. 

Gates's terms at Saratoga were lenient, and were granted because of 
Clinton's demonstration up the Hudson. Though Burgoyne's troops 
could not again serve in America, they might replace 
European garrisons which were sent across the Atlantic, ^^V n Re- 
and as France was now about to join the United States they pudiated. 
might be used against her. These reflections awakened 
keen disappointment in congress and out of it. Demands were made 
for the repudiation of the convention, but the same end was reached in 
a less outspoken manner. Burgoyne fell to wrangling over the quar- 
ters furnished his officers and declared the convention broken. This, it 
was said, indicated that the British themselves would not keep it, 
and it was decided to hold the captives until the agreement was ratified 
by England. When it was discovered that Burgoyne had failed to 



iqs the americax revolutiox 

hand over some cartouch-boxes, congress made it the groimd for openly 
repudiating the terms. Some of the prisoners were exchanged, most 
of the Germans were released to become American citizens, and the 
rest were held imtil the war ended. The British bitterly charged us 
with broken faith. 

The Alix\nce with Fr-\xce 

From the begi n ning of the revolution the Americans looked to France 
for aid, but when in June, 1776, Silas Deane arrived in Paris as an 

American agent he was not received by \'ergennes, the 
Early Aid foreign secretan.'. He found many friends in private cir- 
France. ^^» ^^^ when the news came that independence had been 

declared the attitude of the government changed, although 
open recognition was still carefully withheld. About this time the 
firm of "Hortalez et Cie'' began to sell general merchandise in the 
capital, its largest dealings being with "Timothy Jones," of Bermuda, 
to whom were sold large quantities of ammunition and firearms. 
Those behind the scenes knew that "' Jones "' was in reaHty Silas Deane, 
that the merchant company was Beaumarchais, better known as a 
dramatist, and that most of the money with which '"Jones" settled 
his accounts was derived from secret loans from the kings of France 
and Spain. Each monarch thus advanced a million li\Te5 (8200,000), 
with which Deane pm-chased 30,000 stands of arms, 250 cannon, and 
supplies of clothing. The British ambassador complained of these 
proceedings, but Vergennes put him off with fair words. In the autumn, 
Franklin and Arthur Lee were appointed to aid Deane. Soon after 
his arrival Lee quarreled with Deane and withdrew from Paris in 
anger. Franklin, however, remained, and by his simple manners and 
genuine kindness charmed all Paris. But he could not at that time 
secure from the king the recognition of American independence. 

With the French people he had better success, and the 
Volunteers American cause became ver>- popular in Paris. With the 

young French noblemen it became the fashion of the day 
to offer their services to the struggling .American repubhc. Most of 
them were mere enthusiasts, and their offers were declined ; but one, 
who was accepted, proved a notable exception. The ^larquis of 
Lafayette, ha\Tng come over at his own expense, arrived at Philadel- 
phia with Kalb and twelve other French officers, just before the battle 
of Brand^Tvine. He offered to ser\"e in any capacity ; Congress made 
him a major-general, and the results justified their action. Kalb, 

as well as Pulaski, a Pole, whom Franklin also sent to 
and Others America, proved efficient officers, and both fell in the cause 

they espoused. We must not forget Baron von Steuben, 
a Prussian officer, who also came to help the Americans, and whose 
best ser\-ice was to organize and drill the continental army. 



BELATED CONCESSIONS 199 

In 1777 Vergennes was ready to give open aid to America if Spain 
would do the same. Before he could take the proper steps, news came 
that Howe was in Philadelphia and that Burgoyne had 
taken Ticonderoga, \nth the upper Hudson valley at his ^^^^ °^ 
mercy. Vergennes'senthusiasmsuddenly cooled, and even j^^g_ 
Beaumarchais began to despair. Then came, December 7, 
the story of Burgoyne's defeat. Beaumarchais, beside himself with joy, 
is said to have dislocated his arm in his haste to inform the king. Paris 
rejoiced as though Saratoga had been a French \'ictory. Vergennes 
sent off messengers to ^Madrid urging the king of Spain to recognize 
American independence, and set to work at once on two treaties which, 
signed February 6, 1778, created political and commercial bonds be- 
tween France and the United States. Each nation promised to make 
war on the enemies of the other, while the United States guaranteed 
the sovereignty of the French West Indies, vdih certain pri\ileges in 
.American ports. England and France were at war immediately, 
but Spain held back. She had a new ministry and would not en- 
courage revolution in America ; but in 1779 she declared war on Eng- 
land, not, however, as an ally of the United States. The action of 
France was imdoubtedly due to her desire to weaken England, but it 
is due to Vergennes and Louis X\T to say that they treated the United 
States generously. If they had demanded harder terms, we must have 
accepted them. 

The battle of Saratoga had also its echo in London. Lord North, 
the prime minister, announced, December 10, a forthcoming scheme 
to end the war by conciliation. Two months later the 
plan was revealed, and in March, 1778, parliament ap- q^^^^ 
proved. The coercive acts of parliament were to be compromise, 
repealed, fvdl pardon was to be granted, and America 
was to have all she demanded except independence. Commis- 
sioners of pacification were sent to Philadelphia, but they found 
the .\mericans indifferent. Only British self-confidence could as- 
simie that in this situation the United States would desert 
the newly made French alliance and accept the old position of 
colonies. 

The French alliance came none too soon, for the "winter of 1777-177S 
was a gloomy period for .America . Without fimds congress could do noth- 
ing for the arm}-, which suffered terribly at Valley Forge. 
Food was plentiful in Pennsvlvania, but the farmers would ^°°™^, 
not sell it for the depreciated continental currenc}', al- Retreat, 
though they gave it readily in exchange for British specie 
at Philadelphia. In that city there was a festive season, loyalists 
were numerous, and, Saratoga forgotten for the time being, men 
began to think the continental cause desperate. From these depths 
the public mind was raised by the news that France would help 
v\-ith money, men, and ships. 



200 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 

The spring saw a change in England's military plans. It was de- 
cided to take again the French West Indian islands, which had been 

handed back in 1763, and to carry out that program the 
E acuated ^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ American continent was suspended. At the 

same time Sir William Howe was superseded by Clinton, 
who was ordered to concentrate his army at New York and to abandon 
Philadelphia if necessary. Obeying these orders, he sent off his heavy 
baggage and abundant supplies by water and marched with the army 
northward through New Jersey. Washington followed closely, and 
July 28, 1778, forced him to fight at Monmouth, where the Americans 
seemed to have the advantage. Washington wished Lafayette to 

lead the attack, but Charles Lee, just released from a 
Monmouth British prison in which he had been conspiring to betray 

the Americans, claimed the honor, and was placed in com- 
mand. When the British appeared in front of his position, he gave 
way after very little resistance. Washington, preparing to support 
Lee by an attack elsewhere, learned that the advance was falling back. 
Placing his troops across their way he checked the British advance, 
and with the reformed columns of Lee held the enemy at bay until 
night. Next morning the British were gone and reached New York 
safely. 

While Washington checked the flight of his advance troops he met 
Lee, their commander. Suspecting treachery he broke forth in angry 

reproaches, which posterity has easily forgiven. Lee 

Charles Lee could do nothing less than ask for an investigation, and a 

ismisse court martial suspended him a year for disobedience and 

Army. "misbehavior" before the enemy. During the year he 

sent congress an improper letter, and for that was dis- 
missed. He was a vain and showy man, whose tall talking won 
him much respect when he threw in his fortunes with the Ameri- 
cans. The men who could understand him soon discovered that he 
wished to supplant Washington. 

Minor Events in the North, 17 78-1 782 

Jhe battle of Monmouth was the last general engagement in the 
North, but it was followed by several minor incidents which history 
cannot ignore. One was the operations of a French fleet 
Siege of under Count d'Estaing which arrived at Philadelphia 
iiine days too late to intercept Lord Howe's squadron, 
sent to convoy General Howe's store ships back to New York. 
Prevented from following them by the assurances of the pilots that 
his largest frigates could not enter New York harbor, d'Estaing decided 
to attack Newport, Rhode Island, which the British had held since 
December 6, 1776. He had 4000 French troops on board, and 9000 
Americans, mostly New England militia, were gathered at Providence 



ARNOLD'S DEFECTION 201 

t J cooperate in the attack. As the British had but 6000 men in New- 
port, a great success seemed certain. Misunderstandings occurred 
from the first between the Count and SulUvan, the American com- 
mander, but the French troops were landed, and the initial stages of the 
siege were entered. Then Howe's British fleet appeared and offered 
battle, and the Frenchman, embarking his soldiers, sailed out to meet 
him. As the ships maneuvered for position a storm broke and both 
fleets must look to their safety. D'Estaing went to Boston for re- 
pairs, and his attempt against Newport was not renewed. Meanwhile 
Sullivan had invested the place and carried most of its outworks. He 
and his officers protested against the departure of the French ; and 
when they heard that Clinton was sending a fleet and army to raise the 
siege, they withdrew from Rhode Island lest they be surrounded. 
An irritating controversy arose over the conduct of d'Estaing, and 
Washington, as well as the continental congress, interfered to make 
peace. In November the French fleet went to the West Indies, where 
its operations, though not briUiant, served to draw off part of the 
British forces from New York and left the Americans for a time in 
comparative peace. In 1779 the British army at Newport was with- 
drawn for the campaign against the Carolinas. 

Reduced to inactivity, Clinton was fain to resort to the destruction 
of the towns he could reach by water. In May, 1779, Norfolk and 
Portsmouth, in Virginia, were destroyed, a hundred vessels 
were taken, and 3000 hogsheads of tobacco were carried j^^^^ ^ 
back to New York. In July following, Tryon, command- 
ing a body of tories, raided New Haven, Fairfield, and Norwalk, all 
in Connecticut, leaving smoking ruins behind him. Such operations 
did not promote the conquest of the Americans, and only served to 
increase the horrors of war. In the same year Clinton moved up the 
Hudson and took Stony Point and Verplanck's Point in ^ p^^^^ 
the Highlands. Two months later the former was re- ° ^ 
taken by General Anthony Wayne in a well-planned night attack, 
which greatly enhanced Wayne's reputation. But the Americans 
could not hold the place, and it was reduced to ruins. 

West Point, several miles higher up the river, was the chief reliance 
for keeping back the enemy, and its command was given to Benedict 
Arnold. This pathetic figure now approaches the end of 
a thorny path whose exit was complete calamity. No ^^'^q^^jj* 
man in the army had better reason to complain of his ment. 
treatment. After the death of Montgomery he was the 
life of the stout resistance in Canada, but he was passed 'bver by con- 
gress when it promoted four less deserving brigadiers to the rank of 
major-general. At the time he was being investigated by a court 
martial on charges which were plainly the result of spite and of which 
he was completely exonerated. After that he was made a major- 
general, but was not given the rank to which his former rating entitled 



202 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 

him. In the Saratoga campaign he was the soul of the American 
army, and his leg was shivered as he charged recklessly in the second 
battle of Freeman's Farm. Gates hated him cordially, and Washing- 
ton, too just to ignore his merit, made him commander in Philadelphia, 
after the withdrawal of Howe. Arnold was tactless, and soon quarreled 
with congress, whose former treatment he openly resented. Charges 
were brought against him, but an acquittal was had on all but two, 
and these were so trivial that they should have been ignored. But 
his enemies triumphed, and it was ordered that he be reprimanded. 
Washington, in executing the judgment, made the reprimand a eulogy : 
but Arnold was not pacified. During his residence in Philadelphia 
he had married Margaret Shippen, a noted wit and beauty in tory 
circles ; and an extravagant manner of living had run him into debt. 
In disgust at his treatment by congress he decided to betray the cause 
he served. He applied to Washington for the command of West 
Point, the request was granted, and a bargain was made by which the 
post was to be given up for 10,000 guineas and a brigadier-general's 
commission. 

Major John Andre was Clinton's adjutant. He was young, intelli- 
gent, and socially popular ; but he did not mind playing spider to 

Arnold. While the British army was in Philadelphia 
ArnolV^ he was a friend of Margaret Shippen, and he conducted 

the correspondence by which Arnold was led into mischief. 
September 21, 1780, the two men met near Haverstraw to complete 
the treason. Arnold handed over plans of West Point, with a de- 
scription of its garrison, and gave Andre a pass to return to New York. 
As the latter approached "Sleepy Hollow," near Tarrytown, he was 
stopped and searched by three "skinners," American marauders, who 
found his papers and carried him to the nearest American post. A 
report was sent to Arnold, who fled quickly to the British. Andre was 
tried as a spy. He urged that he was a soldier on regular service and 
demanded to be treated as a prisoner of war ; but the court martial 
held that wearing a disguise and carrying concealed papers fixed his 
status as a spy, and he was executed. Washington would have ex- 
changed him for Arnold, but CHnton felt obliged to protect the traitor 
whom he had led into his present plight. West Point was saved to the 
Americans, but the price promised was paid. Arnold's foolish error 
blasted a brilliant career. Had he retired from the army as a protest 
against his wrongs, the justice of the future would soon have brought 
him vindication. In the British army his position was not pleasant, 
and it was said that just before he died he called for his old American 
uniform, saying, "May God forgive me for ever putting on any 
other." 



GEORGE ROGERS CLARK 203 

The War in the West 

Before the revolution began, hardy settlers had crossed the Alle- 
ghanies from both Virginia and North Carolina. The Indians saw 
their advent with alarm, and in 1774 the settlements of 
Kentucky were ravaged. Governor Dunmore, of Virginia, 1.^°^^ , 
marched against them and forced them to make peace -v^ar." 
after a sharp defeat, the Indians relinquishing their claims 
to Kentucky. This outbreak was known as "Lord Dunmore's War." 
When the colonists began to resist England, both sides sought to 
concihate the savages of the West. The Indians, however, leaned 
toward the stronger side, and with British aid the Cherokees in 1776 
began hostilities. The most exposed part of the frontier 
was the Watauga valley, in North Carolina. The in- 1[?|® 
habitants had warning, and retired safely into stockades, conquered. ' 
North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia sent out 
bodies of militia which ravaged the Indian towns, and the Cherokees 
made peace. For a time the Watauga settlements had relief, but 
Kentucky continued to suffer from the Indians north of the Ohio. 

The British also had influence with the Iroquois, who aided Carleton 
in 1776 and Burgoyne in 1777. After Saratoga, the savages were not 
needed for large military operations on the Canadian border, 
but they were incited to raid the western settlements of .^ wuev 
New York and Pennsylvania. The most important action 
was a raid into the latter state by Colonel John Butler with a force of 
tories and Seneca Indians. They fought and defeated an American 
force near Wilkesbarre, and then devastated the Wyoming valley at 
leisure. Women and children were slain, and the rich valley was left 
desolate. In the same year, 1779, a band similarly composed inflicted 
ruin nearly as complete on Cherry valley, in central New York. A 
retahatory expedition under General Sullivan laid waste 
the Seneca country and reduced the population to a crowd y^u^ 
of starving fugitives ; but their chieftain, Joseph Brant, 
gathered them into a fort at Niagara and continued the raids against 
the settlements. The employment of Indians by the British was 
strongly condemned by the Americans. The practice of paying them 
for scalps only added to the horrors of the war and did not hasten its 
end. Hamilton, British governor of the Northwest, who paid for 
many scalps, was called the "Hair Buyer." 

After 1776 the Kentuckians were not left free from molestation, and 
this led to an act of retaliation which had a vast significance for the 
"Hair Buyer." The stroke was nothing less than the 
conquest of the Northwest, and George Rogers Clark was Expedition, 
the author of the scheme. In January, 1778, he secured 
from Governor Patrick Henry, of Virginia, a commission as lieutenant- 
colonel with authority to raise 350 men for a secret expedition against 



204 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 

the British posts north of the Ohio. In May he set out from Wheeling, 
going down the Ohio to the falls, where Louisville -v^as soon to be 
founded. After waiting here a month the expedition proceeded into 
what is now Illinois, directing its course to the French town of Kas- 
kaskia. The place was taken by surprise and without resistance. 
The inhabitants willingly took the oath of allegiance when told that 
France was now an ally of the United States, and when promised 
religious toleration. The people of Cahokia and Vincennes also sub- 
mitted on the same terms. Thus all the settlements of the Illinois 
country passed into the hands of Clark, who had less than 200 men. 

Hamilton, at Detroit, knew how weak was Clark's resources, and re- 
took Vincennes in December. Feeling perfectly secure, he sent away 

all his troops but 80, and awaited the spring. He under- 
The " Hair estimated the determination of his opponent, who on 
Caphired. February 5 set out for Vincennes with 170 men, some of 

them of French blood. Before him the road, 1 70 miles long, 
ran through a flat region, much of it covered by water. Around 
Vincennes the country was a shallow lake through which the com- 
mand waded, sometimes up to the neck. To add to their sufferings, 
their provisions gave out, but luck sent them a deer, and three 
days later they captured an Indian canoe with some food in it. Feb- 
ruary 24 Clark came to Vincennes and invested the fort. Hamilton 
was completely surprised and next day surrendered. There was great 
joy in the western settlements when news came that "the Hair Buyer" 
was taken and sent to Virginia, where he was kept in close confinement. 

The western country was organized as Illinois county, 
Illinois Virginia. The French settlements remained under Ameri- 

°"° ^' can protection until the end of the war, but Detroit con- 

tinued in British hands, and from it went forth many Indian raids. 
Clark, now a brigadier-general, was anxious to take it, but was not 
given the requisite means. 

The Navy in the Revolution 

England's naval superiority gave the United States little opportu- 
nity for achievements at sea ; but small cruisers well commanded 

might inflict severe loss on British merchantmen, and 
Small privateers might operate successfully. In December, 

Privateers. i775> congress ordered thirteen small men-of-war, and 

before the end of the conflict forty-three others had been 
placed on the ocean. Their average number of guns was twenty. 
Many of these ships were captured before they did serious damage 
to the enemy. Besides the continental ships, war vessels were owned 
by all the states except New Jersey and Delaware, but most of the 
state navies were for harbor defense. The ill disguised friendship 
of France early enabled us to use her harbors for the sale of prizes, 



JOHN PAUL JONES 205 

and several cruisers as well as many privateers operated from that 
safe base. Fitted out and furnished with a mongrel crew, such a ship 
would intercept British vessels off the French coast, or in the channel, 
or range along the British shore itself. Great Britain protested vigor- 
ously to France against the abuse of neutrality. Sometimes her com- 
plaints were heard and the American ships were warned to leave ; 
but the Americans invariably came back, and others followed their 
example. When the war had gone on a year London merchants 
estimated their actual losses at £1,800,000, besides having to meet a 
great enhancement of freights and insurance. After the French 
alliance was made the profits from seizing British ships must be shared 
with Frenchmen. New England sent out most of the privateers, and 
her citizens reaped vast profits from the business. 

Of all our naval achievements during the revolution the most not- 
able are associated with the name of John Paul Jones. Scotch by 
birth and christened John Paul, he made several voyages 
to Virginia, where his brother was settled. In 1773 this T°jjgg *" 
brother died, and John Paul inherited his property. About 
this time he changed his name, taking that of his friend Willie Jones 
of Halifax, who was probably that Willie Jones of Halifax, North 
Carolina, who led the radical element in that colony in the days of 
revolution. In December, 1775, he was appointed a lieutenant in 
the infant navy and hoisted the first flag on a regularly commissioned 
American war vessel. A year later he was a captain, and in one ship 
after another displayed great activity and took many prizes. In one 
of them, the Ranger, in 1778 he cruised in the Irish Sea, entered by 
night the harbor of Whitehaven, and captured a sloop-of-war of twenty 
guns. This showed him what could be done by a daring man with a 
small squadron. By much entreaty he at last got from 
the French king four ships, which, added to one of his own, gauadron 
made a squadron to be reckoned with. The largest, the 
Bon Homme Richard, a converted Indiaman, carried 44 guns. Another, 
the Pallas carried 30, and the rest carried 36, 18, and 12 respectively. 
The crew was largely European, but all the ships flew the American flag. 

August 14, 1779, the squadron began its memorable voyage. Pass- 
ing along the west coast of Ireland and Scotland, destroying many 
prizes, it came off the east coast of Scotland, where a stonu frustrated 
Jones's plan to destroy the shipping in Leith harbor. September 23, 
near Hull, he sighted forty merchantmen convoyed by the 
Serapis, mounting 50 guns, and the Countess of Scarborough, ?®^^** °^. 
28 guns. Jones gave chase and selected the Serapis as ^''''pi^- 

his antagonist. He ordered his other ships to do the same, but only 
the Pallas obeyed, her captain giving his attention to the Scarborough. 
The engagement resolved itself into a conflict between the Serapis 
and the Bon Homme Richard. At the first fire two of the American 
guns burst, and Jones, realizing his inferiority in that line determined 



2o6 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 

to close and board. At his first attempt the ships did not come 
alongside. Pearson, commanding the Serapis, called out to ask if 
the Richard had struck her colors, and Jones's answer rang back : 
"I have not yet begun to fight." A second attempt to come along- 
side proved successful, and Jones lashed the two ships together 
with his own hands. Then followed a severe hand to hand struggle 
which cleared the deck of the Serapis of defenders. After this had 
gone on for two hours, hand grenades fired the British ship and 
she was forced to strike. Jones's own ship had six feet of water 
in the hold and was on fire. She sank two days later. The Serapis 
and the Scarborough were carried into port as prizes. Jones estab- 
lished the tradition for heroism in the American navy. He was per- 
sonally eccentric, and congress was slow in recognizing his services. 

The participation of France in the war relieved the United States 
of the necessity of contending against England by sea. It also 

promoted the formation of the league of Northern powers 
The League f^j. <' armed neutrality." England used her immense 
Neutrality." i^^val power with little regard to the interests of other 

nations. She impressed seamen and seized neutral 
goods not contraband as freely as she found them on foreign ships. 
The other nations were equally interested in the policy that "free 
ships malie free goods," except as regards contraband articles. 
This principle was asserted before our revolution by individual 
writers and even by states, but it had not the force behind it necessary 
to secure its acceptance. In 1778 France, whose goods were now 
being seized, asked Russia to head a movement for united protest. 
The request was accepted, and out of it proceeded the "Armed Neu- 
trality" agreement, signed at first by Russia, Sweden, and Denmark, 
but later accepted by Prussia, the Netherlands, the German Empire, 
Portugal, Naples, Turkey, and the United States. The acceptance 
of the league by the Netherlands led England to make war on that 
power, although another reason was given for this breach of an ancient 
friendship. Thus England's war against the colonies had enlarged 
its scope until she saw arrayed against her, besides t-he colonies them- 
selves, France, Spain, and Holland. 

The Campaign in the South, i 778-1 781 

Having failed to conquer the North, the British concluded to make 
their next attempt in the South. They were told that the interior 

parts, inhabited by small farmers who had not keenly felt 
British the restrictions on commerce, were largely loyal, and would 

change welcome the arrival of a force strong enough to afford 

Attack. them protection. The plan adopted was to begin with 

Georgia, the weakest of the Southern states, and to roll up 
the South from that point. Accordingly, in December, 1778, the work 



RESTORING AUTHORITY IN THE SOUTH 207 

began with the seizure of Savannah, from which place strong columns 
proceeded to occupy the interior. To deal with the situation General 
Lincoln was sent to assume command in the South. He found the 
British general, Prevost, in the act of subduing South Carolina and 
was able to drive him away from the vicinity of Charleston. Then 
d'Estaing appeared off the coast, and a cooperative attack on Savannah 
was begun. Here, as at Newport, the French admiral was soon out 
of sympathy with the American general, and sailed away, alleging 
that he could not expose his ships to the autumn storms of a dangerous 
coast. As soon as he was gone Clinton came south with a strong 
fleet and an army of 7000 men and began to besiege Charleston. 
Lincoln unwisely allowed himself to be shut up in the city, 
and in May, 1780, was forced to surrender with 5000 xaken^ "'^ 
men. South Carolina was now at the mercy of the enemy, 
who marched at will through the interior. The governor of the 
state fled to Philadelphia to implore aid from congress, and no Ameri- 
can army worthy of the name existed in the state. A mere remnant 
was in the field under Colonel Buford, but Tarleton's Legion over- 
whelmed it at Waxhaw. Some of the Americans escaped, but 500 
asked for quarter. For reply, Tarleton fell on them with sabers and 
pistols, leaving 113 dead and 150 so badly wounded that they could 
not be moved. This harsh affair and other less notable examples of 
British cruelty cowed the people. But much resentment was also 
stimulated, and the result was the organization of several partisan 
bands which kept up a vigilant warfare against such small detach- 
ments of the enemy as fortune sent their way. Of the partisan leaders 
the most famous were Sumter, Marion, Pickens, Clarke, and Davie, 
the last being of North Carolina. Clinton did not esteem these 
bands highly. He thought the province well reconquered, and early 
in June returned to New York, leaving Cornwallis with 
5000 men to hold what had been taken and to extend the g^^^^" 
conquest into North Carolina. The British were pleased. 
At the end of four years' fighting, one colony, Georgia, had been 
forced to receive her repudiated royal governor, and in another the 
revolutionary government had collapsed. 

To save the situation, congress sent General Gates into the South. 
The appointment was against the advice of Washington, who suggested 
Greene; but the "hero of Saratoga" was still popular. 
Charles Lee, who knew him well, offered this advice: camden* 
"Take care that your Northern laurels do not change 
to Southern willows." Gates had 3000 troops, half of them militia, 
and in August attacked Camden, an important position in central 
South Carolina held by Lord Rawdon. Had he moved promptly, 
he might have won the fight, for his force was the stronger; but by 
delaying he allowed Cornwallis to arrive with reenforcements, and the 
battle, fought August 16, was a crushing defeat. The militia, from 



2o8 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 

Virginia and North Carolina, fled at the first attack, and the regulars 
were surrounded and badly cut to pieces, while Kalb, who fought 
bravely, was killed. The total American loss was 2000 killed, wounded, 
and captured; that of the British was 300. Gates rode sixty miles 
that summer's day, and did not cease his flight until in four days 
he reached Hillsborough, North Carolina, 180 miles from the scene 
of his defeat. He tried to call out more militia to oppose the enemy, 
but his day was past. December 2, he was succeeded by General 
Greene. 

Before that time, the British had met their first check in the South, 
at King's Mountain, October 7, 1780. After Camden, Cornwallis 

moved into North Carolina, gathering food and horses. 
Battle of jjg halted at Charlotte, — where the Mecklenburg Reso- 
Mountain. l^tions of May 31, 1775, were adopted, — while Major 

Ferguson, with 1000 tories, scoured the country to the 
west, collecting supplies and enlisting recruits ; for that country was 
strongly loyal. The whigs fled before him, and alarm spread even 
to the transmontane settlements of Watauga and Kentucky. From 
this distant region, bands of mounted men, under leaders of their 
own choosing, marched eastward, September 26, to bag Ferguson. 
Having crossed the mountains, they were joined by 510 North Caro- 
linians and 400 South Carolinians, a total force of 1800. Ferguson 
heard of their approach and moved toward Charlotte. Thirty-five 
miles from that place, he came to King's Mountain, the northern 
end of which is cut by the state line. It is a hill sixty feet high, 
flat at the top, a third of a mile long, and Ferguson believed it 
impregnable. On its top he placed his 900 men and awaited 
attack. The whigs were riding hard behind, and October 7, a 
picked band of the best mounted arrived at the hill, surrounded its 
base, and began a vigorous attack. On alternate sides they 
charged up the slopes and then fell back, using whatever cover 
they could find. Early in the fight, Ferguson was killed, and at 
the end of an hour the white flag was raised: 700 survivors surren- 
dered; the rest were slain. It was a small battle, reckoned by the 
numbers engaged ; but it was very important. It forced Cornwallis 
back into South Carolina, it gave courage to the whigs in the 
Carolinas, and it checked the advance of the British until Greene 
could arrive and organize his defense. It marked the change of 
the tide in the South. 

Greene, now in command of the American army, had 2300 men, 
half of them regulars. Cornwallis outnumbered him, and all his 

troops were trained soldiers. Greene, therefore, did not 
Cow ^ens attack, but in his camp at Cheraw awaited the purpose 

of his opponents. To encourage the whigs west of him, he 
threw out General Morgan with 600 men to threaten the British post 
at Ninety-six. This divided the American army, and Cornwallis, 




THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR IN THE SOUTH 



ACROSS NORTH CAROLINA 209 

at Winnsboro, tried to get between the two wings. He sent Tarleton 
to drive Morgan off to the Northwest, while he himself moved north- 
ward. Morgan was an excellent officer and was not to be caught 
napping. He had recently been joined by Pickens with several 
hundred men, and fell back rapidly. But January 17, he offered 
battle at Cowpens. Tarleton's troopers were exhausted by a five 
hours' march, but they charged impetuously, thinking the Americans 
would flee before them. Morgan's army was drawn up in three lines, 
the first a body of skirmishers who were ordered to begin firing when 
the enemy was at fifty yards and to fall back on the second line, 
composed of 270 militiamen under Pickens. This line was to await 
the approach of the British, fire two volleys, and then fall back to 
the third line, which contained 290 Maryland regulars, two companies 
of Virginia militia, and a company of Georgians. Morgan had a 
total force of 940, and Tarleton had 11 50. 

When the first and second lines began to fall back as ordered, the 
British believed the victory won and advanced in disorder. To 
their surprise they found the third line in good formation 
and resisting them hotly. Thrown into disorder, they ^efe^ated 
sought to restore a regular line under a rain of bullets, 
when Pickens's men came up on their left flank, while a small 
body of cavalry, hitherto out of sight, came up on their right. Finding 
themselves surrounded, 600 troopers threw down their arms after 
184 had been killed or wounded. The Americans also took some 
important stores, and their loss was 72 killed or wounded. The battle 
had two important effects : it showed that the Americans could 
fight effectively when well led, and it nettled Cornwallis and induced 
him to march far astray into North Carolina in an unwise effort to 
repay on Morgan the defeat of Tarleton. 

The situation was now critical for the Americans, since 125 miles 
separated Greene and Morgan, and Cornwallis was between them, 
about fifty miles from the latter. Operations resolved themselves 
into a race across North Carolina, the two American wings ever 
drawing closer together and the British commander bending every 
effort to crush Morgan while still detached. Greene knew the danger, 
and, sending the left wing northward, rode across the intervening 
country and joined the right wing January 30. Morgan was a 
soldier by instinct, and his alertness now saved the day. He beat 
Tarleton at Cowpens in the forenoon and began his retreat in the 
afternoon of January 17. Seven days later he crossed the Catawba. 
Cornwallis was then only twenty miles behind, but he had to halt 
two days to collect supplies, and when he carrie to the Catawba, 
floods had raised the water so high that he must wait five days before 
he could cross. Fifty miles to the northeast is the Yadkin, which 
Greene, now in command, crossed February 3, Cornwallis coming up 
in time to seize a few of his wagons ; but here again the rising of the 



2IO THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 

river gave the Americans an advantage. At Guilford Court House 
their two wings united; but Greene did not feel strong enough to 
risk a battle, and marched for the Dan river, which he reached safely. 
Meanwhile, militia from North Carolina and Virginia had been sent 
to him, and with his army raised to 4400 men he recrossed the Dan 
and offered battle at Guilford Court House. Cornwallis's force was 
only 2200, but it was composed of regulars. 

March 15, 1781, the two armies came to blows. The' Americans 
were in three lines, with intervals of 300 yards. The first was composed 

of North Carolina militia, the second of Virginia militia, 
Battle of 2Lnd the third of the continentals, in numbers 4400. On 
Court°'^ either flank was a small body of cavalry. The first was 

House. ordered to fire two volleys and retire behind the third 

line ; but at sight of the British it fired only a partial 
volley and iied. A few of these men, however, joined other bodies 
of troops and fought through the battle. The second line gave way 
before a bayonet charge, but did not leave the field. Against the third 
line, Cornwallis found it necessary to put forth his best efforts. He 
was at first driven back, but rallied his troops for a desperate attack, 
before which Greene withdrew in good order, but with the loss of his 
artillery. The Americans lost 1307, including the 1046 militia who 
dispersed to their homes. The British lost 532, and, after vainly 
waiting several days to see if the inhabitants would come to the 
standard, fell back to Wilmington, where they found a fleet with 
supplies. Greene followed for a while, offering battle, but when 
Cornwallis's destination became evident, he turned against the interior 
posts of South Carolina. The good generalship of Greene and Morgan, 
the long and tiresome marches in the North Carolina forests, and the 
unwillingness of the inhabitants to join the British, had shown here, 
as formerly in New Jersey, that the British could not expect to recover 
any other part of the country than that which they held by actual 
occupation. 

News that Cornwallis was sent back to his ships at Wilmington, 
and that Greene was coming to drive Lord Rawdon out of the interior 

of South Carolina, aroused the American spirit in that 
Greene in state. It brought grave alarm to Rawdon, commanding 
Carolina. ^^ South Carolina, who was at Camden with 1400 men, 

while small garrisons held Ninety-six and other posts. 
Greene proposed to strike at Camden first, and ordered a South 
Carolina force under Marion, Sumter, and Lee to cut the communi- 
cations between that place and Charleston and join him for the 
final stroke. Meanwhile, he took up his position at Hobkirk's Hill, 
two miles from Camden. Rawdon dared not let the two American 
divisions unite, and marched out to crush Greene, March 25. Greene 
awaited the attack, but was driven from his position after a sharp 
engagement. His army, however, was still intact, and Rawdon, 



CORNWALLIS IN VIRGINIA 211 

after burning Camden, fell back to Monck's Corners, 30 miles from 
Charleston. Post after post was now retaken, until at last only 
Ninety-six held out in the western counties. Greene besieged it so 
closely that Rawdon with two new regiments, just landed 
at Charleston, marched to relieve it. Greene raised the Hg^idrk^'s 
siege and eluded his enemy, who destroyed Ninety-six rather ^^ 
than undertake to defend it. The British power was now 
driven back toward the coast as far as Orangeburg, and against this 
Greene, his army recruited to 2600, marched late in August, 1781. 
Stewart, the commander, fell back, but was overtaken at Eutaw 
Springs, September 8. Greene attacked and seemed to have the 
victory, but Stewart rallied his troops at a brick house and drove the 
Americans from the field ; but he was forced to retire, with a loss of 
700, to Charleston. In Georgia a similar movement had 
resulted in driving the British into Savannah. In General British 
Greene's nine months' warfare in the South, he fought four ^"c^^j.^^g*i^ 
important battles, lost them all, and yet gained, in the ton and 
long run, all the results of victory. This singular fact Savannah, 
was due to his steady self-control and his ability to 
bring his army out of a repulse without demoralization. 

While Greene's work thus progressed, the army which he declined 
to follow to Wilmington was approaching its doom in Virginia. Corn- 
wallis left the Cape Fear, April 25, and, marching leisurely 
through eastern North Carolina, reached Petersburg, jn^virgtnia. 
Virginia, May 20. Here he found over 3000 British 
troops under Arnold, who for five months had marched at will through 
the region adjacent to the James river. Richmond and Manchester 
had been burned, and Portsmouth had been fortified as a base of 
operations. Harrying Virginia, however, did not secure its submis- 
sion. When the redcoats had gone, the people resumed their former 
defiance. At Petersburg Cornwallis superseded Arnold, and at the 
head of 5000 troops turned toward Richmond, where Lafayette, 
commanding the American forces, lay with half as many troops. 
The British general must have felt that the province was nearly 
conquered, since it had in the field to oppose him, at the end of a 
five months' campaign, in its very center, no more than 2500 men. 
It was, in fact, long marches rather than men and muskets that 
put an end to the British power in America. 

Lafayette left Richmond as the enemy approached, and Cornwallis 
sent Tarleton to break up the legislature at Charlottesville. The 
task was accomplished brilliantly, and Governor Jefferson barely 
escaped from his residence at Monticello ere it was surrounded by 
the British troopers. Cornwallis, meanwhile, continued to chase 
Lafayette in the region north of Richmond. Convinced at last that 
the pursuit was useless, he withdrew to Portsmouth, and in August 
moved his base to Yorktown, which he fortified. With him were 



212 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 

7000 men. Lafayette, with his forces reenforced to 3500, was between 
Yorktown and Richmond. 

At this time Washington, with about 6000 men, lay watching Clinton 
in New York, and Rochambeau, with 5000, was at Newport. About 
the time that Cornwallis moved to Yorktown came a 
Cornw IS ig|-j-gj. from Count de Grasse in the West Indies offering 
the cooperation of his neet during the summer. Here was 
a brilliant opportunity, and Washington seized it. De Grasse was 
requested to go to the Chesapeake, blockade Cornwallis, and drive 
off a relieving squadron ; Rochambeau, by orders of his own govern- 
ment under the command of Washington, was brought to New York, 
where, by feigned activity, Clinton was made to believe that he was to 
be besieged ; and finally, with admirable celerity, a combined American 
and French force numbering 6000 was moved to the head of Chesa- 
peake Bay and thence by water to the James river, where it landed, 
and, joined by Lafayette, instituted the siege of Yorktown, September 
2, 1 781. To his great contentment Washington found that De Grasse 
was already at hand and that the fleet had brought 3000 additional 
French troops who were at his disposal. Thus Cornwallis's 7500 
men in Yorktown were surrounded by 16,000 enemies, of whom 7800 
were French regulars. 

Clinton, alarmed for Cornwallis's fate, sent Arnold with 2000 men 
to raid New London, hoping thereby to draw Washington from Vir- 
ginia. It was the region in which Arnold was born, 
Arnold at ^^^ j^^ ^^jj ^^^ spare it. A part of New London and 
London. thirteen ships were burned. Fort Griswold, on the other 
side of the river, held off a storming column until resistance 
was impossible. When it was taken, Colonel Ledyard, in command, 
and nearly a hundred of his men were cut down in cold blood. But 
Arnold was unable to penetrate further into Connecticut and returned 
to New York, his ships laden with spoils. Clinton also sought to 
aid Cornwallis by sea. Admiral Graves, with five ships, sailed for the 
Chesapeake. Within the capes was De Grasse, who came out and gave 
battle so vigorously that Graves returned to New York much disabled. 
Another expedition for the relief of Yorktown was fitted out at New 
York, but it sailed too late to be of service to Cornwallis. 

Meantime, the siege went on vigorously. The Americans and 
French seized the high ground around Yorktown, and their first 
line, along the entire British front, was completed by 
Y(M-ktown September 29. Immediately a first parallel was begun, 
and then a second, which by October 12 brought the 
besiegers to within 300 yards of the British lines. Two redoubts 
stood in their way. Since they commanded his own lines, Cornwallis 
would not abandon them, and until they were taken, the American 
lines could not be advanced. They must, therefore, be stormed, and 
the task was divided between the French and the American troops. 



CORNWALLIS TAKEN 



213 



October 14, in the night, a French detachment under Colonel Deux- 
Ponts carried one, and an American force under Colonel Alexander 
Hamilton carried the other. Cornwallis's defenses were now at the 
mercy of his opponents, and he tried to escape across the river to 
Gloucester ; but a storm blew his boats down the stream after only 
a portion of his force had crossed. His defenses crumbling under the 
hot American fire, he could resist no longer, and on the 17th raised a 
white flag and accepted Washington's terms. October iq, the sur- 
render was signed, the land forces becoming prisoners to the United 



THE SIEGE OF 

TOKKTOWN 




AM ERICAN FORCES 



States and the naval forces prisoners to France. The total number 
surrendered, including seamen, was 8000, and 580 of the British had 
been killed or wounded in the siege. The combined French and 
American loss was 274. At the moment of surrender 
Cornwallis pleaded illness and sent his sword by General 
O'Hara. By Washington's direction it was received 
by General Lincoln, who had been forced to surrender 
Charleston, and was by him handed back to O'Hara. 

After Yorktown the military history of the war is of slight interest. 
Both sides realized that the struggle must end with victory for the 
Americans. After six years' fighting and at great expense, 
England had proved her inability to subdue the country, ^j^" ^^^ 
Each great expedition into the interior became a failure 
when deprived of succor from the coast ; and such would be the result 
indefinitely. In confession of her failure, all the Southern posts 
were abandoned, one after the other, — Wilmington in January, Savan- 



Cornwallis 
Surrenders, 
October 19, 
1781. 



214 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 

nah in July, and Charleston in December, 1782. In New York 
Clinton awaited the result of peace negotiations, which were already 
begun. 

The Treaty of Peace 

The surrender of Cornwallis broke the English resistance. Before 
it occurred, the English nation was tired of a war which only accumu- 
lated debt without winning victories. March 5, 1782, 
Beaten^^ parliament passed a bill to enable the king to make peace. 
Fifteen days later Lord North resigned, and the whigs, 
under the leadership of Rockingham, formed a new ministry, with the 
understanding that American independence should be acknowledged. 
It was a bitter pill for the king, whose plans for a personally directed 
ministry was staked on the issue of the war. That he had lost was 
the only grain of comfort a discerning Englishman could find in the 
situation. In July, Rockingham died and Shelburne became prime 
minister, but the policy of peace was not changed. 

After some preliminary inquiries in reference to the terms likely 

to be demanded, negotiations began at Paris in the summer of 1782. 

To Franklin, our minister to France, were added, as Ameri- 

w!.„f,T" can negotiators, John Jay, who for a long time had been 

missioners. r . , ®, 1 • • 1 r^ • 1 n r 

fruitlessly seekmg to mduce Spam to become an ally of 

the United States ; John Adams, minister to Holland ; and Henry 
Laurens, a prisoner in England until the negotiations were nearly 
completed. Great Britain was represented by Oswald, a Scotch 
merchant who was in close communication with Shelburne. 

The American commissioners were instructed to proceed in open 
cooperation with France, but Jay satisfied himself that Vergennes, 
directing the policy of France, would sacrifice the interests 
Separate q( ^}^g United States, and he began to favor a separate 
wUh" '^ ^°^^ treaty with England. Personally, Vergennes seems to 
England. have been disinterested, but he was under obligations to 
Spain, who feared to enhance the power of the new re- 
public in the West. In September came from him an informal propo- 
sition that the region south of the Ohio be set aside for the Indians, 
part of it under the protection of Spain and part under that of the 
United States. At the same time it was intimated that at the conclu- 
sion of peace, France would support England's claim to the territory 
north of the Ohio. This scheme, if adopted, would leave the United 
States merely a seacoast power. If it should come before a conference 
composed of all the parties to the war, it could not fail to have the 
support of Spain and England, and, with France's additional advocacy, 
must be adopted. Franklin trusted Vergennes, but the facts of the 
case, ably set forth by Jay, induced him to consent to make a separate 
arrangement with England, which was pointedly against the instruc- 
tions of the American commissioners. An intermediary was sent to 



TERMS OF THE TREATY 215 

England, where the ministry, glad to settle the difficulty with one 
power so that they might be the more free to deal with the others, 
fell in with the suggestion, and on that basis negotiations proceeded 
smoothly. 

Vergennes's conduct has occasioned much discussion. Some 
persons have supposed that he wished to keep America dependent 
on France, others that he acted in good faith and was unjustly sus- 
pected by Jay and Adams. He undoubtedly hoped that 
Louisiana would some day come back to France, and this ^ nT""!^^ ^ 
fact has suggested that he wished to keep the United States 
out of the Mississippi Valley in order that it might be more easily 
secured by France. The theory, however, does not explain why he 
should have been willing to enhance the power of England in the north- 
ern part of the valley. Probably the most acceptable explanation is 
that he cared little about the disposition of the interior, and merely 
accepted the proposed arrangement to please Spain, to whose interest 
alone it was that England should have the Northwest ; Vergennes's 
indifference in the matter is shown by his calm acquiescence when in 
December he learned from Franklin that the American commis- 
sioners, on November 30, had concluded a separate treaty with Eng- 
land to be effective when peace should have been made between 
France and England. 

This treaty, after recognizing the independence of the United States 
dealt with four principal heads, each of which had been fully discussed. 
The boundary was all we could have desired. On the 
northeast it ran up the St. Croix river to the source, J^g^rgat 
north to the highlands separating the tributaries of the 
St. Lawrence from the streams flowing into the Atlantic, thence with 
the highlands to the forty-fifth parallel, and along that to the St. 
Lawrence. It was then to pass along the middle of rivers . 

and lakes to the northwest corner of the Lake of the °"" ^"^^* 
Woods and thence due west to the Mississippi, down which it went 
to the thirty-first parallel and along that to the Chattahoochee, thence 
southward to the source of the Flint, whence it ran in a straight 
line to the mouth of the St. Mary's, and thence to the Atlantic. The 
British posts within this line were to be given up as soon as possi- 
ble. A secret clause provided that if in the general peace England 
retained West Florida, its northern boundary should be a line from the 
mouth of the Yazoo east to the Appalachicola. The navigation of 
the Mississippi was to be open to both nations. No arrangements 
were made for running the boundary line, and as geographical knowl- 
edge was then imperfect, trouble occurred when the succeeding genera- 
tion came to interpret that part of the treaty which referred to the 
northeastern and the northwestern boundaries. 

The Americans were anxious that the New Englanders should 
continue to have their former facilities in the fisheries, and after much 



2i6 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 

difficulty it was agreed that the Americans might fish on the Banks 
of Newfoundland and wherever else they had been in the habit of fish- 
ing, and that they might land and cure fish in any unin- 
Fisheries habited parts of Nova Scotia, Labrador, and the Magdalen 
Islands, but not in Newfoundland. For this concession, so 
important to New England, Adams's pertinacity was chiefly responsible. 
On boundaries and fisheries, the treaty thus favored the United 
States. On the two other important points of discussion, the pay- 
ment of British debts and compensation of the loyalists 
British it ought, thought the British commissioners, to favor 

Debts and England. But their contention was vigorously resisted, 
tion t^ the " Franklin thought the debts were properly canceled, be- 
Loyalists. cause parliament, by closing the American ports and 
inflicting the horrors of war, had destroyed the power of 
the debtors to pay these obligations. Adams and Jay were anxious 
to preserve the credit of Americans, and the demands of the British 
were accepted, at least negatively. It was agreed that no legal im- 
pediment should be placed in the way of the payment of any debts 
owed by American to British subjects. As to compensating the loyal- 
ists, the commissioners held out a long time. King and ministers 
were insistent ; for they believed that England was in honor bound to 
succor those whose fortunes had been seized because they were true 
to the crown. The Americans were equally unyielding, because they 
looked on the loyalists as wicked conspirators, authors of much blood- 
shed, and proper victims of the popular wrath. In one of the dis- 
cussions of the subject, the American commissioners said that congress 
could not order a state to repeal its confiscation laws, and that the 
limit of its authority was to recommend a repeal. The English com- 
missioners, anxious to close the negotiations, caught at this expression, 
and it was agreed that congress would make the desired recommenda- 
tion. The result was a double interpretation. Englishmen, under 
the necessity of defending the treaty, assured the public that the ad- 
vice of congress would be received by the states as binding. The 
American commissioners authorized no such impression. When, as 
later happened, the states paid no attention to the advice of congress, 
the British public charged the United States with breach of faith. 

When this preliminary treaty was announced in parliament, there 
was an outburst of anger which produced a change of ministry. Hart- 
ley was sent to Paris to replace Oswald, and he was ordered 
A General to make better terms. He did his best, but the American 
s'^^r^'b commissioners would not give more than they had already 
3. 1783. promised, and September 3, 1783, when a general peace was 

signed by all parties to the war, the treaty completed on 
November 30, 1782, was accepted as defining the political relations 
between England and her former colonies. It did not deal with com- 
mercial matters, a subject reserved for much irritating discussion in 
the future. 



POWER OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 217 



Civil Progress during the Revolution 

The continental congress was a revolutionary body, and derived 
its authority from the success of the revolution. Since the Articles 
of Confederation were not adopted until 1781 the war was 
all but won under the sole direction of this body. It J^^ Author- 
was composed of delegates chosen and paid by the states, continental 
and its votes were generally in accordance with instruc- Congress, 
tions from the states. It did not levy taxes, direct or 
indirect, but merely made requisitions on the states for funds needed. 
It was little more than a convention of ambassadors from states acting 
together in a league or confederacy. This loose form of union was 
only slightly strengthened by the Articles of Confederation (see page 
238). So weak a congress inevitably encountered many difficulties. 
It always lacked money and was forced to borrow at home and 
abroad and to issue paper currency which eventually became 
worthless. 

The congress realized its inherent weakness and became so accus- 
tomed to it that it almost ceased to struggle against fate. It was 
badly organized, though it is difficult to see how a body 
with no more power to make itself obeyed could have pre- „" coner'ess 
pared a better organization. Each state had a vote, each 
was jealous of its own interests, and the defection of any one would 
have been a serious calamity to the common cause. Nearly every 
vote on a debatable question resulted in compromise, or in a decision 
to do nothing. Under these circumstances the personnel of congress 
deteriorated ; for the capable men preferred to serve the states rather 
than continue to sit in the body of do-nothings in Philadelphia. 

The state governments varied in character in accordance with local 
conditions, but in New England they were more democratic than 
elsewhere. Thus, in New England, the executive was 
chosen by the voters, in New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, "^^^ 
Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia by one or both houses . state**^ 
of the legislature, in Pennsylvania by a council chosen by Government 
the electors, and in New York by the freeholders worth 
£100 or more. No state had universal manhood suffrage. Three, 
New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Georgia, required a voter to be 
a taxpayer ; other states had a property qualification. The manner 
in which the royal governors had interfered in politics, proroguing 
assemblies, deferring elections, and continuing in existence houses 
which did their will, had created by reaction a strong love of frequent 
elections. Accordingly in nine states the governor was to be elected 
annually, in New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware triennally, and 
in South Carolina biennially. In six states both houses of the as- 
sembly were to be elected annually, and in two more, Connecticut 



2i8 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 

and Rhode Island, the lower house was to be chosen semi-annually. 
South Carolina elected assemblies biennially, and the other states. 
New York, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia elected the lower houses 
annually, and the upper houses for longer terms. 

In the beginning of the revolution little was said about sovereignty. 
The common danger was the great fact of the time, and men were 

chiefly concerned about how to secure enough union to 
eientv °^^'^' ™^^^ ^^ effectively. But as time passed, and the central 

power became more and more a fact, and as a group of 
leaders continually urged that it ought to exercise many of the powers 
then exercised by the states, a disposition was manifest to define 
more closely the powers of the states. Thus arose the contention 
that sovereignty rested with states. It was supported by the logic 
of the situation. Far larger numbers of people loved the states 
than loved the central power. The politicians of the day had been 
bred under a system of state politics, and these politicians not only 
controlled the states, but they made up the very membership of the 
continental congress. The result was seen in the committee of con- 
gress which prepared the Articles of Confederation. They voted down 
every effort of a few enlightened men to establish a central government 
with vital control of taxation, and devised a confederacy without the 
right to make its ordinary laws respected. Thus the belief in state 
sovereignty got a strong support in the day. We shall soon see that 
its inherent practical weakness proved its own undoing. 

The state constitutions usually contained bills of rights; for it 
was to the state that the citizen was to look for guarantees of life and 

property. The pre-revolutionary contention was that 
^f"th*'°°^ the colonies should not be subject to legislation by parlia- 
States. ment but should make laws for themselves. They were 

not now apt to lay aside this contention in order to create 
a congress which might take over the function just denied to 
parliament. It took years of confusion to make it evident that 
the small and disunited states were not able to establish a successful 
government in general affairs. At present no such conviction existed, 
except in the minds of a few intelligent ones to whom the majority 
paid little attention. 

It was natural that the government should be republican. So far 
as internal feelings were concerned, it had ever been republican. The 

monarchy had been, in the minds of the people, an affliction, 
Republican- ^ gjgj^ ^j oppression. Washington, it is said, refused a 
gnt_ suggestion that he might become a king. Nobody will 

believe that he was ever willing to be king ; but it seems 
certain that if he had appeared in that capacity his popularity would 
have dissolved in a day. The example of a numerous people setting 
out on a separate course as a nation with the flag of a republic over 
them aroused grave apprehensions in Europe. No great nation then 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 219 

flew such a flag. Switzerland was not a case in point, since it was 
divided by mountains into natural states and protected by its physi- 
cal inaccessibility from outside attacks. 

The revolution had many leaders from the older politicians, but its 
fundamental support was the mass of small farmers. As a popular 
movement it aroused the apprehension of the wealthy 
classes. It was one thing to establish a republic and Conserva- 
another to attempt an absolute democracy. Moreover, Radical Re- 
to hold that all men should participate equally in govern- publicans. 
ment was against the practice of any colony. The question 
was debated long in the bodies that made the state constitutions, and 
the division between democratic whigs and conservative whigs which 
then appeared was a forerunner of the party divisions which began 
in the first years under the national constitution. The question 
hinged on the suffrage and qualification for officeholders. As already 
said (page 217), the suffrage was everywhere restricted in some way. 
The conservatives were able to force a compromise which gave them 
a firmer control of the upper house of the legislature than of the lower 
house. In some cases this was by requiring that a member of this 
house should own a relatively large amount of property, or that only 
well-to-do men should vote for him. In some cases the upper house 
was appointed by the lower, and in Maryland it was chosen by an 
electoral commission selected for that purpose by the freeholders. 
While the war lasted it was not advisable for the whigs to wrangle over 
these points, but there came a day when the compromises of the revolu- 
tion were no longer acceptable, and one by one the old restrictions on 
equal participation in government were removed. This democratic 
movement belongs to the history of the second generation after the 
revolution (see page 472). 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

Students of our revolutionary history are fortunate in having three new narratives 
in small compass. Channing, History of the United States, vol. Ill (191 2), is in a 
very fair spirit and gives economic matters more than ordinary attention ; Avery, 
History of the United States and its People, vol. VI (1909), is chiefly a military 
narrative and its maps are particularly useful; Van Tyne, The American Revo- 
lution (1905), is sometimes too brief in military matters, but is very full in civil 
affairs and gives us most important glimpses into internal politics during the revo- 
lution. Of the older x\merican historians Bancroft and Hildreth still have charm, 
but they are unpleasantly pro-American. Fiske, The American Revolution, 2 vols. 
(1891), though inaccurate in some details is still the most readable book on the 
subject. On the English side the most reliable treatment is in Lecky, History 
of England in the Eighteenth Century (1878-1890), republished as The American 
Revolution, edited by Professor Woodburn (1898). It is generally impartial, 
but does not deal with the political progress of the United States during the war. 
\ larger work is G. O. Trevelyan, The American Revolution, 4 vols. (1899-1912), 
written from the standpoint of the English opponents of George III and generally 
in sympathy with the Americans. It is an able work and is very readable. Fisher, 
Struggle for American Independence, 2 vols. (1908), is readable and informing. 



220 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 

The published sources are numerous, but the most important are as follows : 
B. F. Stevens, Facsimiles of Manuscripts in European Archives Relating to America, 
25 vols. (1889-1898) ; Force, American Archives, 4th series, 6 vols., 5th series, 
3 vols. (1837-1853) ; Journals of the Continental Congress, new edition by W. C. 
Ford and Gailliard Hunt, 21 vols. (1904-), issued by the library of congress; 
The Secret Journals of Congress, 4 vols. (1821), valuable for diplomatic history; 
Wharton, The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence, 6 vols. (1889) ; and Moore, 
Diary of the Revolution (1863), a reprint of newspaper clippings. On the British 
side see: Calendar of the Journals of the House of Lords (1810) and the Journals 
of the House of Commons, 127 vols. (1547-1872); the Parliamentary Register 
(i 774-1 779), The Annual Register for the years concerned; and Almon, Remem- 
brancer, 17 vols. (1775-1784). 

An interesting and valuable source of information is the correspondence of the 
leading men of the day, as : John Adams, Works, 10 vols. (1856) ; John and Abigail 
Adams, Familiar Letters during the Revolution (1875) ; Dickinson, Writings, 3 vols. 
(1895); Jefferson, Writings, 11 vols. (1892-1900), Paine, Political Writings, 

2 vols. (1870) ; and Franklin, Complete Works, 10 vols. (1887-1889). Add to these : 
Wells, Life of Samuel Adams, 3 vols. (1865) ; Henry, Life of Patrick Henry, 3 vols. 
(1891) ; and McRee, Life of James Iredell, 2 vols. (1857-1858). Special mention 
should be made of Tyler, Literary History of the American Revolution, 2 vols. 
(1897), a study of the pamphlets of the period. See also R. H. Lee, Letters (Ed. 
Ballagh, 191 1-). 

Much has been written on the military events of the revolution, and the student 
who desires a full bibliography is referred to Van Tyne, The American Revolution 
(1905), chap. XVni. The important general works on the American side are: 
Greene, The Revolutionary War (191 1), an excellent summary; Carrington, 
Battles of the American Revolution, 2 vols. (1876) ; Lossing, Ficld-Book of the Revo- 
lution (1855) ; Dawson, Battles of the United States, 2 vols. (1858) ; Lodge, Story 
of the Revolution, 2 vols. (1898) ; Maclay, History of the United States Navy, 3 vols, 
(new edition, 1898-1901) ; and Mahan, The Influence of Sea Power upon History 
(1890), chaps. 9-14. On the British side see: Fortescue, History of the British 
Army, 6 vols. (1899-), vol. IH deals with our revolution. See also the Public 
Papers of George Clinton, 6 vols. (1899-1902). 

On the Saratoga Campaign see : Stone, The Campaign of . . . B urgoyne (iSyy) ; 
Ibid., Life of Joseph Brant — Thayendanega, 2 vols. (1838, 1865); Lossing, Life 
of General Philip Schuyler, 2 vols, (new ed. 1884); Hadden, Journal Kept Upon 
Burgoyne's Campaign (1884); and Riedesel, Memoirs (trans. 1868), by the wife 
of a Hessian general who served under Burgoyne. The defeated British general 
was severely criticized in a Brief Examination of the Northern Expedition in America 
in 1777, etc., which appeared in London in 1 779. In the following year he pubUshed 
his defense in A State of the Expedition from Canada. His most partial champion 
is Fonblanque, whose Political and Military Episodes (1876) contains many docu- 
ments. 

On the war in the South see : McCrady, South Carolina in the Revolution, 2 vols. 
(1901-1902); Henry Lee, Memoirs of the War (1896); Garden, Anecdotes of the 
Revolution (1822); Gibbes, Documentary History of the Revolution (1853-1857); 
Tarleton, The Campaigns of 1780-1781 in the Southern Provinces (1787) ; Moultrie, 
Memoirs of the American Revolution (1802); Drayton, Memoirs of the Revolution 
to 1776 (1821); Schenck, North Carolina, 1780-1781 (1889); Connor, Life of 
Cornelius Harnet (1909) ; Draper, King's Mountain and Its Heroes (1881) ; Johnston, 
The Yorktown Campaign (1881); Stevens, Campaign in Virginia, 178 1, 2 vols. 
(1888), reprint of phamphlets in the Clinton-Cornwallis Controversy; Rochambeau, 
Memoirs Relative to the War of Independence (trans. 1838) ; and Lafayette, Memoirs, 

3 vols. (1837). 

On relations with France the best books are : Doniol, Historic de la Partici- 
pation de la France a l' Etablissement des Iitats-Unis d' Amerique 5 vols. (1886- 
1900) ; Wharton, Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence, 6 vols. (1889) ; Tower, 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 221 

Lafayette in Ihe American Revolulion, 2 vols. (1895); De Lomemi, Beaumarchais 
atid His Times (trans. 1857 and 1895); Hale, Franklin in France, 2 vols. (1887- 
1888); Jay, Life of John Jay, 2 vols. (1833); The Correspondence of John Jay, 
ed. by Johnston (1830) ; The Deane Papers, 5 vols. (N. Y. Hist. Soc. Collections, 
1886-1890) ; The Lee Papers, 4 vols, (same series, 1871-1874) ; , and Letters of 
William Lee, ed. by W. C. Ford, 3 vols. (1892). 

For Independent Reading 

John and Abigail Adams, Familiar Letters during the Revolution (1875); Frie- 
derike Charlotte Riedesel, Letters and Journals Relating to the War of the American 
Revolution (1867), by the wife of a Hessian general whc accompanied Burgoyne 
and who wrote intimately of army life and of the country; Roosevelt, Winning 
of the West, 4 vols. (1889-1896) ; Thwaites, Life of Daniel Boone (1904) ; Woodrow 
Wilson, Life of Washington (1897) ; Withers, Chronicles of Border Warfare (new ed. 
189s); Fiske, TIte American Revolulion, 2 vols. (1891). 



CHAPTER X 

THE FIRST YEARS OF PEACE, 1 783-1 787 

Financial Embarrassments 

The first years of independence were naturally full of difficulties. 
An immense debt, state and continental, must be provided for, trade, 
interrupted by the war, must be reestablished, the vast 
Hooes^*'^ tracts of western land must be developed, society must be 
readjusted on a purely American basis, the bitterness felt 
by the patriotic party for the tories must be allowed to cool, remnants 
of local jealousies must be dealt with, and the feeling for union, so 
weak that the Articles of Confederation were but "a rope of sand," 
must be strengthened and formed into a central government which 
could command respect at home and abroad. Many persons felt 
that these embarrassments could not be surmounted. They thought 
chaos would ensue, and after that would come some violent reorganiza- 
tion which would result in two or more states under some kind of 
European protection. They did not understand the practical 
quality of the Americans, who, through many years, had boldly solved 
new and formidable problems, and who, under the lead of men like 
Washington, Hamilton, Madison, John Adams, and James Wilson, 
discovered a way to bring the people to accept an efificient form of 
central government, under which financial, industrial, and social 
difficulties disappeared. The years 1781-1787 were full of these 
perplexities : the three years following saw them passing away through 
the efforts of the people. 

The expenses of the revolution were met by taxation, loans, and 
issues of paper money. Congress could not lay taxes, but made req- 
uisitions on the states, receiving from this uncertain 
The Rev- source half a million dollars a year. From foreign loans 
Debt"^'^^ $7,830,517 w^as received during the war, and so great was 
the distress that of this sum $1,663,992 was used to pay 
the interest on the domestic debt. The foreign loans were derived 
as follows: from France $5,352,500, from Holland $1,304,000, and 
from Spain $174,017. During the next six years over $2,000,000 was 
borrowed abroad, most of it to pay the interest on the foreign debt. 
Nevertheless, in 1790 we still owed $1,640,071 foreign interest. The 
domestic continental loans of the war amounted to $28,353,832, and 
as the interest on these was not paid after March i, 1782, there was 
in 1790 an arrearage of this kind of interest amounting to $13,030,168. 



FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES 223 

The state debts in behalf of the war were very large. Some states 
were paying their portions as fast as they could, others were doing 
little or nothing in that way. No suggestion of assumption had yet 
been made. After the enactment of Hamilton's assumption scheme 
in 1790 the national government assumed these debts to the amount 
of $18,271,787. The condition of the debt was a blot on the country's 
honor and plainly indicated that the tax-laying power of congress 
ought to be strengthened. 

The first issues of continental paper money were moderate, and for 
a year the bills passed at par, but as larger quantities were emitted 
they depreciated rapidly. In two years their value as 
compared with specie was three to one, by September i, ^^^^^^^^ 
1779, it was thirty-eight to one, and in March, 1780, fifty 
to one, nearly $200,000,000 being then in circulation. Depreciation 
continued until the ratio was one hundred to one. In March, 1780, 
congress called in the currency at forty to one, to be paid in taxes 
and destroyed. It also provided for a "new tenor" issue at forty to 
one, bearing interest at 5 per cent. About $120,000,000 was thus paid 
in and canceled. After 1790 the government redeemed $6,000,000 
more at one hundred to one, and the rest was lost to the holders. The 
continental currency became an object of popular contempt, and in 
1 78 1 a facetious fellow of Philadelphia plastered his dog with dollar 
bills and led him through the streets to the amusement of the on- 
lookers. The states also issued paper money, about $200,000,000 in 
all. It depreciated alarmingly, and much of it was not redeemed. 
This large amount of unredeemed money, continental and state, was 
a forced contribution from the people who held it, and involved a great 
sacrifice on their part for the cause of independence. 

The wretched state of the finances brought congress to the verge of 
conflict with the army, which in the last winter of the war remained in 
camp at Newburg, on the Hudson, watching the British 
force in New York while the negotiators in Paris com- jn^he^Armv 
pleted their task. The pay of the soldiers was badly in 
arrears, and they began to fear that if they went home without it 
they would lose it entirely. Some of the officers inflamed their sus- 
picions, and in January, 1783, an address in their behalf was presented 
to congress. It contained a veiled threat of misfortune if redress was 
not granted. Congress could do nothing more than promise a month's 
pay, and the discontent increased. 

All this did not occur without arousing keen interest elsewhere. 
Gouverneur Morris, assistant superintendent of finance and an ex- 
treme advocate of stronger government, declared that 
good must come out of the convulsion he thought im- Results* 
minent. Hamilton, also hoping for a stronger govern- 
ment, but more practical as a public man, hoped that Washington 
would take control of the movement and through it force the country 



224 THE FIRST YEARS OF PEACE, 1783-1787 

to strengthen the hands of congress. He wrote cautiously to Wash- 
ington to that effect ; but all his calculations were lost. Washington 
was not supple-minded, like Hamilton. He was a man of simple 
loyalty, and he considered the threats of armed interference disloyal 
and dishonorable. 

It cannot be said that men like Hamilton and Morris encouraged the 
dissatisfaction of the army, but the holders of the continental bonds 
were not so guiltless. This class was strong in Pennsyl- 
Speculato^s ^^"i^,, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hamp- 
shire, former trading states where capital was thrown out 
of employment during the war. Agricultural states, lacking a market 
for their products, were in no position to invest in bonds, but were 
more likely to sell what they already had. Thus by 1783 the specu- 
lators had bought up the certificates of debt, and the representatives 
from the commercial states favored a strong financial policy, while 
the delegates from the agricultural states were not so urgent in the 
matter. Then the impression got abroad in the army that the capital- 
ists in Philadelphia sympathized with the soldiers and would help 
them force the delinquent states to their duty. Early in March an 
agent of the speculators arrived at Newburg and was closeted with 
General Gates, second in command to Washington. On the tenth an 
address was secretly circulated, urging the men not to disband until 
they were paid, and warning them against any man who would counsel 
otherwise. At the same time a meeting of the higher officers was 
called for the eleventh. 

Washington discovered the plot a few hours before the officers were 
to meet and acted with characteristic decision. He published at once 
a general order decrying meetings secretly called and 
Washing- openly appointing a meeting for the fifteenth. Gates 
was checkmated, abandoned his own meeting, but hoped 
to control the one just called, where as senior officer he would preside. 
No one thought the commander-in-chief would attend, but the de- 
liberations had hardly begun on the fifteenth when he entered and 
took the floor to speak. Ordinarily of a quiet manner he was now 
agitated and greatly in earnest. He denounced the arguments of 
the secret address, assured his hearers that the best exertions in their 
behalf would be made, and left the room with the confidence of all 
but the chief plotters, many of his hearers being in tears. Resolutions 
were then offered full of patriotic utterances and expressing abhor- 
rence of the recent secret circular. Gates, in the chair, put the ques- 
tion and had the humiliation to announce it was carried unanimously. 
Thenceforth the army was loyal. June 2 it was* disbanded, and the 
soldiers went quietly home, their accounts unsettled, and, as Washington 
said, "without a farthing of money in their pockets." 

One incident only marred the dispersal. A body of raw recruits 
were at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, their pay also in arrears. When 



FAILURE OF AMENDMENTS 225 

they heard the Newburg army was going home without pay they be- 
came mutinous, and eighty of them marched to Philadelphia, vowing 
they would have their rights. They were joined by some 
veterans, and marched through the streets, drinking, threat- pi^g^t^^^ '" 
ening, but attempting no actual violence. Congress 
applied to the Pennsylvania executive, a Council of State, for protec- 
tion, but they replied that they dare not call out the militia lest they 
join the mutineers. Then congress adjourned, and after three days 
fled to Princeton. Philadelphia declared the flight unnecessary and 
thought it was instigated by delegates who wished to deprive the city 
of the honor of being the capital of the confederation. 

The financial distress of the day suggested a grant of taxing power 
to the central government. In 17S1 the states were called upon to 
amend the articles of confederation to allow congress to 
collect an import duty of five per cent. All consented but Two at- 
Rhode Island, whose refusal defeated the proposition, tempts to 
Her very smallness made her jealous of the loss of author- ^^^^^ °^~ 
ity, and her large dependence on commerce made her un- Taxing 
willing to surrender a part of what was her surest source of Power, 
revenue. Virginia, who assented at first, withdrew her 
approval on reflection. The prospect of mutiny in the army led 
congress to take up the question again in 1783. This time imposts 
were to be laid for twenty-five years on specified articles, the proceeds 
to go to paying interest on the debt ; and the plan was to be adopted 
if all the states consented. Now was seen how much more the states 
clung to their power with the disappearance of danger from England. 
Virginia and North Carolina accepted without hesitation, but other 
states held back. Impost and no-impost became slogans for two 
classes, merchants, owners of the public bonds, and those liberals who 
foresaw the advantages of union constituting one class, and the great 
body of farmers, shopkeepers, and illiberal persons who believed con- 
centration would lead to despotism constituting the other. Interest 
and theory were combined on each side. After three years' debate, 
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New Jersey, South 
Carolina, and Pennsylvania had granted the impost, and Delaware 
was willing if all the other states granted it. New York, Rhode Is- 
land, Maryland, and Georgia held out, or granted it on such condi- 
tions that the benefit was slight. The failure of this second attempt 
to give the central government authority to collect taxes made a deep 
impression on the people, before whom a proposition for a revision of 
the articles of confederation was already submitted. 

Industry and Trade after the War 

Although the war greatly reduced exports of grain, tobacco, fish, 
lumber, and rum, and cut off the importation of a hundred useful 
Q • 



226 THE FIRST YEARS OF PEACE, 1783-1787 

articles, it did not produce absolute distress. Food and the simpler 
articles of manufacture could be had in abundance ; and while men 

fought for liberty they would forego finery. They were 
Conditions generally used to hardships and could bear them lightly 

when they would. When independence was won it would 
be time enough to think of making money. 

But peace brought unexpected difi&culties. The British ports were 
closed to us now as to other foreigners, unless we paid high duties. 

Continental ports were open, but England was the great 
EneianT manufacturing country of the world : it was her implements, 

cloths, and other merchandise we were accustomed to use, 
and how could we buy them unless we sent her our products ? Have 
them we would, £3,700,000 worth in 1784, and as we sent to England 
only £750,000 worth in that year there was a mighty draining of specie 
to settle the balance. At the same time England laid a high duty on 
whale oil, a blow at our whalers, and the trade with the British West 
Indies, so lucrative before the war, was now forbidden by the naviga- 
tion laws, in order to protect the British merchants and shipowners. 
Some men of the day resented the idea that we must trade with Eng- 
land. Was not France our friend and her ports open? But every 
merchant knew it was not possible to build up trade with France. 
We were bred on British commerce, and our taste would not change 
quickly. So while trade with the continent and in the Orient grad- 
ually reestablished itself, it did not fill the want. 

It was, of course, England's interest to keep our trade, but it was 
hard to make her realize it. She seemed to think we could not choose 

but trade with her. Then retaliation was thought of. 
Att^t^d*^ ^ -^^^ ^^ °"^ dreamed that thirteen states could act effec- 
tively against England. It was a task for the central 
authority, and in 1784 congress asked the states to grant for fifteen 
years the right to pass a navigation law. As England had shown no 
willingness to make a commercial treaty, the power was also asked 
to exclude from our ports certain goods, the property of citizens of a 
nation not in treaty with us. The New England states were earnest 
for the measure, the Middle States supported it without enthusiasm, 
but the South suspected that it would lead to an advantage for the 
trading class at the expense of the farmers. So many restrictions were 
placed by the states on the exercise of the power that their votes 
granting it were futile. 

Then diplomacy was tried. John Adams, in Paris, was appointed 
minister to England, with instructions to make a commercial treaty 

and secure the execution of the treaty of 1783. He ar- 
to^L^don"* ^^^^"^ ""^ London in May, 1785, and was received with 

marks of good will by the king ; but the negotiation pro- 
ceeded slowly. England understood her advantage. She commanded 
the situation and knew it. Why should she give up her ancient 



NO TRADE CONCESSIONS FROM ENGLAND 227 

system to please America ? Adams replied : " Because it is England's 
interest to cherish her trade with America, and if a hard policy is 
adopted America will trade elsewhere or build her own factories." 
The British merchants flouted the idea : America, they thought, 
could not establish manufactures, or trade elsewhere. After eight 
months of parley in which no progress was made, an answer came to 
Adams's propositions. America, it said, had obstructed the payment 
of British debts, contrary to the treaty of ])eace, and no concessions 
would be made, since we did not keep our agreements. Although 
Adams remained in London until 1788, he could get no further com- 
fort. He was deeply humiliated, and advised that we should not 
succeed as long as we collected 10 per cent duty at Boston and 
paid as high as 50 per cent at Liverpool. He seemed not to 
realize that high duties at home would increase the prices of im- 
ported merchandise, lay an extra burden on our own people, and 
only injure England by lessening through high prices the amount 
of goods we imported from her. Nor was stronger government, as 
we now know, a sure cure for the situation, else why did we not re- 
taliate after the adoption of the constitution ? The only remedy was 
to manufacture our own goods, and it was not until thirty years later, 
after an eight-year period of isolation had intervened (see page 
311) that we were able to begin to depend on ourselves in this 
respect. 

The confiscation of British debts was a serious grievance. These 
were obligations of Americans to British merchants incurred before 
war began. The English commissioners for making the 
treaty insisted that they should be collected, and it was J^^u^~ 
agreed that congress should recommend the states to 
place no obstacle in the way of such procedure. England was also 
anxious that the tories should be allowed to live in peace in the states. 
But the people were bent on confiscating the debts. England had 
made it impossible for the Americans to pay them by establishing a 
blockade and sometimes seizing the goods for which the debts were 
contracted before they reached the American harbors. As for the 
tories, they were much hated because they sided with the enemy in 
the war, and because in some states they took part in civil strife 
which destroyed much property and life. As trade concessions were 
not made and as the Western posts were not given up or the fugitive 
slaves restored, Americans took no steps to pay the debts or lessen the 
hardship of the tories ; and the question remained a source of irrita- 
tion for many years. Meanwhile, the tories moved away to Canada, 
where the mother country gave them land and aid in planting them- 
selves, and the debtors largely evaded obligations by becoming bank- 
rupt and moving to the frontier, where they were lost sight of, and so 
escaped suit for recovery of the obligations. 

The need of a sound currency turned men's minds to bank notes. 



228 THE FIRST YEARS OF PEACE, 1783-1787 

Several states had established such institutions on moderate scales, 
but they did not answer the requirements of business or give the 
central government the facility it required in lending money in 

emergencies. This, it was thought, could be furnished 
Banis *° better by a great national bank, patterned after the Bank 

of England. Hamilton suggested such a scheme to Robert 
Morris, superintendent of finance from 1781 to 1784. Morris prob- 
ably had already formed such a plan in his own mind. At any rate, 
he got congress to charter the Bank of North America in 1781, with 
a capital of $400,000 paid in specie. It was enlarged to $2,000,000 in 
1784. It had many difficulties, but managed to weather them all, 
and its notes were received at par. As doubt was cast upon its legality 
by repeated assertions that congress had no power to incorporate a 
bank, it secured a Pennsylvania charter in 1782, which though re- 
pealed in 1785 was renewed in 1787. When the old congress ceased 
with the establishment of the new government in 1789, the bank con- 
tinued under the state charter. It did not receive recognition under 
the new regime, but its existence was uninterrupted, and in 1864 it 
became a national bank under the acts then recently passed by con- 
gress. In the dark period of 1782-1789 it did good service by lending 
money to the government at times when no other resource was ap- 
parent. Its first president, Thomas Willing, was an old business 
partner and friend of Robert Morris, and gave him steady support in 
the many arduous efforts by which the latter, as superintendent of 
finance, supported the struggling congress. 

Forming a New Society 

The men of the revolution hated nothing more than monarchy and 
aristocracy. They realized that every step they took was likely to 

be a precedent, and were exceedingly suspicious lest some 
Ar"^'t° la ^^ ^^^ dreaded forms should get recognized. Posterity 

now thinks their fears were unnecessary. Probably not 
even Washington could have made himself king of a people so fiercely 
attached to their self-government. As for an aristocracy, which de- 
pends on permanent forms of hereditary wealth and rank, it is not 
possible that people who had so little of such forms could have toler- 
ated their introduction. Primogeniture, which existed in colonial 
days in New York and the Southern colonies, and the assignment of 
double share to the eldest son in other colonies, were now done away 
with. Entails were abolished, and with them went manorial privi- 
leges, which had survived in New York and Maryland. The rights 
of the proprietors in Pennsylvania and Maryland were seized by the 
state, pvayment to the Penn family being made in the former, but none 
to the Calverts in the latter. But unequal suffrage was retained in 
one way or another in every state. In some only taxpayers could 



OPPOSITION TO THE CINCINNATI 229 

vote, in others only the possessors of property. Manhood suffrage 
came at a much later day. 

Jealousy of rank flared up hotly when officers of the continental 
army seemed about to be elevated into a superior class. These officers, 
whose influence did much to induce the privates to enlist, jj^jf p^y 
were promised half pay for life with the advent of peace, for the 
The war was not over before a cry arose against executing Officers in 
the pledge. It would, said the objectors, create an aris- *^® Army, 
tocracy of the most dangerous kind, an aristocracy on a military basis. 
States passed resolutions, and so much excitement was manifested 
that congress commuted the obligation to a payment of five years' 
full pay in cash. Even this caused great indignation. Everywhere 
the people raged against a standing army, the greatest enemy to liberty. 
When it was disbanded in 1783, it was reduced to eighty men, enough 
to guard the arsenals at West Point and Pittsburg. Nor could con- 
gress be induced to create a stronger establishment. Motion after 
motion was rejected to raise a continental force to protect the fron- 
tier. The best that could be done was to recommend the states to 
raise 700 men for this purpose for one year. In 1788 the total strength 
of the army thus raised was 666 men and officers. 

The popular dislike of a military aristocracy came to fever pitch 
when it was known that the officers before disbanding had formed the 
Society of Cincinnati. Its threefold object was to per- 
petuate the friendships formed in the war, to deliberate ^-^^^^^^ 
in secret on the welfare of the country, and to create an 
order membership in which should be an honor to pass to the eldest 
son to the end of time. It adopted an eagle and a blue ribbon as its 
badge, established state and central organizations, and arranged for 
regular meetings. The second and third objects of the order aroused 
most opposition. The mass of the people resented the idea that a 
group of any men, least of all military men, should secretly direct 
public opinion on political matters, and they wanted no hereditary 
aristocracy however formed. They acknowleged the services of those 
who fought for liberty, but felt the merits would be greater if such men 
took their places with other patriots in future efforts for good govern- 
ment. 

The opposition to the order was not confined to the unthinking 
people. Franklin, Samuel Adams, and John Adams were among 
those who raised a warning voice. They but did in a 
dignified way what a thousand less important men did tig"""*^'*' 
hysterically. Denunciatory pamphlets were written by 
the ton. The society became an issue in the campaigns, and candi- 
dates pledged themselves against it in order to get votes. Legis- 
latures disfranchised the members of the order, and the citizens of 
Cambridge, Massachusetts, petitioned that it be suppressed. Before 
such a tempest of invective the Cincinnati could not stand. Mem- 



230 THE FIRST YEARS OF PEACE, 1 783-1787 

bers who had political ambition renounced their allegiance, and others 
lost interest in a scheme which was so great a source of commotion. 
For a time the meetings were suspended, but in later years they were 
revived, and the society now exists as a patriotic order. 

The men of 1785 should not be measured by modern standards. 
Descended from the middle and lower classes of England, they had 

often had occasion to reflect on the disadvantages of a heredi- 
Ideal °^'^ *^^y aristocracy. It was the English landed gentry that 

made up the party in support of the king's prerogative. 
The gentry had monopolized offices in state, church, and colonies, and 
the aristocracy had furnished a barrier across which American farmers 
could never expect to pass. The mass of the colonists, even the 
wealthy ones, were descended from those who had felt the burdens of 
an aristocracy. Opposition to such a form of society was inherent. 
Twenty years of struggle, political and military, had developed their 
passions and confirmed their hatred of the words "king," "nobility," 
and "privilege." They controlled opinion among their neighbors 
and determined the actions of state legislatures. They were the 
average men who were going to build the life of the nation. 

Nor did their imaginations rise to the ideal of a great American 
nation. They were bom into a struggle between crown and colony. 

Their first political ideas were to defend the colony against 
thJstates monarchical control. For them patriotism, political 

liberty, and self-government began with the defense of the 
colony. In 1776 they gave up with reluctance as much of state au- 
thority as would enable the states to act together for the continental 
cause. When the war was over, they did not cast off their opinions 
easily. The states acting together had won independence, and with 
the restoration of normal conditions could they not solve the simpler 
problems of peace ? And if it should be necessary to strengthen the 
general government, they felt it ought to be done with the greatest 
care, reserving to the states, which they loved better than any great 
coming nation, all power not absolutely essential to future existence. 
The state, they felt, was the protector of individual rights, which were 
more important than the impression we made on the world as an 
American nation. Much inconvenience was endured before their 
hold on the popular mind was lessened and a stronger working plan of 
union adopted. 

Their attitude toward the tories was equally characteristic. They 
thought it was for the state to regulate the life of its inhabitants. It 

was for the state to decide what penalties should be im- 
wardTories P^^ed on persons who had aided the enemy in time of war, 

and who had carried the torch and sword into communities 
struggling for their dearest rights. If the states had lost, who could 
doubt what punishments would have been visited on the whigs? 
Those who took the sword should perish by it. Was it not, therefore, 



THE TORIES 231 

a mercy to spare the miscreants their lives ? and was it not wise to 
insure a homogeneous society in the future by driving away those 
who had supported the king's tyranny and still believed a monarchy 
the best form of government ? 

The lot of the loyalists was indeed hard, especially in New York. 
This city was in British hands throughout the war. Its merchants 
were largely loyal, and to it came for refuge king's true 
subjects from many towns in New England and the Middle Hardships 
states. While the war lasted, they bore themselves Tories. 
haughtily toward the whigs of the city, driving them away 
to New Jersey or Pennsylvania to escape insults and discriminations, 
and seizing their property when they were gone. Now the tables were 
turned. The outcasts returned to the city, hot for revenge. With 
great difficulty conflicts were averted when the two classes met on the 
streets. The legislature disfranchised all who would not swear they 
had not aided the enemy. In 1784 it passed a trespass act, giving 
the patriots the right to recover damages from tories who had occupied 
the houses of fugitive whigs. Many suits at once began, and the 
damages claimed were usually exaggerated. One of the first cases 
tried was that of a widow, Mrs. Rutgers, against Waddington. Alex- 
ander Hamilton, twenty-seven years old, was the counsel for the 
defendant, and argued so brilliantly that the court decided that the 
trespass act was contrary to law. Then followed an outburst of in- 
dignation. Meetings were held, pamphlets appeared, and. the press 
teemed with threats for the tories who dared to remain in the city. 
North and South Carolina had suffered during the war from bitter 
internal strife, and here the feeling against the tories was exceedingly 
strong. Every state had driven loyalists into exile by law or by irritat- 
ing practices which made their remaining unendurable ; and the 
bitterness of the time yielded slowly to milder feelings. Spite of the 
efforts of the British government in their behalf and the interference 
of many liberal-minded whigs, the lot of the tories continued very un- 
comfortable. They were deprived of the franchise, their property 
could not be recovered in the state courts, and large numbers of them, 
estimated at 60,000, definitely abandoned their homes and settled 
elsewhere in the British dominions. Those who left the Northern 
states went chiefly to New Brunswick and Canada ; those from the 
South went to Florida and the Bahamas. Great Britain felt obliged 
to succor them, and by 1790 had given them as much as $16,000,000, 
besides large tracts of land. The exclusion of the tories, largely of the 
upper class, strengthened the democracy of the day. 

The Western Lands 

Seven of the states had claims to Western lands, founded on the 
terms of their colonial charters. They were Massachusetts, Connecti- 



232 THE FIRST YEARS OF PEACE, 1783-1787 

cut, New York, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia. 
The other states looked with jealousy at the prospect of being swamped 
by these mighty neighbors when the lands should be well settled ; 
and Maryland flatly refused to accept the articles of confederation 
unless these claims were relinquished. Promises to that effect were 
made before she finally signed, March i, 1781. By 1786 all the claims 
to the Northwest were ceded to Congress with the understanding 
that when the vast Western region was settled, it should be divided into 
states and admitted into the union. Land from colonial times was 
the most popular form of property, speculations in it the foundation 
of many fortunes, and to the people of the day the possession of these 
immense Western tracts added greatly to the national resources, made 
the payment of the debt seem more probable, and promoted the union 
of the states. 

Jefferson, then a member of congress, was deeply interested in these 
lands, and was chairman of a committee appointed to prepare a scheme 

for settling them. The report, spoken of as the Ordinance 
"Northwest ^f 1784, provided for a number of states, fourteen or six- 
of 1784." teen, north and south of the Ohio. Nine were marked 

out north of the river, and names were selected for them. 
One was to be "Washington," another "Saratoga," while others were 
given names of classical origin, as "Metropotamia" ("Mother of 
Rivers"), for the plain where several rivers rise, and "Sylvania," for 
the forest region west and south of Lake Superior. The report also 
provided a system of laws to be enforced until the states were admitted 
to the union. Its most important provision was the exclusion of 
slavery from the Western lands after 1800. Jefferson hoped earnestly 
that it might be adopted, but the Carolinas and Georgia thought they 
would by this means be excluded from a share in the settlement of the 
lands they ceded, and the provision was stricken from the report, 
which was then adopted by congress. The scheme was too complete 
for the Western conditions. The backwoodsmen who were already 
settling in Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee needed a simpler govern- 
ment, and this was embodied in a second ordinance which ignored 
what had been done in 1784. 

In 1787 a newly organized Ohio Company, composed of Massachu- 
setts men, asked congress to sell them one million and a half acres of 
. land on the Muskingum river for $1,000,000, to be paid 
Comnanv ^^^ ^^ ^^^ bonds of the government, then worth less than 

50 per cent of par. The application was urged by Manas- 
seh Cutler, who proved himself a good lobbyist. He encountered much 
opposition from members of congress, who thought the price too low. 
Finally he joined with his scheme another purchase, in which the leading 
members took part, of 3,000,000 acres at the same price ; and on that 
basis the two schemes were enacted. It was proposed to establish 
the colony at once, and by spring, 1788, an advance party of 47 began 



TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT 233 

to build the town of Marietta, the first settlement in what was to be 
the state of Ohio. 

Just before the grant passed congress, that body hurried through the 
Northwest Ordinance of 1787, establishing a government for the 
territory northwest of the Ohio. It provided that the 
region north of the river should have a governor, secretary, ^^*^°f ^ 
and three judges appointed by congress ; that when the Ordinance, 
population reached 5000 free men of full age, they should 
have an assembly of governor, council, and elected house of represen- 
tatives. Not less than three nor more than five states might be made 
out of the region, and when any territory had a population of 60,000 
it might be admitted into the union with equal status with the older 
states. The Ordinance of 1787 became the model for all the other 
territories and states carved out of the western domain. It contained 
a bill of rights, one feature of which was that slavery should not be 
tolerated in the Northwest. The South, which opposed the exclusion 
of slavery from the Ordinance of 1784, because it applied to all the 
West, made no objection to its elimination from the region north of the 
Ohio. 

In 1785 congress adopted a scheme for the sale of western lands, 
and it was applied to the lands of the Ohio Company. It ordered 
that the territory should be laid out in townships six miles 
square, or thirty-six sections in a township. Each six- j. g . ~ 
teenth section should be reserved for the support of schools, 
and the Ohio Company was required to set aside two townships for a 
university. This township system has been generally followed in 
the West. 

Before this time settlements had already been planted in what later 
became Kentucky and Tennessee. This region was widely known for 
its fertility and abundant game. Hunters went thither, 
and, charmed by the country, built huts, established farms, settlements 
and fought off the Indians, who bitterly resented the in- 
vasion of their best hunting-grounds. The most famous of the ad- 
venturers was Daniel Boone, whose efforts opened Kentucky to the 
world. Leaving his home on the Yadkin, in North Carolina, he went, 
with a small party, to hunt in Kentucky. He loved the country from 
the first glimpse, and though robbed by the Indian, and warned to 
leave under penalty of death, and deserted by most of his companions, 
he roamed and hunted for a year and a half, and then spread such 
glowing ideas of Kentucky among the Yadkin people that in 1773 he 
set out with a band of settlers for the land of his dreams. Halted by 
Lord Dunmore's war he encamped in Tennessee, renewed his efforts 
with the return of peace, opened a road into the upper valleys and on 
to Louisville, where a trading post had long been established, and soon 
saw the country filled with hardy settlers who won their way against 
the dangers of Indian attack and the hard struggle of nature. The 



234 THE FIRST YEARS OF PEACE, 1783-1787 

settlers were within the bounds of Virginia, but felt its yoke lightly. 
They were sufficient of themselves for the tasks before them. They 
considered the mountains a barrier to permanent connection with the 
states of the East, and looked already to the mouth of the Mississippi, 
the natural outlet of their trade. Wise men talked of the prospect of 
a great valley confederacy which, when strong enough, would sweep 
the Spaniard out of the way and take its place as an intracontinental 
nation. 

What Boone did for Kentucky, James Robertson, with less of 
romance, did for Tennessee. By 1772 he had come with some hardy 

settlers from North Carolina across the mountains to the 
Folded** fair Watauga valley, east of the Cumberland mountains. 

They fled from the hard rule of Tryon, who was busy 
suppressing the Regulators. When they found they were not in the 
bounds of Virginia, as they first imagined, they set up a government 
of their own, with rules embodied in a written "Watauga Association." 
Many others came to share their lot, and by the outbreak of the revolu- 
tion several valleys were dotted with their peaceful homesteads. 
John Sevier was of their number, and led them with men from Virginia 
and from the upper Yadkin to the victory over Ferguson at King's 
Mountain. When North Carolina began the struggle against the 
king, they organized the District of Washington and recognized the 
state's authority. In 1779 a party from Watauga, led by James 
Robertson, began the settlement of Nashville, on the Cumberland, 
many miles to the westward, and held it, spite of severe attacks by the 
Indians. Thus when congress established the Northwest Ordinance 
in 1787, the first work of colonization had already been done by hardy 
men acting on their own initiative in the regions which were going to 
be the states of Kentucky and Tennessee, but were still under the juris- 
diction of Virginia and North Carolina respectively. 

One picturesque incident in the West remains to be mentioned. 
When North Carolina ceded her western lands in April, 1784, she re- 
served jurisdiction over them until they were accepted by congress. 

News of what was done brought dismay to the people on 
"^f^v " ^i!*** ^^^ Watauga and Holston rivers. They wished to be pro- 
jjq .. " tected from the Indians, and feared a period of nerveless 

government, during which congress would hold them as un- 
protected dependencies. To meet this, protect their land titles, and 
secure the continuity of orderly government, they launched a move- 
ment for a state government. They held meetings of regularly elected 
delegates, adopted a constitution, took the name of the "State of 
Franklin," chose John Sevier their governor, and asked congress to 
recognize them as a state. This happened in the latter part of 1784. 
Just at that time North Carolina revoked her act of cession, sent 
officers to execute her authority in the transmontane region, and 
brought civil war to the very doors of the western people. Congress 



PAPER MONEY 235 

dared not antagonize North Carolina by intervening, and the people 
were unable to defy their eastern masters. At the end of two years 
Sevier's term of office expired, and, as no successor was elected, the 
"State of FrankUn" fell into abeyance. He was then arrested for 
treason and sent across the mountains for trial, but friends interceded 
and he was not prosecuted. The incident shows the desire of the 
western people for self-government and the difficulty of ruling them as 
dependencies of the East. 

Popular Dissatisfaction 

The limitations which most of the states placed on popular govern- 
ment (see page 217) caused dissatisfaction, and struggles soon began 
to remove them. There was universal fear of a strong executive, and 
before the federal constitution was adopted, Massachusetts and New 
Hampshire, become a little more democratic, decided to have gov- 
ernors chosen by the people, and in 1790 and in 1792 Delaware and 
Pennsylvania did the same. In all the states but Georgia the judges 
were elected by the assembly or appointed by the governors. In 
most of the states it was as if the constitution-makers had erased the 
word "king" in the old charters and written the word "assembly" in 
its place. Yet this was a long step toward popular government ; for 
the assembly represented the will of the responsible people. 

This predominance of the conservative classes was not received 
quietly in all the states. It gave too much power, it was thought, to 
men of property ; and parties began to divide between 
the rich and the poor. The latter, suffering from the ^q^I„ ^g. 
scarcity of money, desired to issue paper currency and manded. 
urged the assemblies to pass laws to that end. The for- 
mer thought of the effect on trade and opposed the demand. 
Connecticut, Massachusetts, Delaware Maryland, and Virginia re- 
sisted the cry. They all had conservative classes who were able to 
keep control of the situation. The victory was hard won in most of 
them, especially in New Hampshire, where a mob crying out for paper 
surrounded the meetinghouse at Exeter in which the legislators were 
assembled in 1786, threatening their lives if the demand was refused. 
They were dispersed by the militia, and their cause failed, probably 
because it was identified with mob rule. In the other states, seven 
in all, paper money was issued. 

In Rhode Island the agitation led to serious trouble. The mer- 
chants opposed the proposition, but the country people carried it 
through the legislature. Then the merchants tried to avoid 
the law. They closed their shops and refused to take the '^^®," ^^°^ 
new currency. They were denounced as enemies of the J^^^^^ 
people, and when John Weeden, a butcher, refused in 1786 island, 
to sell meat for scrip, he was haled into court. He was 
ably defended by Varnum, who urged that the state law violated the 



236 THE FIRST YEARS OF PEACE, 1783- 1787 

constitution and was null. The judges sustained his contention and 
dismissed the case. This angered the legislature : they summoned 
the judges into their presence and delivered a reproof; and in the 
next election all but one member of the court were rejected. But the 
decision held, and after a time quiet was restored to the community. 
One of the certificates issued by the paper-money party began with 
the words, " Know ye," and the party came to be known as the "Know 
ye" party. They were ignorant people with real need, but they did 
not deserve all the contempt visited upon them. 

The farmers of western and central Massachusetts were strong 
for paper. They were in debt, and many suits were entered against 
, them in the courts. They hated the lawyers who prose- 

beUloV ^' c^ted the claims and the rich men in Boston, whose 
influence predominated in the legislature. They found a 
leader in Daniel Shays, whose fervent appeals stirred them to a frenzy 
of rebellion. At Northampton and Worcester they broke up the courts 
in order to defer the trial of the cases against them, and elsewhere 
they held the quiet people in terror. Finally they besieged the town 
of Springfield, and seemed to have the whole western region on their 
side. Governor Bowdoin assembled an army of 4400 men under 
General Lincoln and sent it against them in the winter of 1 786-1 787. 
Shays fled as Lincoln approached Springfield, but was pursued and 
defeated at Petersham, on February 3, 1787. His men dispersed 
and he was captured. Resistance was at an end, but the feeling for 
the insurgents was so strong that he was not punished, and Governor 
Bowdoin was defeated at the next election by John Hancock, who 
as Professor McLaughlin says, "loved nothing better than sunning 
himself in the smiles of the crowd." Shays's Rebellion alarmed many 
a sober friend of government in every state. It seemed that the foun- 
dation of government was breaking up, and that the often predicted 
chaos was at hand. 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

For general works see : Channing, History of the United States, 3 vols, published, 
1905-1912; McMaster, History of the People of the Uftited States, 7 vols. (1883-); 
Ba.ncToit, History of the United States, 6 vols. (1883-1885), the sixth volume was 
formerly published as The History of the Constitution; Hildreth, History of the 
United States, 6 vols. (1849-1852) ; Schouler, The United States under the Constitu- 
tion, 6 vols. (1880-1894) ; von Hoist, Constitutional and Political History of the 
United States, 8 vols, (trans. 1876-1892) ; McLaughlin, Confederation and the Con- 
stitution (1905), valuable and modern; Fiske, Critical Period of American History 
(1888), the most readable treatment of the subject; Curtis, Constitutional History 
of the United States, 2 vols, (i 889-1 896) ; Avery, The United States and its People, 
7 vols. (1904-). 

On financial matters see : Dewey, Financial History of the United States (1903) ; 
Sumner, Financiers and Finances of the Revolution, 2 vols. (1891) ; Bullock, Finances 
of the United States, lyy^-iySg, (Univ. of Wisconsin Bulletins, 1905) ; Phillips, 
Paper Currency of the American Revolution, 2 vols, (i 865-1 866) ; and Oberholtzer, 
Life of Robert Morris (1903). 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 237 

On trade relations sec: Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, 6 vols. (1889); 
Macpherson, Annals of Commerce, 4 vols. (1805) ; Pitkin, Stalistical View of Com- 
merce (1816) ; and Coxe, Viciv of the United Stales (1794). 

On the West see : Hinsdale, The Old Northwest (ed. 1899) ; Winsor, The Westward 
Movement (1897) ; Barrett, Evolution of Ike Ordinance of lySy (Univ. of Nebraska 
Papers, 1891) ; Roosevelt, Winning of the West, 4 vols. (1889-1896); Adams, 
Maryland's Influence on Land Cessions (Johns Hopkins Studies, 1885) ; King, Ohio, 
First Fruits of the Ordinance of ijSy (ed. 1903) ; Life, Journals, and Correspondence 
of Rev. Manasseh Cutler, 2 vols. (1888) ; Sato, History of the Land Question (Johns 
Hopkins Studies, 1886); Garrett and Goodpasture, History of Tennessee (1900); 
Pickett, History of Alabama, 2 vols. (ed. 1900) ; and Turner, Western Slate-Making 
in the Revolutionary Era {Amer. Hist. Review, VIII, 1902-1903). 

For Independent Reading 

Chastellux, Travels in North America, iy8o-ij82, 2 vols. (ed. 1828); Stiles, 
Literary Diary, 3 vols. (Dexter, ed., 1901) ; Brissot de Warville, New Travels in the 
United States, 2 vols. (1794); Roosevelt, Wi?ining of the West, 4 vols. (1889-1896). 



CHAPTER XI 

MAKING THE CONSTITUTION 
The Articles of Confederation 

June 12, 1776, the continental congress appointed a committee to 
prepare a plan under which the states could act together in the future. 

Two schemes came before this committee. One was 
Articles of suggested by Franklin in 1775, and provided for a congress 
tion^^'^^'^*' "^'^^^ representation based on population. The other was 
Adopted. prepared by John Dickinson, of Delaware, and provided 

for equal representation of states. Here appeared the 
deep jealousy of the small states for the large ones. The latter clung 
tenaciously to their opinion, but yielded for expediency's sake. Every 
state was needed in the struggle then beginning, and the smallest was 
in a position to win concessions if it only stood firm. The committee 
reported July 12, but the matter was deferred, after a short discussion, 
until it could be considered by the states. It came up again in the 
autumn of 1777, the delegates having had ample time to learn the 
state of opinion at their homes. Again the large states tried to change 
the will of the small, and again they failed. A confederation of 
equal states was better than no confederation at all. The articles 

passed November 17, but they were not to be binding 
Smlu'^States ^^^^^ approved by all the states. They were a compromise 

in which the least progressive side won. As congress 
said in submitting them for ratification, it was a difiicult and dehcate 
task to combine "the various sentiments and interests of a continent 
divided into so many sovereign and independent communities." 

The articles of confederation were designed to give the central 
government no more power than it needed to carry on national affairs, 
and they reserved all others to the state. Congress was to conduct 
foreign affairs, to declare war, to provide for admiralty courts, to 
regulate the coinage, to establish standards of weight and measure, 
to have sole jurisdiction over Indian tribes, but not to infringe the 
rights of any state in this respect, to estabHsh and regulate post 
offices and post roads, to build and equip a navy, to issue letters of 
marque and reprisal, to have an army made up of troops furnished 
by the states at the call of congress, to appoint the higher army 
officers, to borrow money, and to emit bills of credit. Most of these 
rights had formerly been exercised by the crown, and they were now 

238 



TERMS OF THE ARTICLES 239 

readily granted to the general government. None of them could 
have been exercised easily by the states individually. 

Some powers were expressly reserved to the states ; as raising the 
militia, appointing regimental officers in the army, granting letters 
of marque in time of war, repelling invasion without 
waiting for the consent of congress, and keeping an army t^Tstates. 
or navy in time of peace if congress consented. Other 
important powers were not mentioned, and by implication were 
reserved to the states ; as, to control commerce and navigation, to 
levy imposts, and to lay direct taxes. Nine states must consent to 
the most important acts of congress, and an amendment of the articles 
must be unanimous. Ordinary votes in congress would pass by having 
the approval of a majority of the states, but an adjournment could 
be ordered by congress if the majority of the delegates present con- 
sented. Congress could not levy or collect a tax on 
individuals, but must get its revenues by making requi- 
sitions on the states apportioned on the value of land in private 
hands ; and the state was to collect the amount required as it saw 
fit. Thus, the basis of power was the state and not the citizen. 

The revolution was a protest against the strong executive in England, 
and care was now taken to give the new government the weakest 
possible executive. Congress might appoint a president 
from their own members to have office for only one year ^j^^ 
in three. He had no veto or appointing power, but 
received foreign ministers,. Congress was to appoint high executive 
officers to act under its authority. Thus it appointed a secretary 
for foreign affairs, who reported to congress. A "committee of the 
states," one delegate from each of the thirteen, was to carry out the 
directions of congress in a recess of that body. 

Another weakness was the absence of a federal judiciary. No 
such courts were provided. Cases arising under the articles would 
be referred to the state courts, which would naturally ^ „ . 
lean toward the states. Admiralty courts, however, counts. ^ 
should be established by congress with jurisdiction over 
piracy and over offenses on the high seas, and there was a court of 
appeals for prize cases. A dispute between states was to be referred 
to congress, who should appoint seven or nine arbiters, no two from 
the same state, who were to pass on the dispute and report their 
verdict to congress ; but there was no way of enforcing the decision, 
if the contending states did not choose to obey it. The articles 
declared in the beginning that "Each state retains its sovereignty, 
freedom, and independence," and described the government now 
created as "a firm league of friendship," but near the end they say, 
"and the Union shall be perpetual." In view of the narrow power 
given to the congress, we may conclude that the word "Union" 
here was understood to be a mere act of association. The historical 



240 MAKING THE CONSTITUTION 

significance of the articles of confederation is not to be overlooked. 
They were a step in the development of the union. Weak as they 
were for the purposes demanded of them, they were a conscious 
sacrifice of some of the powers of the hitherto disunited states, and 
their very impotence pointed out in what respect they ought to be 
strengthened. 

Moving toward a Stronger Union 

The weakness of the articles surprised nobody. Even the men 
who opposed a strong union were not surprised. They had resisted 

concentration because they feared the power of a strong 
Opposition central government over the states. The four years 
Receding. ^f turmoil following the victory at Yorktown showed them 

that there was something worse than a vigorous congress. 
They saw in the financial chaos the obstruction of trade, and in the 
tendency of states to fall on one another the probability that even 
the small amount of union already established would be lost. If 
such a state of affairs continued, it was likely that each state would 
look out for itself. In such a condition the large states would fare 
best, and small states would either fall into the hands of their great 
neighbors or have to place themselves under the protection of foreign 
powers. It was, therefore, the interest of small states to give up some 
of their reserved powers, provided they could effect an arrangement by 
which they could preserve their integrity as states. 

Meanwhile, the strong union men did not cease to try to develop 
public opinion. Chief among them was Washington, who wrote 

letters to his friends and to legislatures. Hamilton, 
UmonMen ^j^^^ exerted himself, and Madison, who was coming 

into great influence in Virginia, was another who lost no 
opportunity to help the cause. After the fashion of the day, many 
pamphlets appeared on the question, one of the most important 
being by Pelatiah Webster, suggesting so many features of the con- 
stitution later adopted that his admirers have called him the father 
of the constitution. Congress itself took up the work, and passed 
several sets of resolutions looking to a stronger government. Few 
of these advocates desired a unified government : most of them 
looked to a federal government, with power to collect its revenues 
and to make itself obeyed. Some men said that all that should be 
done was to add to the central authority the least possible vigor the 
situation demanded. All these efforts made ready for the work 
of 1787. 

As the discussion went on, the idea of amending the articles in a 
convention continually came up. It was plain that the method in 
the articles themselves was futile ; for one state would probably be 
found to oppose anything suggested. But a convention would not 
be bound by the existing agreement, it would build the union anew, 



A CONVENTION SUGGESTED 241 

and if an agreed number of states accepted its work, the union 
might go forward without the consent of the others. Besides, to 
take part in it would commit no state, and if it should 
be held it would be the interest of each state to be repre- Constitu- 
sented, lest the plan prepared should infringe her interests, '^^f ^°^' 
As the suggestion of such a step was repeated it gained Suggested, 
ground in the popular mind. Many of the discouraged 
friends of central government thought it worth trying, and the friends 
of the states were willing to attend and discuss the points at issue, 
although they were quite sure they would not yield one iota of their 
cause more than was necessary to preserve the fruits of the revolution. 
In all this congress took little active part. It could hardly be expected 
to do a thing that would destroy its own life. 

While opinion thus ripened, events happened which led to the- 
convention. In 1784 Madison learned that much confusion in navi- 
gation and some smuggling existed on the Potomac 
because of different customs regulations on the opposite Yi'^^^l*^ ^"^ 
sides. He undertook to remedy the matter, and got the confer, 
two states concerned to appoint commissioners to prepare 
a code of rules. They met in 1785, had no trouble to agree on the 
matter in hand, but saw that if Maryland changed her regulations, 
her northern neighbors must do the same, or the same difficulty 
would exist on the northern border. This would necessitate changes 
on the northern borders of Pennsylvania and Delaware. In other 
words, the regulation of navigation was a question common to all 
of the states, and the commissioners ended by suggesting a general 
convention for that puq:)ose. Madison, one of the commissioners, 
was a member of the Virginia legislature, where he worked hard to 
strengthen the hands of congress. A strong party opposed his efforts, 
because of their devotion to the sovereignty of the states. Spite 
of their plans, he got the assembly to call on all the other states to 
send delegates to a convention to consider commercial regulations. 
The place was to be Annapolis, remote from New York, where congress 
then sat, and far away from any large port whose merchants might 
influence its deliberations. The time of meeting was to be September 
II, 1786. This convention, be it remembered, was to be a creature 
of the states, to report to them, and was not concerned with the 
continental congress. 

At the appointed time delegates assembled from Virginia, Penn- 
sylvania, Delaware, New York, and New Jersey ; and Massachu- 
setts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and North Carolina named 
delegates who did not attend. The other states, Georgia, 
South Carolina, Maryland, and Connecticut, took no '^^^q^^^^' 
notice of the call. More discouraging than these absences yention. 
was the fact that no real good could be accomplished 
unless a power existed strong enough to enforce common regula- 



242 MAKING THE CONSTITUTION 

tions, if they were made. The convention, therefore, gave up the 
task before it and issued an address to the states urging them to call 
a constitutional convention to meet in Philadelphia the second Monday 
in May. Its action was to be binding when approved by congress 
and confirmed by all the state legislatures. 

This was a bold step. Congress was only half pleased, and took 
no notice of a call coming from a source outside of itself. But Virginia 

was of another inind. Spite of her recent opposition to 
Delegates amendments, she now indorsed the convention without 
deipWaCon- <i6bate and elected delegates, among them Washington, 
vention. Madison, Patrick Henry, and Governor Randolph, 

but Henry refused to serve. Other states followed her 
lead, and congress unbent enough to call a convention at the same time 
and place, but without allusion to the work at Annapolis. Rhode 
Island alone refused to take action, although New Hampshire hesi- 
tated until June, and her representatives took no part in the earlier 
deliberations at Philadelphia. The quick response of the other states 
was in strong contrast with their opposition to amendments. Though 
disgusted with congress, they were loyal to the American cause and 
hoped with a new trial to make a better form of government than they 
then had. For this puqaose they put forward their best men. The 
American congress had not contained, since the first days of its exist- 
ence, such men as gathered at Philadelphia ; Benjamin Franklin, 
James Wilson, Gouverneur Morris, Alexander Hamilton, Rufus 
King, William Patterson, Oliver Ellsworth, Charles, and Charles 
Cotesworth, Pinckney, and Luther Martin. Though divided in their 
opinions, they were among the best leaders of the day, and no superior 
men could have been found for the task before them. 

Washington was chosen president of the convention, and the 
meetings were held in the strictest secrecy. At the close the journal 

was delivered to him sealed with instructions to hand 
Meeting of ^^ ^^gj. ^^ ^^le congress of the United States, if the consti- 
vention. tution now prepared was adopted. In 1818 congress 

ordered its publication, but it was the merest skeleton 
of the proceedings. A fuller record was made by Madison, the best 
versed member in political science, and such an earnest supporter 
of the practical measures of the convention that he came to be called 
''the father of the constitution." At the first session he took a seat 
from which he could hear all that was said and made as full a record 

of the debates as he could. His "Notes" were first 
" Notes'"^ published in 1841, and constitute our best information 

of what was done. Other members, particularly Yates, 
of New York, made notes less explicit, and these also have been 
published. 

The opposition between large and small states came up with the 
meeting of the delegates. Four days after the convention organized 



LARGE AND SMALL STATES 243 

Governor Randolph, of Virginia, offered a tentative plan of union. 
It favored the large states and provided for a congress of two branches, 
the lower elected by the people on the basis of population ... 

or land values and the upper elected by the lower pj^ irgima 
branch. The significance will be seen if we remember 
that by the first census, 1790, Virginia had a population of 747,610, 
Massachusetts, including Maine, had 475,327, Pennsylvania had 
434,373, North Carolina had 393,751, and New York had 340,120. 
The combined population of Rhode Island, Delaware, New Jersey, 
and New Hampshire was only 453,943. The combined population 
of the five largest states was 2,391,181, and that of the other eight 
states was 1,334,238. Georgia, with a population of 82,548, had 
vast undeveloped areas and usually acted with the large 
states, so that these six great states had 66. i per cent, of the ^"^'^ °° °' 
entire population, and since the other states had restricted states, 
boundaries, the progress of settlement could be expected 
to increase their advantage. If land values were taken for the basis 
of representation, the distribution of power would be nearly the same 
as if population were taken. 

The congress thus delivered over to the large states should have 
authority to make all the laws the existing confederation could make, 
as well as to veto a state law in conflict with the consti- 
tution, and to coerce a state failing in its duty. There Congress 
was to be, also, a national executive chosen by congress, yh-einia^ 
but its composition was not defined. There was to be a pian. 
council of re\dsion, of which the executive was to be a part, 
with power to veto a law of congress or a congressional veto of a state 
law ; but its veto might be overridden by a subsequent session of con- 
gress. There was to be a national judiciary selected by congress 
with jurisdiction over admiralty cases, issues in which foreigners or 
citizens of different states were parties, impeachments of national 
officers, and cases concerning the collection of the national revenues. 
It was also provided that officers of the states should be required to 
take oaths to support the constitution of the union, and that the con- 
stitution when completed should be submitted to the people of the 
states for approval through their legislatures or conventions chosen 
for the purpose. This plan, which was largely the work of Madison, 
was distinctly popular in its character. It was supported because 
a popular basis of government favored the large states, and it had the 
opposition of the small states for the same reason. Pinckney, of 
South Carolina, submitted a plan, much like Virginia's, but the 
convention took little notice of it. Alexander Hamilton also had a 
plan as strongly central as Virginia's, but he did not submit it to 
the convention. 

The debates began in the committee of the whole. The Virginia 
plan had the solid support of the large states, except New York, 



244 MAKING THE CONSTITUTION 

which, under the influence of George Clinton, thought to hold out 
for special terms. Six of the eleven states represented, — Massa- 
chusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, South 
cesses of'the ^^^^^^^^y ^^^ Georgia, — over-riding the arguments of 
Large States ^^^ small states, carried the main features of that plan 
through the committee. They were in no mood to com- 
promise. If the small states would not federate on the proposed 
plan, said Wilson, the most masterful of its defenders, let them know 
that the large states would federate on no other. And the small states, 
not prepared for such a spirited assault, could only repeat their 
assertion that they would not put their heads into the hon's mouth. 
Their leader was Paterson, of New Jersey, as determined a man as 
Wilson himself. He thought it better to remain out of the union than 
to accept the domination of the victors ; and one need only look 
at the map to see that a group of states around New York harbor, 
from Connecticut to Delaware, could have laid the foundation for 
a great independent federation if they had thrown in their fortunes 
in a common cause. 

When the committee reported to the convention, Paterson, there- 
fore, offered the ultimatum of the small states, itself a plan of govern- 
ment. He was willing to strengthen the hands of congress, 
Pkn^^°°^ to allow it to lay and collect import duties, to regulate 
trade, and to coerce a state which did not pay its requisi- 
tions. He would even grant a national judiciary with large powers, 
but he would not agree to distribute power according to population, 
and he demanded equal representation of the states in congress. 
Had the minds of the delegates been free from passion they would 
have seen that even this was a great improvement over the articles 
of confederation: it would have remedied most of the abuses under 
the old system. But the question was now beyond the mere fact 
of remedying abuses ; it was : Should a nation be founded on a popu- 
lar basis or on a state basis ? and around that fundamental point 
began a discussion whose acrimony made every cautious and patriotic 
delegate tremble for the issue. After five days the vote was taken. 
Maryland was divided, and Connecticut, in sympathy with the small 
states but not willing to defeat union, voted against the ultimatum. 
Thus the large states again won, the vote being seven to three against 
Paterson's plan, and the convention took up the report of the com- 
mittee of the whole. 

June 29, came the first division on the make-up of 
Fight over congress. It was voted to have proportional represen- 
mTof^Con- tation in the lower house, Maryland being divided and 
gress. New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Delaware voting 

in the negative. It was a critical moment. If the same 
combination carried the vote on the composition of the upper house, 
the small states, if they fulfilled their threats, would abandon the 



A COMPROMISE 245 

convention. Wilson was inexorable. " If the minority of the people 
of America," said he, "refuse to coalesce with the majority on just 
and proper principles, if a separation must take place, it could never 
happen on better grounds." To which a Delaware delegate replied: 
"The large states dare not dissolve the Confederation. If they do, 
the small ones will find some foreign ally of more honor and good 
faith, who will take them by the hand and do them justice." 

Fortunately, there were some moderate men in the convention who 
thought a compromise better than disruption. Several times in the 
debates small-state delegates had suggested that at least 
the upper house should be based on equal representation Ellsworth's 
of states, and no notice had been taken. But at this q^^^ ^'^ 
critical point the idea recurred to the small-state men, and promise. 
Ellsworth, of Connecticut, pleaded eloquently for it as 
a guarantee to the small states that they should not be swamped 
by the influence of their large neighbors. It seemed a small concession 
in order to preserve the union of all the states. The appeal reached 
one man, Baldwin, of Georgia, Connecticut born and a Yale graduate. 
On the vote being taken, he was for compromise, and 
divided his delegation, thus leaving the large states with Georgia' ° 
only five votes. At the same time Luther Martin's 
colleague was absent, and he cast Maryland's vote for the resolution. 
The vote in convention was, therefore, five to five, and the power of 
the large states was checked. The pathetic appeal of the small 
states at the last had reached the hearts of some of their adversaries, 
and a committee of one from each state was appointed to arrive at 
a compromise. Franklin was a member, and suggested the report 
that the lower house be based on representation and have the right 
to initiate revenue laws, and that the states have equal voice in the 
upper house. After eleven days of bitter debate, with many futile 
motions to amend, the report was carried, North Carolina voting for 
the compromise. Four large states held out, Pennsyl- 
vania, Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia, while Massa- Adoo^ed""^^ 
chusetts was divided. They took defeat badly, and asked 
for an adjournment to consider what they should do. Everybody 
left the hall in the deepest gloom. The event had come which the 
larger states had said would justify withdrawal : would they carry 
out the threat ? Early next morning they held a meeting to decide 
upon their course. Some were for withdrawal, but the majority were 
for remaining. They were not willing to give up the last hope of 
a united government. Thus the compromise was allowed to stand 
and constitution-making was resumed. 

The compromise had vast influence on the future. It broke at a 
vital point into the scheme of a national government on a popular 
basis. It divided the lawmaking power between two dissimilar 
and, in some cases, opposing sources of authority. If the large states, 



246 MAKING THE CONSTITUTION 

four of whom were Southern, had won in 1787, slavery would not have 
found refuge in the senate fifty years later, and the secession move- 
ment might have been dealt with before it was strong 
Its In- _ enough to venture its cause on the field of battle. The 
the Future, equality of the states in the senate nourished the seces- 
sion movement through three decades of its early growth. 
This compromise was soon followed by another. Congress was 
given power to lay direct taxes to be apportioned according to popu- 
lation, and representation was to be based on population. 
Three-fifths Since the slaves did not vote, some Northern men thought 
gj*^® they should not be counted in representation, it being 

Counted. logical to found political power on citizenship. They 
also thought that slaves should be included in appor- 
tioning direct taxes, because they were property, and taxation should 
rest on the ability to pay. The South opposed each proposition. 
Williamson of North Carolina suggested that three-fifths of the slaves 
be counted in representation. There was some sharp debate, showing 
the deep feeling of the North against the advantage slavery gave 
the South and the resentment of the South that it should be a basis 
of discrimination against her. At the end a compromise was adopted, 
three-fifths of the slaves being counted in apportioning both repre- 
sentation and direct taxes. 

Still another adjustment of conflicting interests was to be made. 
The four states south of the Potomac were agricultural, and all the 
others had strong commercial interests. Since the states 
Commerce ^/ere to be equal in the senate, the South, remembering the 
Foreign British navigation acts, feared that the North might com- 

Siave Trade, bine to make discrimination against the non-commercial 
section. They, therefore, hesitated when it was proposed 
to give congress control over commerce. At the same time the regu- 
lation of the slave trade came up. Virginia and Maryland had as 
many slaves as they could profitably employ, and there was no popular 
demand for more. Their leading men saw the evils of the system and 
would have been pleased to eliminate it. They joined with the men 
of the North in a desire to forbid the foreign slave trade at once. 
This alarmed South Carolina and Georgia, where slaves were more 
profitable. The people of these two states looked with hope to the 
settlement of the Gulf region, where rich lands awaited development 
through slave labor. Georgia and South Carolina, therefore, objected 
to an immediate checking of their slave supply and a consequent 
enhancement of slave prices. Here again came a warm debate in 
which the southernmost states resorted to the usual argument that 
they would not federate if their interests were overridden. They had 
the sympathy of North Carolina, and it was evident that a powerful 
state could be formed if the three, with the vast Gulf section, set 
up a government of their own. Finally the spirit of compromise 



THE CONSTITUTION BEFORE THE PEOPLE 247 

prevailed. Congress was given control of navigation, which satisfied 
the North, and it was agreed that the foreign slave trade should not 
be prohibited before 1808. 

Other points of difference appeared in the convention, but they 
concerned the theory of government, and not the interests of the 
parts of the union. They were usually won by the advo- 
cates of a national government. Thus the powers of '^^^ 9°°" 
congress, methods of election, the functions of the execu- completed, 
tive, the creation of a system of federal courts, the powers 
denied to the states, the methods of amending the constitution, and 
other similar points were passed upon after much contention. The 
sessions lasted until September 17. Of the fifty-five delegates who 
had attended, only thirty-nine were present and signed : some of the 
others had gone home in disgust to oppose adoption when the com- 
pleted instrument should appear before the states. Probably few 
of its supporters believed it was all it should be, but they held it was 
better than the old system, and they believed time would show its 
defects and lead to amendments. These, also, went to their homes 
resolved to do what they could to secure adoption. 

The Adoption of the Constitution 

The country waited anxiously while the convention deliberated 
behind closed doors : it was in commotion as soon as the constitution 
was published. As the members returned to their con- 
stituencies full of arguments for nationality, the immediate .J'^^^^ , ^ 

1 . • /-T-11 1 1 i"^ People. 

response was enthusiastic. Ihe people were accustomed 

to follow leaders, and the federalists, as the advocates of nationality, 
had the advantage of early organization. Newspapers teemed with 
articles on both sides, speeches were made, and pamphlets appeared. 
The most notable utterance was a series of papers by Hamilton, 
Madison, and Jay, under the title of "The Federalist," then and to 
this day an excellent summary of the meaning of the constitution. 
On the other hand, some of the most prominent men of the day began 
to denounce ratification. They favored a stronger ' government 
than the old confederation, but they thought the suggested plan too 
national. They slowly rallied their following into a group known as anti- 
federalists, and by speaking and writing urged that the liberty of indi- 
viduals would be destroyed if the powers of the states were reduced. 
In the convention the small states were the champions of state 
rights, but now they were most eager to ratify. They had won their 
fight in regard to the composition of the senate, and made 
haste to " come under the roof," as the phrase ran. Dela- ^^^1^ 
ware ratified first, December 7, 1787, New Jersey on the tjoug^ 
1 8th, and Connecticut on January 9, 1788. The first large 
state to act was Pennsylvania, where the antifederalists appeared in 



248 MAKING THE CONSTITUTION 

strength. They fought so well that a compromise was adopted. The 
federalists agreed to ten suggested amendments which should be 
submitted to congress in the hope that they would be referred to the 
other states for approval ; and on that basis the constitution was 
accepted on December 12. January 2 Georgia ratified unanimously. 
By this means five states accepted the new government within a month 
and two days, and the federalists were much encouraged. 

In Massachusetts the antifederalists were strong in the interior 
towns where distrust of the merchants and capitalists of the seaports, 
now generally federalists, had been marked since the days 
Massachu- ^f ghays's rebellion. All eyes turned to John Hancock and 
Ratifies. Samuel Adams, who had much influence with the popular 
party. They were both known to hesitate, but the former 
was won over by the promise of support for either the presidency or 
vice-presidency in the new government. The latter could not be 
so easily convinced. He was devoted to his state and thought her 
interests were sacrificed. In the convention Hancock was induced 
to offer a number of proposed amendments supporting the rights of 
the states. Adams announced that he was satisfied, and on February 
7 ratification was carried by the relatively small majority of 19. 
The Pennsylvania amendments had been in the nature of a bill of 
rights, and were considered a safeguard of personal liberty : those 
offered by Massachusetts went farther and sought to lessen nationality 
and strengthen the states. Without them it is doubtful 
Significance jf ^-f^g Qj^j gg^y State would have accepted the constitution. 
Amend- '^^^ antifederalists pronounced them a subterfuge and 
ments. asked who was so simple as to believe that attention would 

be paid to amendments once the nationalists got the 
government established to their liking ? and would it not be more 
sensible to announce that they would not ratify until the amendments 
were adopted ? The federalists replied that if the constitution were 
now rejected, there was slight hope that the states could be got to 
consider it again. Their success in urging amendments as a means 
of overcoming the arguments of the Massachusetts antifederalists 
induced them to use it in all the states who later raised strong objec- 
tions. Of the seven states voting after this all but one ratified with 
amendments. The consent of Massachusetts determined New 
Hampshire, who at first adjourned her convention to 
States ^^^ what her great neighbor would do. April 26 Mary- 

land ratified, and South Carolina on May 23. This made 
eight states, and by the constitution the new system was to go into 
effect when nine had ratified. Which would be the one remaining 
necessary accession ? The question was answered when on June 2 1 
New Hampshire accepted the constitution. 

Before the South knew of New Hampshire's action Virginia, after 
a hard and doubtful battle, had decided for union. Although the 



VIRGINIA AND NEW YORK 249 

state's delegation voted steadily for nationality in the Philadelphia 
convention, in no ratifying convention was there a harder fight 
against nationality. It was led by Patrick Henry, who . . 
had refused to go to the convention as a delegate. He 
opened the attack in the Richmond convention by boldly proposing 
to call to account the Virginia delegates, Washington included, on 
the ground that they had been untrue to the state when they made a 
plan for a national government. He was supported by George 
Mason, a delegate who refused to sign the constitution, and by R. H. 
Lee, leader of a group of disappointed men who long opposed the 
policy of the great planters in eastern Virginia. They attacked the 
constitution at every possible point. It would make a tyrant of the 
president, it would enslave the states, it would destroy individual 
liberty : these and other arguments were marshaled by the impetuous 
Henry with dramatic force. Madison and John Marshall met his 
arguments coolly. The proposed plan, they said, left the states with 
all necessary powers over local affairs and gave the union only what 
power was needed to direct the affairs common to all the states. At 
the end of three weeks of excited debate amendments were brought 
forward, forty in all. Henry laughed at them. They were designed, 
he said, to lull the fears of the antifederalists, but once adoption was 
secured they would not be heard from again. Madison replied with 
a pledge that they should be fairly considered and submitted to the 
states. The promise was trusted by some members of the convention 
who were in doubt, and ratification was carried on June 25, 1788, 
by a majority of ten. 

Ten states had now "come under the federal roof," and the battle 
shifted to New York, where George Clinton led the antifederalists. 
When the convention met in June a majority of the w y k 
members were with him. Hamilton, Jay, and Robert R. 
Livingston led the federalists with great ability. The same argu- 
ments used in the other states were bandied back and forth ; but 
when it was known that ten states had ratified, the situation changed. 
New York was not willing to be left out of the union in company 
with Rhode Island and North Carolina. Some antifederalists now 
became discouraged, and when the vote was taken, July 26, the 
federalists won by three votes. A resolution was passed asking con- 
gress to call a new convention to consider a constitution. It won some 
votes for ratification, but it elicited no response from either congress 
or the other states. Everywhere men were tired of the discussions 
of the past year and were willing to test what had been won before 
they began to revise it. 

Two states now remained out of the new union. North Carolina 
and Rhode Island. In the former a convention was held, controlled 
by the antifederalists. It was decided to adjourn without action. 
The leaders hoped that other states would do the same and be able 



250 MAKING THE CONSTITUTION 

to force the union to amend the plan adopted. Rhode Island 
submitted the constitution to the people, who rejected it by a 
large majority. After the new government was organ- 
North Caro- i2ed these two states became ashamed that they were 

Du^j'^T without the fold, and accepted the constitution, the 

Rhode Is- . ^^ ' , ^ ^ i i i 

land. former on November 21, 1789, and the latter on 

May 29, 1790. 

Nationality and State Integrity in the Constitution 

There is a trace of nationality in the articles of confederation, 
but the constitution has a great deal more. By it the legislature 
may do the following things: i. Lay and collect taxes, 
Powers o direct and indirect, "to pay the debts, and provide for the 
common defense and general welfare of the United States," 
but taxes must be uniform throughout the union; 2. Regulate 
foreign and interstate commerce; 3. Pass naturalization laws; 
4. Pass uniform bankruptcy laws; 5. Enact copyright and patent 
laws ; 6. Raise and support an army ; 7. Call out the militia to execute 
the laws of the union, suppress insurrection, or repel invasion; 
8. Have exclusive control over the district, not more than ten miles 
square, to be selected for the national capital ; 9. Buy with the consent 
of the state in which they lie sites for forts, arsenals, and other 
public works and buildings, and have exclusive control of the same ; 
10. Make laws to carry into effect any of the powers granted to it 
in the constitution ; 11. Suspend the writ of Habeas corpus when 
necessary in cases of rebellion or of invasion; 12. Determine the 
times and places of choosing presidential electors; 13. Judge of the 
validity of the election of its own members, each house acting for 
itself; 14. Dispose of and govern the territory and other property 
of the United States; and 15. Admit new states into the union, 
but no state to be divided without its own consent. Of the powers 
granted to congress by the articles of confederation the following 
were reaffirmed: i. To establish and control post offices and post 
roads ; 2. To borrow money ; 3. To coin money and fix the standards 
of weights and measures ; 4. To define and punish piracies and 
felonies on the high seas ; 5. To create and maintain a navy ; 
6. To make rules for the regulation of the army; 7. To declare 
war ; and 8. To grant letters of marque. 

The composition of congress is as follows : i. A house of represent- 
atives, composed of not more than one representative for 
of°Congress! ^^^^ 30,000 inhabitants and each member to be chosen 
I. The every two years ; but each state must have at least one 

House of representative. In apportioning representation and direct 
Representa- taxes three-fifths of the slaves and all the whites shall 
**^®^' be counted. Each representative must be at least 



LEADING FEATURES OF THE CONSTITUTION 251 

twenty-five years old, seven years a citizen of the United States, 
and a resident of the state from which he is chosen. The 
house of representatives elects its own officers and has sole right 
of impeachment. It originates all bills for raising revenue, but the 
senate may amend them. 

2. The senate, composed of two members from each state chosen 
for six years by the state legislatures, each member to have one vote. 
One-third of the members are chosen every two years. 
Each senator must be at least thirty years old, nine Ignate. 
years a citizen of the United States, and an inhabitant 
of the state from which he is chosen. The vice-president presides 
over the senate but has no vote unless there is a tie. The senate 
tries impeachments, but when the president is impeached the chief 
justice presides, and a two-thirds vote is necessary for all convic- 
tions. It also confirms the appointment of officers nominated by the 
president and by a two-thirds vote ratifies treaties. It chooses 
a president pro tempore to preside when the vice-president is absent 
or fills the office of president. 

Congress shall meet in regular session at least once a year, on the 
first Monday in December, or on some other day selected by itself. 
The state legislatures shall direct the time, place, and 
manner of electing members of each house, but congress 
may, if it Avills, make other regulations for choosing senators and 
representatives. All persons vote for representatives and presidential 
electors who vote for members of the most numerous branch of 
the state legislature. Each house is judge of its own elections, each 
elects its own officers, each prescribes its own rules of procedure, 
and each must enter the yeas and nays in its journal when one-fifth 
of the members present demand it. No member shall 
be called to account for words spoken in debate or arrested -^^^^^ " 
during attendance on the sessions, except for treason, 
felony, or breach of the peace. Each bill to become a law must 
be passed by each house and signed by the president of the United 
States, but if he vetoes it, congress may pass it over his veto by a 
two-thirds majority. If he keeps it ten days without .j.j^ y ^ 
either veto or approval, it becomes law. If he receives 
a law within ten days before adjournment and does not act upon it, 
the bill is not law. Congress may not create a title of nobility, and 
no federal official shall accept a foreign title or present without the 
consent of congress. 

The executive function is exercised by a president of the United 
States chosen for four years by electors appointed by . 

the states as they may see fit. Each state is to have ^^^^ 
as many presidential electors as it has representatives 
and senators, and each elector has one vote. The selection of elec- 
tors may be regulated by congress. The president must be a natural- 



252 MAKING THE CONSTITUTION 

born citizen of the United States, at least thirty-five years old, and 
for fourteen years a resident of the United States, and he shall take 
an oath faithfully to execute the office and to defend the constitution. 
His powers are defined as follows: i. He shall be commander-in- 
chief of the army and navy; 2. He shall make treaties with the 
concurrence of two-thirds of the senate ; 3. He shall 
appoint ambassadors, judges, and other officers with the 
consent of the senate, and, if congress gives him the power, inferior 
offices of his own accord ; 4. He shall call congress in extra session ; 
5. He shall receive ambassadors and conduct negotiations with 
foreign states ; 6. He shall see that the laws be executed ; 7. He 
shall be liable to impeachment for "treason, bribery, or other high 
crimes and misdemeanors"; 8. He shall have the power to pardon 
all offenses but cases of impeachment ; and 9. He shall send to 
congress information on the state of the nation. 

The constitution also creates a vice-president, to serve when the 
president is incapacitated for office and to preside over the senate. 
He is chosen in the same way as the president. Originally 
President ^^^ electors were to vote for two men; and the one having 
the highest vote was to be president and the next to be 
vice-president. The growth of parties showed weakness in this 
feature of the system, and the twelfth amendment, 1804, provided 
that the presidential electors should vote separately for president and 
vice-president, the majority vote electing to each office. If no candi- 
date for president has a majority, the election goes to the house of 
representatives, which, voting by states, shall choose from the three 
highest candidates. 

The president is given power to call on the heads of the executive 
departments for written opinions relative to their respective depart- 
ments. This clause is all the constitution contains 
Cabinet ^" reference to the cabinet. Out of it have grown impor- 

tant functions. It is held that a president may appoint 
or remove the members of his cabinet ; but congress alone may create 
a new department, whose head thus becomes a member of the cabinet. 
In creating a strong executive and a congress with large powers 
of legislation, the constitution added greatly to the nationalism of the 
government. It went still further when it established a 
Courts system of federal courts. It provides that the judicial 

power of the union shall reside in a supreme court and such 
lower courts as congress may establish. The judges are appointed 
as other federal officers and hold office during good behavior. Their 
most important jurisdiction extends to cases arising under the con- 
stitution, laws, and treaties of the United States, cases affecting 
foreign ministers and consuls, admiralty cases, cases in which the 
United States is a party, and controversies between two or more states, 
or between a state and citizens of another state, or between citizens 



LIMITATIONS ON THE STATES 253 

of different states, or between a state or its citizens and a foreign 

state. The supreme court has original jurisdiction only in cases 

concerning foreign ministers and consuls and those in which a state 

is a party. In other cases it has appellate jurisdiction. Treason 

against the United States consists of "levying war against 

them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid n^c^°^ 

and comfort"; and conviction of treason shall only 

occur on the evidence given in open court of two witnesses to the 

same overt act, or upon confession in open court. 

The old congress had as much judicial jurisdiction as the articles 
of confederation allowed to the central government. The makers 
of the constitution considered this union of legislative 
and judicial functions unwise, and they took pains to ^.""'■J""^- 
make the executive, legislative, and judicial organs inde- 
pendent of one another, holding that each would check the evil 
tendencies of the other. As a result, great power was given to the 
federal courts. They have become interpreters of the constitution 
and in that capacity have declared null laws of congress, laws of the 
states, and even state constitutions, when there has seemed to them 
to be a conflict with the powers of the general government. Creat- 
ing the federal courts was one of the most powerful expressions of 
nationality adopted by the convention of 1787. 

The constitution provides two methods of amendment: i. Two- 
thirds of each house may approve an amendment, and it becomes 
effective when accepted by three-fourths of the states ; 
2. The legislatures of two-thirds of the states may call ^^^^' 
for a constitutional convention, which congress must 
summon. The product of a constitutional convention becomes 
law when ratified by three-fourths of the states. 

In several general ways the constitution modifies the power of 
a state: i. It guarantees to each a republican form of government 
and to the citizen of one state residing in another all the 
rights of a citizen of that state ; 2. Fugitives from justice l-i^ltations 
and from labor are ordered to be surrendered on the- states 
demand of the state from which they fled. 3. No state 
may emit bills of credit, make anything but gold and silver coin a 
legal tender, or pass a biU of attainder, ex post facto law, or a law impair- 
ing the obligation of a contract; 4. No state may lay imposts or 
duties on imports or exports without the consent of congress ; and 
5. The constitution and laws in pursuance thereof are to be the su- 
preme law of the land. 

Besides these specific limitations we must consider the immense 
national authority and prestige, which was bound to reduce the state's 
pretension to complete sovereignty. But the state felt its inferi- 
ority less because it had not exercised many of the powers now 
relinquished, and because it retained most of the functions vital to 



254 MAKING THE CONSTITUTION 

its own interests. It was still a self-governing community, making 
laws to govern personal and property relations, controlling its 

own plans for social improvement, regulating the police 
Overween- power over its own citizens, choosing its own govern- 
'^^the^^ '^® ment, administering its own laws in its own courts, and 
Nation. doing other things which were not themselves connected 

with the life of the general government. In all things 

properly within its own sphere it was conceded to be supreme. 

In 1789 the bounds between its authority and that of the nation 

were not well defined, and if there should be conflict between the 

two in a matter of interpretation, it seemed probable 
Probable that the stronger would win. Three features of the national 
Conflict. constitution were ominous: i. Congress had power to 
"' lay taxes to provide for the general welfare. If the phrase 
"general welfare" were given a broad interpretation, it was difficult 
to say what congress might not do. 2. The constitution and the 
laws of congress were made supreme law, and the federal courts were 
given power to declare null state constitutions and laws in conflict 
with them. If, therefore, a controversy between a state and the 
nation should come before such a court, it seemed probable that the 
federal supreme court would support the authority of the latter. 
3. Congress was given control over interstate commerce. This 
was not of great apparent importance at the time, but the develop- 
ment of means of communication would increase interstate commerce, 
enlarge the activity of the federal government in supervision of it, 
and produce frequent situations in which a state should be unable 
to regulate commerce within its borders, on the ground that to do 
so would interfere with interstate relations. 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

General references are the same as for the preceding chapter. On the consti- 
tution, see the following secondary works : Meigs, Growth of the Constitution in the 
Federal Convention (1900) ; Taylor, Origin and Growth of the American Constitution 
(191 1), gives too much importance to Pelatiah Webster's pamphlet; Story, 
Commentaries on the Constitution, 2 vols. (eds. 1873 ^.nd 189 1); Curtis, Consti- 
tutional History of the United States, 2 vols. (1889-1896) ; Jameson, Studies in the 
History of the Federal Convention (Amer. Hist. Assn. Report, 1902) ; Beard, Read- 
ings in American Govermnent and Politics (1909); Bryce, The American Common- 
wealth, 2 vols. (ed. 1911); Thayer, Ca^e^ on Constitutional Law, 2 vols. (1895); 
Learned, The President's Cabinet (191 2); and Hare, American Constitutional Law, 
2 vols. (1889). 

The original material on the convention has been many times published. The 
best edition is Farrand, Records of the Federal Convention (191 1), 3 vols. It contains 
the journal of the convention and the notes on debate by Madison, Yates, Patterson, 
McHenry, King, Peirce, and Hamilton, each presented day by day. Vol. Ill 
contains in reprint many valuable speeches, letters, etc. The journal and most of 
the notes are in Elliot, Debates, 5 vols. (ed. 1S36) ; also the debates in state ratify- 
ing conventions. Madison's Notes are in several editions, the best being by Hunt, 
vols. Ill and IV, in the Writings of Madison. There are several editions of The 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 255 

Federalist, but the best are by P. L. Ford, Lodge, and Dawson. On the author- 
ship of The Federalist, see Bourne and Ford, P. L., in American Historical 
Review, II, 443-460 and 675-687. Original pamphlets are reprinted in Ford, P. L,, 
Essays on the Constitution (1892) and Pamphlets on the Constitution (1888). 
Another comprehensive list of original documents is in The Documentary History 
of the Constitution, 5 vols. (1895-1905). 

Much valuable information is in the writings and biographies of public men of 
the time. Of the former, see Ford, W. C, Washington, 14 vols. (1889-1893) 
Sparks, Washington, 12 vols. (1834-1837) ; Hunt, Madison, 9 vols. (1900-1910) 
Lodge, Hamilton, 9 vols. (1885-1886); Bigelow, /^ra«/fe/m, 10 vols. (1887-1888) 
Adams, C. F., John Adams, 10 vols. (1850-1856) ; Hamilton, Monroe, 7 vols 
(1898-1903) ; and Ford, P. L., Jefferson, 10 vols. ; (1892-1899). The most important 
biographies are: Hunt, Madison (1902); Rives, Madison, 3 vols. (1859-1868); 
Jay, Wm., John Jay, 2 vols. (1833); Rowland, Mason, 2 vols. (1892); Henry, 
W. W., Patrick Henry, 3 vols. (1891) ; Wells, Samuel Adams, 3 vols. (1865) ; 
Still6, Dickinson (1891) ; Austin, Gerry, 2 vols. (1828-1829) ; Lee, R. H. Lee (1825) ; 
and Randall, Jefferson, 3 vols. (1858). 

For Independent Reading 

Elliott, Biographical Story of the Constitution (1910) ; Landon, Constitutional 
History and Government (1889) ; Fiske, Critical Period (1888) ; Morse, Life of Franklin 
(1889) ; Lodge, Alexander Hamilton^{i882) ; and Morse, John Adams (1885). 



CHAPTER XII 

WASHINGTON'S PRESIDENCY — A PERIOD OF ORGANIZATION 

The Work of Organization 

July 2, 1788, the president of the old congress, in session in New 
York, rose and announced that nine states having ratified the con- 
stitution, it was in order to take steps to establish the new 
ohfr^*^* government. His hearers agreed with him, and it was 
gress. " resolved that the states should choose presidential elec- 
tors on the first Wednesday in January, 1789, who, a 
month later, should select a president and vice-president ; and that a 
congress elected under the constitution should meet the first Wednes- 
day in March following. After some debate, New York was selected 
for the place of meeting. This was the last important legislation of the 
congress which for fourteen years had guided the fortunes of all the 
states through the dangers of war and the hardly less difficult trials 
(^^ of peace. Would success crown the new system, over whose adoption 

there had been so vast an amount of dispute ? Some wise 

^. "„ ones had serious doubts, and the most hopeful admitted 
penment. . . ' ,, , i i • i 

V , that it was an experiment, but urged that it be given a 

/ « fair trial. 

For president the unanimous choice was Washington. He was a 

good general, though not a brilliant one. He was not a good speaker 

^•^: and was not versed in the principles of government. But 

Washington }^g ^^s honest, fair-minded, dignified, and faithful to the 

President liberty of America. He had the power of commanding 

,- ^ ' obedience, and everybody, federalist and antifederalist, 

^i; trusted him. With Washington at the helm, faction would be 

checked and the authority of the union respected. His personal 

character was worth a great deal to the ''experiment." It gave 

i- it the confidence of Americans and foreigners. John Adams was 

'^ elected vice-president. 

At the time designated very few members of congress were in New 
York. The weak-hearted thought this was because nobody cared 
for the new plan, but others showed that it was because 
Me^s^^ the roads were bad. April 6, the senate had a quorum, 
the electoral votes were counted, and a messenger went 
to summon the president-elect to the seat of government. April 
30, he was in the city and took the oath of office. On his journey to 
New York he received every mark of affection from the people. 

256 



ADMINISTRATIVE DEPARTMENTS 257 

The problems before president and congress were numerous. All 
that the old confederation could not do had now to be taken up. In 
the first place, the government was to be organized. The officers 
of state, great and small, must be appointed; federal 
courts, high and low, must be created ; a revenue law must the Dav^^° 
be devised ; the revolutionary debt must be placed on a 
sound basis ; commerce must be regulated ; those parts of the treaty of 
1783 v.hich were not executed must be carried into effect ; our relations 
with foreign states must be defined in proper treaties ; a site for the 
federal capital must be selected ; and many other minor affairs must 
have attention. They were tasks which demanded the wisdom of the 
best men in the country, and they engaged the attention of Washing- 
ton and congress through most of his two administrations. Men 
approached them mth the greater caution, because they felt that all 
that was done would be taken for precedents in the conduct of the 
affairs of the future. 

The first thing was to raise a revenue. Madison, a member of the 
house of representatives — generally called "the house" — intro- 
duced the subject by moving an import duty of 5 per cent 
on all articles brought into the country. A Pennsylvania Revenue 
delegate objected. He wished a small tax for revenue, 
but asked that it be laid so as to protect articles produced in America. 
The Middle states were then the chief center of American manufac- 
tures. After much discussion, the protective principle was adopted, 
but it was for a long time made incidental to the purpose of getting a 
revenue. 

Then congress took up the task of creating great administrative 
departments. In July it created a department of state, in August, a 
department of war, and in September, a department of 
the treasury. Over each was to be a head of department, J^^^^^'^i"" 
who should ever be nominated by the chief executive and partments. " 
confirmed by the senate. Over the first the president ap- 
pointed Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia, who had just come back from 
Paris, where he had been our minister since 1785. Over the second 
he placed Alexander Hamilton, of New York, then, as later, known 
for one of the best-informed Americans in questions of finance, a 
man of fine mind, versed in principles of government, and a leading 
politician. Over the third he placed Henry Knox, of Massachusetts, 
a man of no great ability, but popular because he was a revolutionary 
general and had influence in New England. Congress also created 
the office of attorney-general, to which Edmund Randolph, of Vir- 
ginia, was appointed. He was merely law adviser to the administra- 
tion, had a small salary, and was expected to have outside practice 
if he wished it. The first three heads of department were brought 
together to advise the president about problems of administration, 
and this was the beginning of the cabinet. It was not until 1870 that 



258 A PERIOD OF ORGANIZATION 

the department of justice was formally organized with the attorney- 
general at the head, but he attended cabinet meetings from the first. 
Although the laws creating the departments said nothing about the 
right of removing the heads, it was generally held that it lay with the 
president, and on this theory later practice has proceeded. It would 
be unwise to force the president to keep in his cabinet a man who is 
uncongenial, or who does not have his confidence. 

Next came the judiciary. No one objected to a supreme court, but 
some thought that the state courts should be given jurisdiction over 
federal cases in the lower stages, with appeal to the higher 
Federal court. This did not please the majority of congress, who 

tablished." wished that the government should have a complete court 
system of its own. It was accordingly decided to create, 
besides the supreme court, with one chief justice and five associate 
justices, four circuit and thirteen district courts, whose judges should 
be appointed by the president and confirmed by the senate. The 
number of these lower courts has been increased with the growth of the 
union. 

Another duty was to deal with the amendments sent up by the 
ratifying states. Henry and other prominent antifederalists had 
pronounced the plan of ratifying with suggestions of amend- 
The Amend- j^-,gj^(^g g^ subterfuge ; and for a time it seemed that they 
were right. Weeks passed and congress took no notice 
of amendments. Then the complaints at home became so loud that 
congress dared not delay longer. The suggested amendments were 
referred to a committee. All that looked toward a modification of the 
plan of union were ignored, and the twelve which congress sent to 
the states for adoption were in the nature of a bill of rights. Ten 
of these were accepted. The antifederalists declared that this con- 
firmed their previous suspicions, and criticized congress roundly. 
But the subject did not interest the people, and the antifederalist 
party soon disintegrated ; for other measures were coming up to divide 
the voters into two great parties. 

The constitution designed that congress should be entirely inde- 
l)endent of the executive. The president could communicate infor- 
mation, but neither he nor his cabinet could speak on the 
Theinitia- floor or vote in its proceedings. Each house was very 
^^^ ^" jealous of interference from that quarter, and he, there- 

ongress. f^^-Q^ jj^g ^q initiative in legislation. This important 
function was referred to committees. To them were sent impor- 
tant bills introduced by members. The most powerful stand- 
ing committee in the house was the committee of ways 
Congres- ^^^ means, created in 1795, whose functions were con- 
mittees. nected with raising and expending revenue. At first the 

committees were special, but in time standing committees 
came into general use. In the first congress the committees of each 



HAMILTON AND THE FINANCES 259 

house were elected by the members, but from 1790 to 1911 the 
speaker of the house, who has been a party man since 1791, ap- 
pointed the committees in that branch. The senate committees are 
still elected by the members of the senate. 

Financial Reorganization 

The first session of congress lasted until September 29, 1789. 
One of its last acts was to ask Hamilton, secretary of the treasury, 
to prepare a report on the state of the finances. He 
took up the task with accustomed energy, and the ^ *"^*°'^ ^ 
result was four reports covering every phase of the ^iai Reports, 
matter intrusted to him. The first was submitted 
January 14, 1790, and dealt with the public debt; the second, 
submitted December 13, 1790, recommended an excise; the third, 
December 13, 1790, recommended a national bank ; and the fourth, 
December 5, 1791, argued for the protection of manufactures. The 
fourth report was not considered when introduced, but the others 
were enacted into law. 

The debt was then, including arrears of interest, divided as follows: 
due to foreigners, $11,710,378 ; to domestic creditors, $42,414,085 ; and 
a floating debt of $2,000,000. Hamilton proposed to re- 
fund all this at par. Now, the domestic debt had been ^g^^'lfnti- 
selling as low as 25 per cent of par, and the first suggestion nental Debt, 
of paying at par had led the speculators to buy the old 
certificates wherever found. Should the government enable them to 
make the handsome profits anticipated now became an urgent ques- 
tion in congress. Hamilton claimed that such a course was necessary 
to place the public credit on a sound basis ; others, mostly men from 
rural constituencies, urged that the idea was preposterous. They 
thought he wished to found a party whose center was men of wealth, 
through whose influence persons dependent on them for financial pros- 
perity should be dominated. It was the first appearance in the new 
government of party division. Madison supported the latter view 
and proposed that the debt be paid at par, but that the speculators 
be given only the ruling price and tha^: the rest up to par be paid to the 
original holders of the debt. This plan found favor with some mem- 
bers, but the majority thought it impossible to determine who were 
the original holders, and it was decided to pay the debt as proposed by 
Hamilton. 

The secretary of the treasury wished also to assume the debt in- 
curred by the states in aid of the revolution. This propo- 
sition aroused still greater opposition. Some states had Assumption 
paid much of their revolutionary debt and objected to Debts. 
assuming a part of that of others, as they must do as a 
part of the union, if the measure carried. But those states which had 



26o A PERIOD OF ORGANIZATION 

not settled their debts were in favor of the plan. As leader of the former, 
now appeared Madison. In 1787 he had been prominent in the party 
of nationality, but he now argued that the constitution gave congress 
no power to assume state debts. After weeks of discussion the op- 
ponents of assumption had a small majority. But before the vote was 
finally cast, a compromise was effected, chiefly through the efforts of 
Hamilton and Jefferson. The Southerners favored locat- 

A Sout era j ^j^ capital on the Potomac, but lacked a few votes for 
Capital. ,0 ^ ^ , ' 101 

that purpose, it was agreed that enough bouthern votes 

should be got for assumption to carry it, if enough Northern votes 

were secured to get a Southern location of the capital ; and on this 

basis both measures were carried in the spring of 1790. Hamilton 

and the nationalists were pleased, because they thought assumption 

would strengthen the national government and invigorate the national 

credit by removing from the sphere of doubt a large mass of securities 

which the states, in the existing distress, could not hope to pay for 

many years. As it turned out, assumption increased the obUgations 

of the United States by $18,271,786. 

Refunding, as time showed, was a slow process. In 1795 over a 

million dollars of the old debt was still unfunded. Including this 

amount, the total was $77,500,000, of which the foreign debt, 
TheTota $11,710,000, paid interest at 4 per cent, 4I per cent, and 5 

per cent. Of the domestic debt of $65,800,000, about half, 
45.4 per cent, paid interest at 6 per cent, while 30.3 per cent paid at 
3 per cent, and 24.3 per cent was at 6 per cent with interest pay- 
ments deferred until 1801. 

To pay the debt, Hamilton got congress to establish a sinking fund 
which, it was supposed, would eventually absorb the entire indebted- 
ness. He did not fear a national debt, but said it might even become 
a national blessing. His adversaries charged that he wished to make 
it perpetual, like the debt of Great Britain. The majority of the 
people, like thrifty husbandmen, wished to pay it gradually. But 
a national debt, by causing the capitalists who held it to look to the 
government for payment, was a strong bond of union. 

Hamilton considered a great national bank, like that of England, a 
necessity. It would issue large quantities of its notes and thus provide 

a much-needed and safe currency; it would enable the 
First Bank government to sell its bonds quickly at home and abroad ; 
Ui^ted ^^ would furnish a safe and cheap means of exchange for 

States. the people ; by establishing branches in the leading cities, 

it would enable the government to transfer its funds 
cheaply ; and it would furnish a safe place for keeping the public 
funds. His opponents objected that it would give the bank a monop- 
oly in exchange ; that by making its notes receivable for government 
dues, it would have superior privileges ; that it would interfere with 
the operations of state banks ; and that the constitution gave congress 



HAMILTON'S SUCCESS 261 

no power to establish a bank. They stressed the last objection most ; 
and when a bill to create such a bank with a charter for twenty years 
passed congress, efforts were made to have it vetoed. Washington 
hesitated, but finally called on his cabinet for advice. Hamilton 
argued for approval, and Knox supported him. Jefferson took the 
other side and had the support of Randolph. The president at last 
decided for Hamilton, on the ground that he would favor the man in 
whose department, the treasury, the matter lay. The bank began 
business in 1791 and had a capital stock of $10,000,000, of which the 
government owned $2,000,000 for which it was to pay in installments. 
The fact that the government was a large stockholder added to the 
public confidence in the bank. 

The third feature of Hamilton's scheme was an excise, a tax collected 
on distilled liquors. Congress passed the bill to that effect, and Wash- 
ington approved it. Hamilton supported it both because 
it would give a revenue and because, by collecting the tax ^^ ''"^^ 
at the stills, owned chiefly by farmers, the power of the 
general government would be brought home to the people of every part 
of the country. Thus, each feature of Hamilton's scheme stood for 
strong national authority. In opposition to him grew up a party 
opposed to centralization. The federalists, who supported Hamilton, 
embraced the large business interests, capitalists, merchants, and 
manufacturers, together with men who favored a strong 
government generally. The opposition, led by Jefferson, uation^sm 
opposed further concentration and had strong support 
from the farmers in the South and in the rural parts of the Middle 
states. Among them were many former antifederalists ; but the 
name was unpopular, because they no longer opposed the constitution. 
They preferred the name "republican," which gradually came into use. 

Hamilton's financial plans proved very successful. No one could 
doubt that a country with such immense resources as the United 
states could pay its obligations, if it wished ; and the 
enactment of the laws he recommended expressed its ^^^"?!f °f 
purpose in the matter. Accordingly, the bonds sold well, pj^n. 
the bank he established proved successful, and confidence 
in the future was high. Bold imagination characterized every scheme 
he espoused, and in each case he was justified by the result. With 
the enactment of his suggestions vanished all fears that the nation 
would be embarrassed by its debts. 

Adjusting Foreign Relations 

Meanwhile, our foreign relations demanded attention. England 
had not paid for the slaves carried away at the end of the revolution, 
and she still held five frontier posts extending from Lake Champlain 
to the north of Lake Superior, all of which was contrary to the treaty. 



262 A PERIOD OF ORGANIZATION 

She justified her failure on the ground that we still impeded the col- 
lection of British debts and had not relaxed our regulations against 

the loyalists. These Western posts were centers of a 
The Treaty j-j^,}^ Canadian fur trade, to which our own traders wished 
ecuted' ^° S^^ access, and we justly attributed her action to her 

desire to prolong as much as possible her advantage in that 
respect. Another complaint was that she would not make a com- 
mercial treaty. American traders wished to have her modify her 
navigation laws so as to allow them to share in the trade with the 
West Indies. Washington took early notice of the situation, and in 
1789 sent Gouverneur Morris to London to see if arrangements could 
be made. The British ministry was immovable, and Morris, like 
Adams several years earlier, could think of nothing better than to ad- 
vise that we draw near to France in commercial affairs, — a threat as 
impotent now as formerly ; for France did not manufacture the mer- 
chandise we needed. It was not until the autumn of lygi that the 
first British minister to the new government arrived in Philadelphia, 
the seat of government from 1790 to 1800, but he brought no instruc- 
tions to make a treaty, and the futile negotiations still went on. 

By this time the Indians south of Lake Erie were in a state of fer- 
ment. White settlers were appearing north and west of the Ohio, in 

pursuance of a treaty at Fort Harmar in 1789, which the 
Defea^"^ ^ savages claimed was obtained through fraud. Their 

fears were stimulated by the Canadian traders, who were 
alarmed at the prospect of losing a region rich in furs. Gen- 
eral St. Clair, governor and military commander in Ohio, asked 
congress for troops to reduce the Indians to order. Two thousand 
recruits were sent him, with which he marched from Cincinnati into 
the forest north of it, where, November 4, 1791, he carelessly allowed 
himself to be ambushed by the foe. Of the fourteen hundred men on 
the field, only fifty escaped uninjured, and all the baggage was lost. 
It was the first battle fought under the new government, and the news 
of the disaster caused great distress in the East. Washington himself 
gave St. Clair a severe rebuke and appointed Anthony Wayne, of 

revolutionary fame, to conduct another expedition against 
Command ^^^ Indians. October 7, 1793, Wayne marched with 

2600 men for the enemy's country. He built Fort Green- 
ville there, and went into winter quarters. In June, 1794, he was 
joined by 1600 mounted men from Kentucky and began an advance. 
The war had now taken on a new phase. From the beginning the 

Indians received ammunition and guns from the British, 
British ^^^ Canadian traders and officials gave them open en- 

tions. couragement. Canada thought England would eventually 

retain the Western posts, and wished to preserve the 
Indian tribes intact, both on account of the fur trade and because they 
would thus have a buffer between their own territory and that of the 



OHIO OPENED TO SETTLEMENT 263 

United States. In 1793 the hostiles showed a willingness to make 
peace, but continued the war through the persuasion of the British. 
In the following February, Dorchester, governor of Canada, made a 
speech to a number of chiefs, telling them they were wronged by the 
Americans, and that England and the United States would soon be at 
war, when the Indians could recover their lands. At the same time 
British soldiers from Detroit, one of the retained posts, were erecting 
a fort sixty miles south of that place in territory unquestionably 
American. All this was known in Philadelphia, and Washington 
ordered Wayne to carry the intruding fort, if it was in his way. The 
Indian war, therefore, seemed about to become a war against England. 

This eventuality was averted by the rashness of the savages, who 
chose to risk a battle south cI the offending fort. They met Wayne 
in a body of fallen timber and were repulsed in a sharp 
encounter. They fell back, but the fort refused to receive 5^^ '® °^ *® 
them, and they dispersed into the forest. Wayne sent ximber. 
out detachments to destroy their fields and villages, but 
he did not attack the fort. After some time, he received overtures 
from the hostiles and appointed a council to make a permanent peace 
in the summer of 1795. The meeting was at Fort Greenville, where a 
treaty, concluded on August 4, adopted a line from the 
Ohio to Fort Recovery, thence eastward to the Muskingum, '^^^^y °| 
and thence with that river and the Cuyahoga to Lake ^yg^ ' 
Erie ; and the Indians recognized this line as their eastern 
and southern boundary. Thus, most of Ohio was definitely open to 
white ownership and soon became the scene of active settlement. 
The war had the good effect of convincing England, and her more 
confident colonists in Canada, that something must be done to settle 
the dispute about the Western posts ; but it was in another negotiation 
that the affair was adjusted. 

At this time Spain held Louisiana and viewed with alarm the ad- 
vance of the new republic into the transmontane region. In order to 
check it she resorted to three intrigues, two with the ad- 
venturous settlers themselves and one with the south- j^wues 
western Indians. Holding the mouth of the Mississippi, 
the outlet of the Western trade, she had a powerful argument for the 
men of Kentucky and Tennessee. In 1785 Spain sent Gardoqui, an 
able negotiator, to the United States to make a treaty. Three ques- 
tions came up, the navigation of the Mississippi, recognition of the 
secret clause of the treaty of peace of 1783, and commercial relations 
with Spain's American possessions. The men of the seaboard were 
concerned with the last, those of the West thought most of the first 
and second. After much discussion, in which the Spaniard asserted 
that he would never yield on the first and second point. Jay asked 
permission to make a treaty in which we got concessions only in respect 
to the third. The Eastern and Middle states seemed complaisant, 



264 A PERIOD OF ORGANIZATION 

but those of the South, who had lands on the Mississippi, objected, 
strenuously, and the proposed Jay-Gardoqui treaty of 1786 came to 
naught. 

But the Western settlers were deeply dissatisfied. They took Jay's 
proposition to mean that the East cared nothing about them. Their 

discontent was stimulated by agents whom the Spanish 
"n the^West governor at New Orleans sent among them. It was his 

hope that the Western communities could be induced to 
revolt and place themselves under Spanish protection. One of his 
paid agents was James Wilkinson, who distributed Spain's gold among 
some Kentucky leaders and organized a party who supported the in- 
trigue. The prospect of getting free navigation of the river served, 
also, as a strong lure to the men of the West. In 1788 the intrigue 
came to a head in Kentucky, the strongest Western community. 
But the forces of order were greater than those of revolt, and the Ken- 
tuckians rejected Wilkinson's appeals and contented themselves by 
asking Virginia to consent to the creation of a new state out of her 
transmontane lands. When the Old Dominion granted this in 1789 
much of the discontent subsided, and a still better feeling was en- 
gendered when Kentucky was made a state in 1792. In 1790 North 

Carolina transferred her Western possessions to the union, 
Stated ^^ ^^^ ^^^y were not admitted as the state of Tennessee until 

1796. In 1 791 Vermont had been received as a state, 
and all this was a pledge that the West should have fair treat- 
ment as it grew in population. In this way Spain failed in her 
scheming to stay the growth of the power of the United States 
on her borders. 

The controversy over the northern boundary of West Florida was 
not so soon settled. The United States stood firmly for the secret 

clause of the treaty, Spain stood against it. She had the 
Boundary advantage of holding Natchez, within the disputed area, 

and an attempt to oust her by force must lead to war, a 
thing for which we were not ready. The president and cabinet 
thought the matter should be deferred without prejudice to our claim ; 
for it could be settled better when our population in that region was 
strong enough to threaten occupation with decisive effect. But about 
this time their plan seemed likely to fail by the intrusion of settle- 
ments in the disputed region itself. In 1789 Georgia, who claimed 

that the lands in the disputed region were within her 
Land^G^ants borders, made grants to three great companies, which 

proposed to plant settlements. One of the companies 
went so far as to open negotiations with the governor of New Orleans, 
promising to recognize the authority of Spain if the settlements were 
not opposed. Such a course must bring us into conflict with Spain 
and Washington promptly issued a proclamation warning the people 
to have nothing to do with it. In consequence, the scheme failed, but 



THE SOUTHERN INDIANS 265 

the claims of the land companies remained as a source of irritation for 
many years afterwards. 

Spain's third intrigue was destined to come to a fate equally futile, 
and for this Washington's diplomacy was also responsible. Between 
Florida and the Tennessee settlements lived the powerful 
Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw, and Choctaw tribes, inhabit- t^g in^gns 
ing a rich territory and strong enough to muster 10,000 
warriors. They were friendly with the Spaniards, who bought their 
furs and sold them merchandise, and whose trading posts were never 
followed by farming communities. Alexander McGillivray, a rich 
and capable half-breed Creek, a tory in the revolution who had suffered 
at the hands of the whigs and who now hated the Americans, became 
a Spanish agent to preserve Spain's influence with the Indians. A 
treaty made in 17S4 contained an Indian pledge that no white man 
should visit the Creeks without a Spanish permit, and efforts were 
made to get a similar treaty with the three other tribes. About this 
time Indian attacks began to be made upon the growing settlements 
in Tennessee, and it was evident that the officials of Florida encouraged 
the attacks in order to impede settlement in that region. 

Thus was created a situation demanding the intervention of the 
general government. Washington resorted to diplomacy, although 
the men of the frontier thought that war should have been 
the instrument. McGillivray was induced to appear at McGiih- 
New York, where he received $100,000 for the damages pUcity. 
sustained during the revolution and was made a United 
States agent in matters of trade with the rank of brigadier general. 
In return he promised that the Creeks should be at peace with the 
United States. The treaty was immediately broken, and his death in 
1793 did not improve matters. The Tennesseeans grew restless under 
their sufferings and wished to retaliate ; but the government was carry- 
ing on a long-drawn-out negotiation with Spain and 
ordered that the peace should be observed. For a while Vengeance 
the frontiersmen complied, but at last they were goaded to nesseeans. 
action. In 1793 Sevier, with a band of East Tennesseeans, 
and in 1794 Robertson, with a party of West Tennesseeans, made raids 
on the bands of offending Cherokees, burning their villages and killing 
without mercy. From that time the settlements had peace. 

Happily, at this time the negotiations which had gone on haltingly 
at Madrid since 1791 took a favorable turn. France was at war 
with Spain, and Genet, just arrived at Charleston, was or- 
ganizing forces to move, regardless of our neutrality, gpafn^iygs. 
against Florida and New Orleans. Three expeditions 
were proposed, one against Florida and two against Louisiana. 
Spite of Washington's efforts to interfere, preparations went forward 
rapidly, and only Genet's recall averted, it seems, serious trouble of 
this kind. The response of the men of Kentucky, Georgia, and the 



266 A PERIOD OF ORGANIZATION 

Carolinas showed Spain how much unpopularity her policy was developn 
ing in our back country, and her tone became more conciliatory. 
Washington seized the opportunity to quicken the currents of diplo- 
macy, and the result was a treaty arranged by Thomas Pinckney, 
our minister, with Godoy, a liberal Spaniard, on October 27, 1795. 
It confirmed the secret clause of the treaty of 1783 relative to the 
Florida boundary, gave the Americans the right to use the river, and 
allowed them to deposit in New Orleans products intended for exporta- 
tion. Kentucky and Tennessee thus got easy access to outside markets, 
Georgia acquired a better title to the southern half of her Western lands, 
and the national government closed an annoying dispute with Spain. 

The United States and the European War 

In 1793 France beheaded her king, and almost immediately was at 
war with England and Spain. The year before she had begun a war 

with Austria and Prussia. The South generally was en- 
Amerkans thusiastic in her behalf, as well as the farmers and ordinary 

townsmen of the Middle states. But the trading class 
everywhere, closely dependent on England, felt otherwise, and they 
were supported by the rural New Englanders, who, under the influence 
of the congregational clergy, hated a republic which had enthroned 
a Goddess of Reason. Washington feared that the ardent French 
partisans would, by some rash action, bring on war with England, 
and issued a proclamation of neutrality. Inasmuch as the treaties 
of 1778 (seepage 199) were still in force, the French party took this for 
British partisanship. The proclamation was roundly denounced in 
the newspapers of the newly founded republican party and defended 

in those of the federalists. At this time our politics be- 
Neutrahty came divided in accordance with the division in Europe, 
tion! ^™ ' ^^^ irom this situation they did not emerge until Napoleon 

was definitely defeated and France ceased to be at war 
against the powers around her. 

April 8, 1793, Genet, first minister from the French republic, arrived 
at Charleston. The merchants and great planters received him 

coolly, but the populace were mad with joy. Carried 
Arrival^ away by his reception, he raised troops for operations 

against Spain and commissioned privateers against Eng- 
land. Departing for Philadelphia by land, he was received enthu- 
siastically by the farmers of the Carolinas and Virginia and became 
convinced that the American people were in sympathy with France. 
Washington received him with reserve, and Genet grew angry and in- 
formed his government that the American people did not approve the 
neutrality proclamation. He described the president as a weak old 
man, under British influence. Many of his deeds were as foolish as 
his words. The republicans gave him encouragement at first, and he 



GENET DISCREDITED 267 

formed the intention of getting congress to force Washington to act in 
behalf of France. Finally, he talked openly about his appeal to the 
people. The federalists attacked him from the beginning, and they 
made so much of his ill-advised attitude toward the administration 
that even the republicans began to forsake him. No calm patriot 
would tolerate an open attempt by a foreigner to influence the internal 
poHcy of the country. 

Washington was rarely moved by popular clamor, and he intended 
to preserve neutrality. The treaties of 1778 provided that the French 
might bring their prizes into our ports and that enemies of 
France might not fit out privateers there. Genet inter- J|J*^p^'^^*^^^ 
preted this to mean that French prizes brought in might Treaties. 
also be sold, and that France might fit out privateers in 
American ports. His view was brought before the cabinet, where 
Hamilton opposed it totally and Jefiferson would allow as much of it 
as would not bring us into war with England. Washington held the 
balance. He would do all the treaties required ; and it was decided 
that France might fit out privateers in our ports but send them away 
at once and not use our ports as a base of operation, or send in and sell 
prizes captured at sea. Genet complied unwillingly. He had already 
licensed fourteen privateers which had taken eighty prizes. 

A month later, July, 1793, it was known that he was fitting out a 
prize. The Little Sarah, with cannon and was about to send her to sea. 
When approached, he became angry and talked of appeal- 
ing to the people ; but when he learned that the ship was ? ^'I^q^ 
about to be seized, he agreed that she would not sail with- fense. 
out notice. Ten days later the promise was violated. 
Washington was outraged. "Is the minister of the French republic," 
he said, "to set the acts of this government at defiance with impunity ?" 
He convened the cabinet, which decided to ask France to recall Genet. 
It also determined to exclude French prizes and privateers in the future. 
The demand caused no dissatisfaction in Paris, where a fresh revolu- 
tion of party had left the luckless Genet in danger of his life. In fact, 
Fauchet, his successor, was instructed to arrest Genet and send him 
home for trial. He owed his safety to Washington, who generously 
refused to allow him to be extradited. He remained in America, mar- 
ried a daughter of Governor Clinton of New York, and died in that state 
at an old age. 

The Whisky Insurrection 

Hamilton's excise law, passed in January, 1791, was very unpopular 
in the western counties of Pennsylvania and the states southward, a 
region through which the Scotch-Irish were widely settled. . 

They brought with them the habit of making whisky out opposed^* 
of grain, and by 1791 their stills on every farm furnished 
so much of the liquor that it superseded the New England rum, which 



268 A PERIOD OF ORGANIZATION 

in colonial times was the common tipple throughout the colonies. 
The tax was not large, but it was resented because it was inquisitorial. 
The opposition reached actual violence only in Pennsylvania, where 
four counties had been organized in the valley of the Monongahela, all 
lying to the south of Pittsburgh. The people there were near enough 
to the new settlements in the Ohio valley to feel much of that spirit of 
independence which had caused some men to fear a separation of the 
West from the East at no distant day. 

In 1 791 popular meetings began to be held to urge the inhabitants 
to defy the excise law. The leaders were in a violent mood, and threat- 
ened to deal with officers collecting the tax. Albert 
Violence in Gallatin, later to have a distinguished career in national 
vanda.^ politics, lived in the region, attended the meetings, and 

sought to check the trend to violence. His efforts were 
futile ; for the angry farmers listened more willingly to the harangues 
of the men of action. They paid no attention to a proclamation of 
warning which Washington, at Hamilton's suggestion, issued in 1792, 
and continued to hold meetings, threaten the revenue officers, and 
cut up the stills of those who obeyed the objectionable law. In 1794 
fifty warrants were drawn for persons concerned in these outrages 
and made returnable to the federal court in Philadelphia. 

Trouble arose when they were served. A mob surrounded the 
house of Neville, an inspector, to make him give up his commission, 
and six men were wounded and one killed by shots fired 
n Arms^ ^ from his house. The people flew to arms, and Neville 
fled for his life. The leader of discontent was now Brad- 
ford, a noisy demagogue, who summoned the counties to send delegates 
to a general meeting at Parkinson's Ferry in the following August. 
In the excitement of the time the mail was robbed and the discontented 
ones assembled in great numbers near Pittsburgh, probably to overawe 
the small garrison there. But the leaders lost courage and contented 
themselves with marching through the town as a demonstration of 
their power. 

It was high time for the forces of order to assert themselves, but 
Governor Mifflin, of Pennsylvania, feared to make himself unpopular 
with the farmers, and refused to call out the militia. Then 
Caiied^Out Washington decided to interfere. He sent out a proc- 
lamation against the rioters and called for fifteen thou- 
sand men from Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, to march by 
the first of September. Meanwhile, he sent commissioners to visit 
the back counties to see if the people could be persuaded to submit to 
the law. They arrived, with two commissioners appointed 
Subndssi*ve ^^ Mifflin, while the Parkinson Ferry meeting was in ses- 
sion. The quick response of the militia was by this time 
known in the West and caused the people to hesitate. Gallatin took 
advantage of the lull to urge moderation, and it was decided to 



DISORDER SUPPRESSED 269 

appoint a committee to treat for peace. Bradford raised the cry that 
the enemy was winning through the use of money. There was much 
dissension in the back counties themselves, but the onward march of 
the army gave powerful support to those who wished peace. It was 
finally decided to send men across the mountains to ask Washington 
for better terms. 

Meanwhile, two divisions of troops were converging on the dis- 
affected region, one by way of Carlisle and Bedford, the other byway of 
Cumberland and the old Braddock road. They met at 
Parkinson Ferry on November 8, but no force showed ^""j^^g^^^-^ 
itself against them. At the demand of the military rection. 
power the people now submitted and took oaths of loyalty ; 
and 2500 troops were left in the country for the winter. Hamilton, 
who accompanied the army in a civil capacity, secured the arrest of 
such leaders as did not flee westward, and eighteen of them were sent 
to Philadelphia for trial. Of these only two were convicted, and they 
were pardoned by Washington. No further opposition was made to 
the excise, but it was still denounced by the republicans and was re- 
pealed when Jefferson became president. 

The force called out against the four counties in insurrection was 
larger than the number of men of military age in their limits. It was 
larger than most of the revolutionary armies, and larger 
than any army under Washington before the French of^theA^rmy. 
alliance. It was only one thousand men smaller than the 
allied American army which captured Cornwallis with 7000 men at 
Yorktown. A thousand men could have suppressed the insurrection. 
In calling for 15,000 Washington followed the suggestion of Hamilton, 
who wished to demonstrate the power of the government ; and in 
this respect the plan succeeded. But his opponents denounced it as 
showing the tendency of the federalists toward militarism. Hamil- 
ton's general policy of a strong government, which could intimidate 
the unruly, suited England, which he thought the best-governed 
country in the world. But it was a mistake in a country in which the 
unruly all had the ballot, for it tended to make them the political 
opponents of the party in power. 

Political Development under Washington 

Washington was elected president without regard to party. During 
the revolution all whigs stood together and division in the ranks was 
deplored. The first cabinet and the first congress were ^ . . . 
composed of men who had favored the adoption of the andVarty?" 
constitution ; for it was not probable that men should 
be selected to organize a government which they had not wished to 
establish. Washington's first appointments in the civil service were 
generally from the same class. When North Carolina and Rhode 



270 A PERIOD OF ORGANIZATION 

Island gave in their tardy submission to the constitution, he removed 
the antifederaUst revenue officers within their borders and appointed 
successors who were federalists. Nobody objected, for the anti- 
federalist group had no occasion to continue its existence and imme- 
diately disappeared. Washington hoped that his supporters would 
remain undivided and was distressed when he saw them forming 
parties. 

This process began with the introduction of Hamilton's financial 
plan, which pleased the property-owning class and the advocates 
of a strong central government. Hamilton thought wealth 
. . p ®. ^"^^ ~ and intelligence would rule, partly because they could 
act promptly and with bold initiative, and partly because 
they would ever have great influence over less competent classes. 
Washington sympathized with this view and supported it when oc- 
casion arose throughout his administration. Thus was organized 
the Hamiltonian party, which took the name federalist because it 
sought to promote nationality. It was strongest in the trading 
cities, most of which were north of the Potomac, and among the large 
planters of the South. It was conservative and mildly aristocratic. 

Opposed to these views was Jefiferson, who had ever rejected a privi- 
leged class and who believed in democracy. He had great organizing 
ability, but was not a good public speaker. He realized 
The Repub- ^j-^^^^ ^Yiq middle and lower classes were a vast majority of 

llC9.Il rO.TT.'V 

Forming, ^^^ voters and might control the government if they could 
be organized into an effective party. The superior classes 
had their own organization ; he must make one. They had influence 
over the mass of voters ; he must break down that influence. He 
found many men who disliked Hamilton, never a considerate man to 
those who differed with him, others who held, as Jefferson, to the 
democratic theory, others who feared the concentration of national 
power, and still others who wished to make careers for themselves as 
leaders of a great party. Jefferson was able to select the best men of 
these groups, unite them in a common cause, restrain their passions, 
and furnish them with successful campaign issues. He founded 
newspapers which, in seeking to destroy the prestige of the 
federalists with the masses, accused them of many harsh purposes. 
They even attacked Washington, pronouncing him a monarchist. By 
these fierce onslaughts, and by taking advantage of every mistake of 
their adversaries, they slowly increased their power, and in 1800 ob- 
tained control of the government. They were known as republicans. 
There was some discontent in interior New England, but 
Republican ^^ye power of the seaports overwhelmed it, and here the 
thT Spates, republicans had little hope. Hamilton's enemies in New 
York, headed by Clinton, came readily into the move- 
ment. In Pennsylvania the country people were opposed to the rul- 
ing class in Philadelphia and became republicans gladly. In Virginia 



WASHINGTON REELECTED 271 

and North Carolina the great planters lived in the counties along the 
coast and the small farmers, far more numerous, lived in the uplands 
and generally followed Jefferson. In Georgia the same thing was true. 
In South Carolina the planters in the east and the Charleston mer- 
chants formed a powerful ruling class, but the men of the interior were 
republicans. In the new states of Kentucky and Tennessee the 
frontiersmen were fiercely democratic. Jefferson, therefore, had 
strong hopes of carrying all the South except Maryland and South 
Carolina, and had good chances in Pennsylvania and New York. In 
1792 these states had a majority of the electoral votes. 

Hamilton considered the situation alarming. Washington intended 
to retire to his estate, and it was likely that the federalists would sup- 
port John Adams for his successor. Adams was honest 
and capable, but unpopular out of New England. In Rg^g^iec'JfJ'" 
this dilemma Hamilton decided that Washington must 
stand for reelection. He was met at first with a refusal, but he got 
others to persuade Washington. Only one man, it was felt, could 
harmonize the contending parties. So strong was this feeling that 
even Jefferson joined his voice to the general demand, and in the end 
Washington consented to run. The republicans did not oppose him, 
but supported George Clinton for the vice-presidency against Adams. 
Washington received the votei of all the states, and Clinton those of 
New York, Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia, with one from 
Pennsylvania, a total of 50 to Adams's 77. 

The hope that Washington would reconcile parties proved futile. 
In 1793 the European war began, the republicans espoused the cause 
of republican France, and denounced the neutrality proc- 
lamation. For a time this seemed to be an advantage, ^^^ ^°^ 
but the excesses of Genet reacted against them, and the 
federalists, most of whom leaned toward England, gained by declaring 
that their opponents would sacrifice the honor of the country for the 
sake of the infidel French republic. Indeed, from that time until 
1800 the French ministers were in cordial relations with republican 
leaders and did as much as they dared to secure the defeat of the 
federalists. Jefferson, now definitely head of the opposition, recog- 
nized that he was out of place in the cabinet and withdrew at the close 
of the year 1793 to give all his efforts to the republican cause. His 
place was taken by Edmund Randolph, a mild republican, but so 
strong was the tendency to party government that he retired within 
a year and was succeeded by Timothy Pickering, an avowed federalist. 

The republicans early in 1794 took a bolder attitude. 
Ceasing to plead for France, they began to demand war J^^°^s^ 
against England ; and they had cause enough. When the England. 
European conflict began, France opened to the world the 
trade with her West Indian possessions. Too weak at sea to succor 
them herself, she expected that they would sell their produce, chiefly 



272 A PERIOD OF ORGANIZATION 

sugar, to the United States and receive American merchandise in ex- 
change. England declared this unlawful, asserting that a trade denied 
in time of peace could not be opened in time of war. Her men-of-war 
began to seize American ships bound for the French islands and to 
treat the captured crews with unusual rigor. The stories of hardship 
that came back to our shores aroused the deepest horror, and the re- 
pubHcans took advantage of the opportunity to demand retaliation. 
The first move was made by Madison, in the house of representatives. 
If England, he urged, made restrictions on our trade, we 
Madison's ought to make restrictions of her trade with us. The fed- 
ResoLtions. eralists replied that since seven-eighths of our trade was 
with England and could not be shifted to another nation, 
we should injure ourselves more than England by passing the proposed 
restrictions. It was the same argument which England used against 
Adams's suggestion of retahation in 1785. The argument was so good 
that Madison's resolutions were postponed. 

About this time came news that England had ordered the seizure 
of all neutral ships carrying French goods. In America the excite- 
ment was great ; for we held that neutral ships made neu- 
Neutral ^j.^\ goods. The republicans talked earnestly of war, and 

Goods^° congress authorized the erection of fortifications, the enlist- 
ment of artillerymen, and the levying of a force of 80,000 
militia, to be ready for an emergency. The extreme republicans, led 
by Dayton, of New Jersey, introduced a resolution in the house to 
sequester British debts as an offset to the loss from the seizure of 
American ships. If this were passed, the result would probably be 
war. 

Washington was alarmed and decided to try to settle the dispute 
by making a treaty with England. Conservative republicans as well 
as federalists thought the attempt ought to be made ; and 
l^y^- in May, 1794, he sent Jay to London with powers to make 

a treaty which would secure the surrender of the Western 
posts still in the hands of England, get compensation for the ships 
recently seized, and effect a commercial treaty which would remove 
the irritation from further seizures of ships having French goods on 
board and which would open British West Indian ports to our trade. 
If these points could be arranged, thought Washington, war would 
be avoided. When Jay was dispatched, the war feeling cooled and the 
nation awaited the result. 

Jay was a federalist and of an easy temperament. He found the 
British government determined to maintain their existing navigation 
- , _ laws, and in his desire to make some kind of arrangement 

Jays rea y. g^(,(,gpj-g(j ^^gj-j^g j^ot allowed in his instructions. The treaty 
he sent back early in 1795 provided for surrender of the posts by 1796, 
and admitted us to the trade with the British East Indies, but onlv 
put off a settlement for the ships seized by Britain. It contained 



THE JAY TREATY 273 

commercial regulations which admitted our ships not larger than 70 
tons' burden to British West Indian ports and denied us the right 
to carry West Indian products, including cotton, to Europe, while 
British ships were to be unrestricted in our own trade. It also pro- 
vided that privateers should not be fitted out in our ports by England's 
enemies, that Americans serving against England should be treated 
as pirates if captured, and that British trade in America should be on 
the footing of the most favored nation. These latter provisions were 
aimed at the French treaties of 1778. The West Indian clause of 
Jay's treaty were to end two years after the termination of the 
existing war. 

A storm of indignation greeted its publication in America, the 
republicans leading the chorus. Even the federalists could support 
it only faintly, and Washington was much in doubt. But 
reflection brought soberness. If the treaty were rejected, "^""^^^J *?" 
the nation would almost surely drift into war, for which it ^mend^* 
was not prepared. This view had weight with the senate, ments. 
which cut out the features relating to the West India trade 
and passed the treaty by the necessary two-thirds majority. Washing- 
ton hesitated to sign it, but finally yielded. He thought that if we 
could endure for twenty years the inferiority it forced us to accept, we 
should be strong enough to defy an unjust measure of any power in 
the world. 

An interesting question now arose. The treaty provided for some 
modifications of the laws and for the appropriation of money to exe- 
cute it. But this required the consent of congress, and 
thus the whole matter was debated in both houses in the t^Vxreaty" 
year 1796. Here conservatism again won, and it was 
ordered that the treaty be executed. The action in this case be- 
came a precedent in making later treaties. The long struggle over 
the question, culminating in the vehement debate in congress in 
1796, served to harden the lines of the two parties, and their strength 
is seen in the votes ; in the senate the resolution to execute the treaty 
passed without serious opposition, but in the house the vote was 51 
to 48, and a resolution declaring it highly objectionable was only 
defeated by the deciding vote of the speaker. 

When this vote was taken, the country was already thinking of a 
new presidential election. Washington let it be known that he would 
not be a candidate, and the federalists turned to Adams. . 

He was their strongest available man ; but he was tactless, ^ ^ 
though honest and experienced in public affairs. He was 
so independent that he would not follow the lead of Hamilton, who 
had formed a dislike for him, and who now sought to defeat him by an 
unworthy scheme. He had Thomas Pinckney, of South Carolina, 
brought forward for vice-president. Both men, he thought, would 
have equal votes in the choice of electors, but at the last moment he 



274 A PERIOD OF ORGANIZATION 

would have some of the electors go for a third candidate instead of 
voting for Adams, who thus having the second highest vote would 
be vice-president, while Pinckney, whom Hamilton could probably 
influence, would be president. The republicans united oh Jefferson, 
their best man. In the final vote some of the electors who were 
friendly to Adams refused to support Pinckney, lest Hamilton's scheme 
should succeed; and the result was that 71 men voted for Adams, 
68 for Jefferson, 59 for Pinckney, and 78 were divided among ten other 
candidates. Each elector, it will bo remerz jered, voted for two men. 
Adams thus became president and Joiferson vice-president. As 
Adams had only one more vote than a majority of the electors, he was 
dubbed by his opponents "a president b - one vote," an epithet which 
greatly annoyed his sensitive soul. 

Washington, thinking chiefly of his retirement, took little interest 
in the election. His last care was to prepare his celebrated "Farewell 

Address," in which he gave much good advice on the prob- 
Washing- lems of the day. As these problems were necessarily 
tirement. related to the pohcies over which the parties were divided 

and as his federalist leaning appeared in his advice, the 
" Address " was received with coolness by the republicans. He had be- 
come very unpopular with that party, and some of its leading men and 
newspapers rejoiced openly that he was going out of office. As the 
passions of the moment subsided, he recovered the popularity to which 
his character entitled him, and the next generation came to look on 
the " Farewell Address " as a priceless political lisritage. Among other 
things, it counseled his fellow citizen? to be loyal to the union, to 
cultivate harmony at home, and to shun entanglement with Euro- 
pean policies. His administration was most important, because his 
great name had been able to hold in abeyance through the first 
eight years of the national government the inevitable wrangling of 

parties, thereby giving an opportmiity to launch the 
Service^ government on a safe and enlightened plan. That critical 

early period safely past, it was not dangerous for party 
leaders to battle for their views, a necessary feature of all republican 
government. 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

On Washington's two administrations the most available general secondary 
works are: Avery, The United States and its People, 7 vols. (1904-); Bassett, 
The Federalist System (1906); McMaster, History, 7 vols. (1883-) ; Schoule", 
History of the United States, 6 vols. (1880-1894) ; Hildreth, History, 6 vols. (1840- 
1852), federalist in sympathy; Hamilton, J. C, History of the Republic of the United 
States, 7 vols. (4th ed., 1879), ^ biased defense of Hamilton, but it contains valu- 
able letters; Gordy, History of Political Parties, 2 vols, (revised ed. 1904), an 
excellent book on early political parties; Johnston, Alexander, articles on political 
conditions and institutions in Lalor's Cyclopcedia of Political Science, republished in 
Woodburn, American Political History, 2 vols. (1905); Gibbs, The Administrations 
of Washington and Adams, 2 vols. (1846), very partisan, but it contains valuable 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 275 

letters; a.ndSta.nwood, History of the Presidency (igoo), an excellent summary oE 
national party divisions. 

For original sources see: Peters, ed., Public Statutes at Large of the United 
States, 8 vols. (1845) — treaties, Indian and foreign, are in vols. VII and VIII; 
Annals of Congress, 42 vols. (1834-1856), the early debates, but they are not 
reported verbatim; Benton, Abridgment of the Debates in Congress, ijSq-iS^o, 
24 vols. (1857-1863); Maclay, Journal, i^Sg-ijgi (1900), valuable because the 
early senate debates are not given in the Annals; Legislative Journal of the Senate, 
5 vols. (1820-1821) ; Executive Journal of the Senate, 2, vols. (1829); Journal of 
the House of Representatives, 9 vols. (1826) ; papers relating to the departments — ■ 
diplomatic, financial, military, and relating to Indians and lands — in American 
State Papers, 38 vols. (1832-1861) ; and Richardson, Messages and Papers of the 
Presidents, 10 vols. (1897). 

For the writings and biographies of Washington, Madison, Hamilton, Jefferson, 
John Adams, Jay, Patrick Henry, and Gerry see references on page 255. See also : 
Hamilton, Writings of Monroe, 7 vols. (1898-1903) ; King, Life and Correspondence 
of Rufus King, 6 vols. (1894-1900) ; Ames, ed., Works of Fisher Ames, 2 vols. (1857) ; 
Anne C. Morris, Diary and Letters of Gouverncur Morris, 2 vols. (1888); Adams, 
Writings of Albert Gallatin, 3 vols. (1879) ! ^.nd Wilkinson, Memoirs of my Own 
Times, T,\o\s. (1816), the last mentioned very untrustworthy. See the following 
biographies also: Brown, Life of Oliver Ellsivorth (1905); Adams, Life of Albert 
Gallatin (1879) ; Pickering and Upham, Life of Timothy Pickering, 4 vols. (1867- 
1875) ; Amory, Life of James Sidlivan, 2 vols. (1859) ; and Conway, Life of Thomas 
Paine, 2 vols. (1892). 

On the whisky insurrection see: Adams, Life of Gallatin (1879); Findley, 
History of the Insurrection {iyg6), a good contemporary account ; H. M. Bracken- 
ridge, //wiory 0/ ///c M'e^^erw /«57(rrfd/o« (1859), written from the standpoint of 
the participants; and Ward, The Insurrection of 1794 (Pennsylvania Hist. Soc. 
Memoirs, VI). 

On diplomatic affairs see : Trescott, Diplomatic History of the Administrations 
of Washington and Adams (1857), good but rare; Snow, Treaties and Topics in 
Atnerican Diplomacy (1894), for students ; Lyman, Diplomacy of the United 
States, 17S9-1826, 2 vols. (2d ed. 1828); McLaughlin, Western Posts and British 
Debts (Am. Hist. Assoc. Report, 1894) ; Turner, Correspondence of the French Min- 
isters to the United States, 1791-1797 (Ibid., 1903, II), contains Genet's correspon- 
dence ; and Shepherd, Wilkinson and the Beginnings of the Spanish Conspiracy {Am. 
Hist. Review, IX, 490). 

For Independent Reading 

Campbell, Travels in the Interior Inhabited Parts of North A.merica, 1791-1792 
(1793); Griswold, The Republican Court (1864); Hamilton, Life of Alexander 
Hamilton (1910) ; and Woodrow Wilson, George Washington (1897). 



l-^^f^/ 



^ 




CHAPTER XIII "^ 

ADAMS AND THE DOWNFALL OF THE FEDERALISTS 

The Political Character of the Administration 

John Adams began his presidency with a divided party. On one 
side were his own friends, neither numerous nor well organized ; on 
the other were Hamilton and his supporters, probably two- 
Adams" ° thirds of the federalists and not inclined to submit to the 
leadership of the other third. Adams retained Washing- 
ton's cabinet, which supported Hamilton in all party matters, so that 
the president came at last to realize that he was not head of his own 
administration. The internal conflict which thus arose weakened the 
federalist organization and contributed to its overthrow. Adams 
regretted the situation ; for he was peculiarly desirous of having a 
harmonious administration. When at last he found his cabinet in 
practical rebellion, he reorganized it, casting out the extremists and 
calling in moderate federalists, the chief of whom was Marshall of 
Virginia. But this occurred too late to avert party defeat. 

Adams's first action as president was an attempt to reunite the two 
political parties. He had been widely accused of favoring a form of 
monarchy ; but in his inaugural address he sought to over- 
Attempts to come this view by announcing his confidence in the con- 
Parties, stitution. The republicans openly expressed their satis- 
faction. He also proposed to appoint either Jefferson or 
Madison minister to France, but the offer was declined by both gentle- 
men. When the Hamilton faction heard of these negotiations, they 
objected flatly, and there was no more talk of reconciliation. The 
negotiations had, no doubt, been encouraged by the wily Jefferson, with 
the object of widening the breach between the federalist factions. 

Party rancor now became worse than ever. For Washington even 
his enemies had a respect which moderated the jibes of the bitterest 
. foe. For Adams there was no such regard. He was piti- 

Abuse*° lessly painted as a monarchist, a tyrant, and a selfish 
manipulator of patronage. Yet no president strove 
harder to carry on the government in the spirit of its founders. It was 
the youth of political discussion in America, and editors and pam- 
phleteers on both sides fought relentlessly for their principles. In 
France opponents of republicanism had recently gone to the guillo- 
tine in shoals ; in England defenders of republicanism had been im- 

276 



FRANCE AND AMERICAN POLITICS 277 

prisoned or forced to flee the country ; it was, probably, as much as 
could be expected that in our own newly established republic the only 
violence that occurred was in the exchange of epithets. 

It was, also, inevitable that in such a discussion should appear the 
sharpest division between the British and French sympathizers. 
Republicans, in defending France, expressed their loyalty 
to popular government; federalists, in favoring the Brit- p f-t-^"; 
ish constitution, expressed their approval of government yoived. 
by the conservative upper classes of society, which implied 
a distrust of the rule of all the people. To the former the triumph 
of the Jay treaty seemed to show that British influence was alive in 
the country; to the latter the ill-concealed attempts of the French 
ministers in Philadelphia to direct American politics seemed convinc- 
ing evidence that the court in Paris worked in behalf of the republican 
party throughout the union. 

Unfortunately, the latter contention was true, as events connected 
with the dismissal of Monroe, late in Washington's second term, made 
clear. This ardent republican was sent to Paris in 1794 
to succeed Gouverneur Morris, whose monarchism made jyifg^on^ 
him unacceptable to the French republic. He arrived 
in August, when no other state, except the small republic of Geneva, 
had sent a minister to the new government. The Convention then 
ruled France, and so busy was it with its own struggle for existence 
that no arrangements had been made to receive foreign ministers. 
Monroe, not to be thwarted by this fact, made arrangements to be 
received by the Convention itself. He was accordingly admitted to an 
open session of that body, where amid the applause of the members 
he exchanged embraces with the president of the Convention and pre- 
sented a glowing address, pledging the cooperation in behalf of liberty 
of the two great republics, the one in the Old, and the other in the New, 
World. This display of fervor, occasioned protest in England, where 
Jay was negotiating his treaty ; and the federalist administration of 
Washington sent a reproof to the enthusiastic Monroe. 

Meanwhile, France was concerned at rumors of a treaty of amity 
between the United States and England, but Monroe, relying on as- 
surances from superiors, assured her that nothing would 
be accepted in the proposed agreement prejudicial to the jn'paris' ^°°^ 
interests of our oldest friend among nations. When the 
treaty was made, however, it was evident that it did weaken that 
preferential relation which the treaties of 1778 gave to France (see 
page 201) ; and the government in Paris felt that it had been deceived. 
Monroe himself was deeply chagrined, and neglected to defend the Jay 
treaty in Paris, as he was instructed to do by Pickering, then secretary 
of state. More than six months had passed in this way when he 
learned that the ministry was about to send an envoy to America to 
make a new treaty. Believing that such an attempt would result in 



278 ADAMS AND DOWNFALL OF THE FEDERALISTS 

failure, and peaceful relations would therefore be imperiled, he in- 
duced the ministry to delay their project. He was suspected of hold- 
ing out to them the prospect of a republican victory in the coming 
presidential elections, then only nine months distant. As the cam- 
paign opened, he was known to be sending information to republicans 
at home, which was used to convince the voters that the federalist 
administration was about to plunge the nation into war with France. 
Washington considered this action a breach of trust, and 
His Recall, ordered Monroe's immediate recall. The affair caused 
much comment, the republicans defending and the federal- 
ists condemning the dismissed minister. 

Monroe returned anxious for vindication, and took two ways of 
getting even. He prepared a long defense and published it in 1797, 
endeavoring to show that he had been badly treated by 
Revenee Pickering and Hamilton, the chief authors of federalist 
policy. It was a piece of specious pleading, but it satis- 
fied the republicans and served to bring French affairs sharply to the 
front in the political arena. His other stroke was at Hamilton particu- 
larly. Some years earlier that gentleman was the subject of an in- 
vestigation to meet the charge of misusing public money while secre- 
tary of the treasury. The committee of inquiry, consisting of Monroe 
and two others, pronounced him innocent, but did not publish the evi- 
dence. In fact, Hamilton had proved his innocence only by admit- 
ting that the charges grew out of an illicit relation with the wife of the 
worthless man who preferred the charges, and this evidence the com- 
mittee agreed to conceal. Soon after Monroe's return it was given 
to the public in such a distorted form that Hamilton felt 
lenominv ^ impelled to confess the whole matter in a published state- 
ment. The two other committeemen showed that they 
had not disclosed the affair, and posterity has concluded that the reve- 
lation was made by Monroe. It left a smirch on Hamilton's reputa- 
tion, which is not removed by the admiration we are compelled to 
feel for his courageous explanation of it. 

The Quarrel with France 

When Charles C. Pinckney, who succeeded Monroe at Paris, arrived 
at his post of duty, he found the government in a resentful mood. He 
„. , sent his credentials to the Directory, now the head of the 

X^1I1CKI16V • 

Rejected. government, only to be informed that France would not 
receive an American minister until her grievances were 
redressed. A law of the republic, passed when most strangers were 
held to be spies, forbade foreigners to remain in France without 
written permission. Pinckney asked for such permission, but received 
no reply. He disregarded an intimation that a further stay made him 
liable to arrest, because he wished the responsibility for his departure, 



AN OUTBURST OF INDIGNATION 279 

if he must go, to rest clearly with the government. After two months 
of delay he received an official notice that he was liable to arrest, 
whereupon he asked for his passports and shook the dust of France off 
his feet in February, 1797. His rude reception was thrown into 
bolder relief by the evidence of good will which the Directory 
showered on Monroe, when he took his departure about the same 
time. 

When Pinckney's humiliating treatment was known in America, 
there was a violent outbreak of feeling, and many expressions of 
hostility were heard ; for the people are ever ready to re- 
sent an insult to the national dignity. Among the poli- ^^^^1^°^ 
ticians the extreme federalists wished to suspend relations 
with France, and if reprisals occurred, which would lead to war, they 
would be all the better pleased. They were led by Pickering and Wol- 
cott, in the cabinet, and by Harper and William Smith, in congress. 
The republicans could not defend the action of France, but declared 
that it only indicated the mismanagement of the federalist party. 
Between these two views was a middle ground taken by moderate 
men, who defended the national honor, but were willing to try other 
diplomatic efforts while preparations for war went on. Of this opinion 
was President Adams, who in all the clamor of the day did not lose 
his poise. Hamilton, not wilUng to sacrifice country to party, took 
the same ground, although in doing so he failed to act with the faction 
which generally supported him. The upshot was that Adams nomi- 
nated Charles C. Pinckney, John Marshall, and Francis Dana com- 
missioners to try to adjust the existing difficulty with France. The 
republicans supported the nominations which were con- 
firmed. But Dana refused to serve, and Adams, returning ^io™g™s^seut 
to a favorite idea, nominated Gerry, a Massachusetts j^ France, 
republican, in his stead. He thought the presence of 
a republican on the commission would tend to conciliate the Directory. 

Steps were also taken to put the nation in a state of defense. 
Three years earlier, congress had ordered the construction of six frig- 
ates, three of which were actually begun, but were still 
unfinished through lack of funds. They were now ordered J^'^^g^f'^^r" 
completed. They were the United States and the Constitu- -^^j^ 
tion, of 44 guns each, and the Constellation, of 36 guns, the 
first ships of our navy under the constitution. They were heavily 
armed for their size, and foreign naval officers predicted they could 
not be managed safely in battle, — an expectation which later events 
did not justify. Other measures of defense were a law authorizing 
the president to call out 80,000 militia when needed and a law to 
strengthen the fortifications. 

By this time serious grounds for trouble had arisen in connection with 
our trade at sea. When, four years earlier, England began to seize 
our ships carrying French goods, France retaliated by ordering her 



28o ADAMS AND DOWNFALL OF THE FEDERALISTS 

naval ofi&cers to seize neutral ships which recognized England's pre- 
tensions. If we allowed England's claim that provisions were contra- 
band, contraband they were ; and on that ground France would seize 
them when they were bound for British ports. Between 
French Re- ^j^g pretensions of the two great powers it was impossi- 
American ^^^ ^^^ ^ nation which had no navy to maintain a posi- 
Trade. tion of Strict neutrality. It was equally difhcult for it 

to retaUate, unless it was willing to join one of the nations in 
war against the other. For such action we were not ready, and the 
best we could do was to endure our wrongs and hope to get reparation 
for losses after peace returned in Europe. Neither America nor 
Europe could foresee that the war then waged was to continue without 
considerable interruption until 1815. As time passed, many cases of 
seizure occurred, and there was now danger that American shipowners, 
already aroused against France, would by some act of reprisal provoke 
such severe individual conflicts that it would be impossible longer to 
restrain the war feeling on the part of our people. Adams, therefore, 
issued an order forbidding merchant ships to go armed, and congress 
passed a law prohibiting privateering against a nation with which we 
were at peace. By such means it was hoped to preserve peace until 
the commissioners to France could make a settlement of the existing 
quarrel. 

Arrived in Paris, Pinckney, Marshall, and Gerry began to negotiate 
in October, 1797. To their surprise they made not a step of progress. 
„ Y . Talleyrand was head of foreign affairs, and the Directory 
' ' ' was corrupt to the core. They had taken an overbearing 

attitude toward small European states, each of which had some self- 
ish end to advance, and were collecting bribes from them before they 
would allow any arrangements to be made. What they did so freely 
with such states, they were now determined to do with the United 
States. While our commissioners waited for their business to be taken 
up, they were visited by agents, designated in the published reports 
of the commissioners as X, Y, and Z, who suggested that progress 
would be made if the minister were given $250,000. To this sugges- 
tion, several times repeated, the commissioners opposed a steadfast 
negative. Then they refused to see the agents, but prepared a state- 
ment of the American case and sent it to Talleyrand. His reply, de- 
layed two months, was insulting. He accused the United States of 
prolonging the misunderstanding for their own benefit, asked why 
three republican commissioners were not sent, and closed by saying 
that he would treat with Gerry alone. To this coarse message a dig- 
nified reply was made, and the commissioners prepared to 
Conduct. withdraw. Ere they went, Gerry was invited by Talley- 
rand to remain and continue communication with the min- 
istry. He hesitated a moment and then accepted, declaring that he 
did so only as a private citizen and in the hope that he might be 



THE NAVY'S METTLE 281 

able to prevent war. His action was ill advised. It produced resent- 
ment at home, and Adams summoned him to return instantly. 

April 3, 1798, the "X, Y, Z papers," as the correspondence of the 
commissioners was called, was sent to congress by the president, who 
declared: "I will never send another minister to France 
without assurances that he will be received, respected, AnOutburst 
and honored as the representative of a free, powerful, and ^ion. 
independent nation." The moderate federalists now 
joined the extremists, and many acts were passed looking to war. 
By one of them a navy department was created, by another three new 
frigates and thirty smaller vessels were ordered, by another the navy 
was authorized to take French ships interfering with our commerce, 
and by still another the treaties of 1778 were repealed. Another law 
authorized an army of 10,000 men to serve for three years. All this 
fell short of a declaration of war, and to that extent the extreme fed- 
eralists were disappointed. From this time Hamilton was for war. 

The few ships in the na\y were quickly in West Indian waters, 
fourteen men-of-war and eight converted merchantmen. There the 
Constellation fell in with Ulnsurgent, whose commander ,, 
had seized many of our merchant vessels and was much 
hated in America. An hour's chase followed, the Frenchman trying 
to avoid conflict, as he was instructed to do by his superiors. At last 
he was overhauled, and a spirited action of an hour and a quarter forced 
him to surrender. As the angry French captain came aboard the Con- 
stellation, he exclaimed: "Why have you fired on the national flag? 
Our two nations are at peace." The reply of the American captain, 
Truxtun, was laconic: "You are my prisoner." The victory 
aroused great enthusiasm in America. A short time later Truxtun 
met and fought a drawn battle with the French ship La Vengeance, 
and many other smaller engagements followed. In two years and a 
half our ships had taken 84 French ships, mostly privateers. The 
result was a lessening of the number of seizures and added prestige 
for the navy. This period of retaliation has been called a war with 
France, but no state of war was recognized by the two governments. 

Meanwhile, the organization of the new army was begun. Wash- 
ington was appointed its commander and accepted, on condition that 
he should name the chief subordinates. He sent three 
names to Adams, — Hamilton, Charles C. Pin,ckney, and ^^mv ^^ 
Knox. Confirmed in this order, the first would rank next 
to Washington. Adams remembered old scores and ordered that they 
should rank according to their station in the old army, — Knox, Pinck- 
ney, and Hamilton. Now the last named was a good military man, 
and Washington wanted him first among the three. Since the head of 
the army was too old to take the field, it meant that Hamilton would 
conduct the field movements. A strong controversy arose between 
the friends of Knox and Hamilton. Adams decided at first for Knox, 



282 ADAMS AND DOWNFALL OF THE FEDERALISTS 

but when Washington made a vigorous protest, the president dared not 
ignore it, and Hamilton received the coveted station. He had retired 
from civil life, but he loved the soldier's career, and as the federalists 
meant to make the augmented army a permanent thing, the appoint- 
ment was very attractive to him. He had much influence with 
Washington, and used it freely to get that final intervention which 
forced Adams to change the order of nominations. Adams did not 
relish the way he was treated; he felt that he was hardly commander- 
in-chief of the army, as the constitution provided; but he was not 
willing to withstand the will of Washington. 

Hamilton's success did him no good. Recruiting went on so slowly 
that 1799 was well advanced before a fair beginning was made. By 
this time enthusiasm was waning, and the newly-formed 
Slow"' '°^ camps became scenes of discontent and disorder. The 
republicans denounced the whole affair as ill advised. 
They divined their enemy's purpose to have a permanent establish- 
ment, and pointed out the tendency to militarism. This new army 
became an important argument in the campaign of 1800. 

In fact, a little reflection showed that war was unnecessary. France 
did not wish it, or she would have resented our attacks on her men- 
of-war. To have asked our commissioners for a bribe was 

„„^1^^"' discreditable to her, but we need not fight on account of it. 
necessary. ' '^ 

Many people saw this, Adams among them, and he decided 
to secure a restoration of harmony, if it could be done with dignity. 
The proper occasion offered when in October, 1798, Murray, our 
minister at The Hague, wrote that he was assured from Talleyrand 
that a minister would now be received. Adams wished to send one, 
but his cabinet, led by the factious Pickering, opposed. As the winter 
passed, he realized that the extremists were bent on bringing on war 
for their own ends, and determined to take affairs into his own hands. 

Without warning, he nominated Murray minister to France, 
Treaty '^^^^ ^^^ senate received the news in disgust. Hamilton, 

disappointed, declared nothing better could be expected 
from Adams, and the other extremists raged inwardly. But they could 
not resist, and accepted the suggestion after substituting three com- 
missioners for the one minister proposed. The result was an accept- 
able treaty, made in 1800, which settled for a time the chief points of 
controversy between the two nations. Napoleon was now in control 
in France. Occupied with vast plans in Europe, he wisely gave up 
the policy pursued by the directory of nursing American politics in 
the hope that a republican triumph on this side of the water would 
promote French interests. 



REPRESSIVE LAWS 283 



OVERCONFIDENCE OF THE FEDERALISTS 

Adams's atlitude toward P'rance has the approval of posterity. 
Unfortunately, his political principles were as narrow as those of other 
federalists. Like the rest of his party, he wished to enforce 
respect for public officials, and he resented the vast amount p^^'?^'^ 
of abuse which came from the republican editors and view's. 
writers. As many of these men were of foreign birth, 
some of them fugitives from their own countries, he felt that they 
ought to be restrained. Their activity during the year war was immi- 
nent with France was the basis of a charge that they were French 
spies ; and on that basis it was easy to conclude they should be sent out 
of the country. From this conviction proceeded four laws of congress 
passed with the support of extreme and moderate federalists. 

The first related to naturalization. A law of 1795 made five years of- 
residence necessary for naturalization. To most federalists this seemed 
too short, and many would have withheld the right entirely. 
But the words of the constitution seemed to imply that tion^Act'^*' 
naturalization should not be denied, and it was at last 
agreed to require fourteen years' residence, with the provision that 
naturalized persons must have declared their intentions five years 
before the right could be operative. The law was resented by the 
republicans, and the provisions of 1795 were restored by a law enacted 
by them in 1802. 

The second law dealt with aliens in times of peace. It gave the 
president the power to order out of the country any alien whom he 
thought dangerous to the welfare of the country. If he 
were not obeyed, he might order the person concerned to L^^g '*° 
be imprisoned for three years, and if such a person should 
return after going away, imprisonment might be inflicted at the will 
of the president. This act was to continue two years. 

The third act concerned aliens in time of war. They might 
be ordered out of the country or imprisoned as long as the pres- 
ident chose. The act was limited to the duration of a war. The 
republicans deplored loudly the fate of the " poor aliens," whose 
safety was thus put at the disposal of the president. In time 
of war or an invasion he was to have the power to issue a proc- 
lamation declaring what classes of aliens should be allowed to 
remain in the United States, and the federal courts were to see 
that it was not defied. Many Frenchmen left the country when 
the law was about to pass, which is probably all it was expected 
to accomplish. No attempt was made to apply either alien law to 
those who remained. 

The fourth act dealt with American citizens, who denounced the 
administration or upheld France. It made it a high misdemeanor 



284 ADAMS AND DOWNFALL OF THE FEDERALISTS 

"unlawfully to combine" against the legal measures of the govern- 
ment, to impede any officer in the execution of his duty, or to at- 
tempt to form any conspiracy, insurrection, or unlawful 
J. ^^ assembly against the administration. The penalty was to 

be imprisonment not more than five years and a fine of not 
more than $5000. It also made it a misdemeanor to issue a false or 
malicious writing against the president or congress in order to stir up 
hatred against them. For this offense the defendant, on conviction, was 
to be fined not more than $2000 and imprisoned not longer than two 
years. With some difficulty the republicans and moderates introduced 
into the law a clause allowing the accused to prove the truth of his 
assertion. The first of these four acts was passed June 18, the last on 
July 14, 1798. 

Many persons were indicted under the sedition act : only ten were 
brought to trial, and all of these were convicted. The most notable 
case was that of Dr. Thomas Cooper, then an editor in 
Prosecu- Pennsylvania. He was arrested for saying that President 
Sedition. Adams was incompetent and had, as president, interfered 
to influence the course of justice. In our day we should 
hardly notice such a charge, so freely is the conduct of even the highest 
official held up to ridicule and condemnation. He was tried before 
Chase, a federal judge, who displayed, as in all such cases, the greatest 
amount of partisanship. Cooper offered to prove the truth of the 
charge by summoning Adams and some members of congress as wit- 
nesses ; but they refused to attend. In default of such evidence he 
was convicted, fined $400, and sent to prison for six months. Adams 
was willing to pardon him, but the prisoner refused to petition for 
pardon unless the president acknowledged wrongdoing in giving out 
a letter Cooper had written him. The president would make no such 
acknowledgement, and the sentence was not remitted. 

Every man convicted became a martyr to free speech, in the eyes 
of the republicans. The issue came up in the election of 1800 and had 
great weight in convincing the voters that the federalists were drunk 
with power. All these repressive laws were, in fact, ill-advised. They 
rested on the theory that the people should not be free to discuss, as 
they chose, the actions of their rulers. European governments, as 
Chase pointed out in the case of Dr. Cooper, exercised the right to 
punish libel ; but the European governments were not republican. 
Punishing a citizen for political utterances is a bad policy in a govern- 
ment resting on popular suffrage. 

The republicans believed the alien and sedition acts an invasion 
of the personal rights which, as they held, were properly within the 
sphere of action by the states. They also decried the creation of an 
army under the control of the aggressive Hamilton. It seemed to them 
that by a system of loose construction the federalists would concentrate 
the powers of government in the hands of president, congress, and the 



REPLY OF THE REPUBLICANS 285 

federal courts, and reduce to a much lower rank the authority of the 
states, to which the republicans looked as the guarantee of the rights 
of the individual. The federalists, as in 1787, replied that the rights 
of the individual would be as safe at the hands of the general govern- 
ment as at the hands of the states. The reply did not satisfy the re- 
publicans, who demanded a strict interpretation of the constitution. 
Some of them despaired of checking the plans of their opponents, and, 
recurring to an idea entertained by some of the representatives of 
the large states in the convention of 1787, proposed to Jefferson to 
begin agitation for the secession of Virginia and North Carolina, in 
order to establish a great Southern republic into which the power of 
the trading states of the North would not enter. Such a movement 
would almost surely have the support of Kentucky and Tennessee ; 
Georgia would probably support it with her control of the great un- 
settled Gulf region ; and it was hardly to be doubted that it would 
eventually carry with it the state of South Carolina, in which the 
federalist families of the seacoast held only temporary supremacy. 
The whole region was more than half of the national domain, giving 
to the North all the vast unsettled Northwest. It had, however, 
only 40 per cent of the entire population, and its political strength 
was still less proportionally through the provision that only three- 
fifths of its slaves counted in representation. 

These suggestions were rejected by Jefferson. We ought not, he 
said, to become discouraged because of the triumph of opponents, 
but endeavor to overcome it by political means. Then 
he unfolded his plan. Believing that all the states had the pian"°° ^ 
same interest in protecting their authority, he would unite 
them in a crusade against national concentration. He secured the 
cooperation of Madison, and each wrote resolutions condemning the 
recent enactments of the federalist congress and pointing out in what 
ways the rights of the states were threatened. Madison's resolutions 
were adopted by the Virginia assembly. Jefferson's were intended for 
North Carolina, but the elections of 1798 in that state showed federal- 
ist gains in the legislature, and he would not send them thither for 
adoption. They were placed in the hands of friends in Kentucky, 
where republicanism was strong, and passed the legislature of that state 
by a large majority. 

The purport of each set of resolutions was the same, although the 
Kentucky resolutions used language more explicit and emphatic. 
Both sought to find in the states a power to stay the general 
government in its assumption that it could interpret the pac^t Theory 
constitution. Suppose a controversy exists as to whether 
the union or the state should exercise a certain power, who shall de- 
termine it ? The federalists asserted that the supreme court had the 
decision. They stood by the idea that the constitution was made 
by the people and that the national authority rested on popular con- 



286 ADAMS AND DOWNFALL OF THE FEDERALISTS 

sent as truly as the state authority. Jefferson and Madison declared 
that the states founded the national government by making a compact 
whose terms were expressed in the constitution and that it was for 
the states, the creators, to determine when the compact was broken. 
Both sets of resolutions declared that the alien and sedition acts, 
and some other recent legislation of congress, violated the consti- 
tution, and called on the states for cooperation in preventing their 
execution. 

By what means should the state's veto be given ? Virginia was dis- 
creetly general on the point. If ungranted power was exercised, said 
she, the states could and should "interpose for arresting 
Correction ^^^^ progress of the evil, and for maintaining within their 
respective limits the authorities, rights, and liberties ap- 
pertaining to them." Interposition by the states might be construed 
as calling a convention to amend the constitution, as provided in the 
constitution. But Kentucky was more explicit. The states, said 
her resolutions, founded the union for specific purposes and gave it 
expressed powers, reserving all authority to themselves which they 
did not grant to the union ; an exercise of ungranted power was illegal ; 
the union was not a judge of its own powers ; and each party to the 
compact of the union is a judge of the terms of union, as in all cases 
of compact where there is no common judge. In accordance with this 
principle they declared the alien and sedition acts and certain other 
laws of congress "void and of no force." 

In the hot debates of the convention of 1787 nothing was said 
directly about the compact theory. Virginia and most of the South 
then stood for a national government on a popular basis, 
Efficacy of evidently thinking their greater size would enable them 
Theory. ^^ Control it. Except for equal representation in the 

senate and the tenth amendment reserving to the states 
all powers not granted to the national government, there was no 
specific limitation of nationality in the constitution. If the convention 
had held so important a view, it can hardly be doubted that it would 
have defined it. Neither Jefferson nor Madison, in fact, claimed that 
words in the constitution, except the tenth amendment, supported the 
compact theory. It was a deduction from extra-constitutional sources. 
No government with a due respect for its own authority will accept 
in practical matters a principle so purely speculative. 

Both Jefiferson and Madison were experienced politicians. They 
did not expect the federal government to accept their view and re- 
linquish its pretended authority. But they believed that 
A Polrtic^al gj-^^-g resolutions were powerful means of calling attention 
to the federalist tendency toward concentration. Although 
the two sets of resolutions were sent to the other states in the 
union, they did not expect them to be accepted by the federalist 
then generally dominant in the Northern legislatures. But they 



NULLIFICATION FORESHADOWED 287 

thought the attention of the voters would be called in the most striking 
way to an evil they believed to exist with good effect on succeeding 
elections. Madison asserted in his old age that the Kentucky and Vir- 
ginia resolutions were planned for political effect. When the republi- 
cans came into control of the government two years later, they made 
no effort to amend the constitution in accordance with the compact 
theory. 

All the states north of the Potomac, through their legislatures, 
made replies unfavorable to the resolutions, some of them expressed 
in terms hardly polite. None of the legislatures of 
states south of Virginia voted on them, probably because Attitude of 
the republicans thought it wise to let well enough alone, states 
When the Northern replies were received, Kentucky and 
Virginia passed resolutions reasserting the views in the first sets. 
In those now announced by Kentucky occurred the sentence: "A 
nullification, by those sovereignties, of all unauthorized acts done under 
color of that instrument, is the rightful remedy." This is the only 
appearance of the word "nullification" in any of the resolutions, but 
the essential idea is in the first set passed by Kentucky. 
Thirty years later it came up again in the Nullification N^Hfi°'t'*° 
movement in South Carolina, whose promoters thought 
that stressing the similarity of their doctrines with those of 1798 would 
draw Virginia to their side. 

Overthrow of the Federalists 

The congressional elections of 1798 came while the country still 
looked for war with France, and the results favored the federalists. 
But that party was still divided into radicals and moderates, 
the former led by Pickering with the support of Hamilton, oivWed^*^ 
the latter led by Adams with the strong support of Marshall 
and a group of Southern federalists in the house. When the president 
threw over the war policy of his party in the spring of 1799 he had the 
support of the moderates, and the extremists lost a valuable political 
issue. They expressed their contempt for Adams openly, which only 
divided his party more than ever. The split became more evident 
when Adams, in 1800, dismissed Pickering and forced McHenry to with- 
draw from the cabinet because they refused to carry out his policy with 
regard to making a treaty with France. He retained Wolcott, equally 
guilty with the men dismissed, because he did not know the extent 
of Wolcott's treachery. In Pickering's post he placed Marshall, 
who was not popular in the North, and the dispossessed faction began 
to plot to defeat the reelection of a president who showed them so much 
hostility. As it was evident that the federalists would take Adams 
for their candidate in 1800, this dissention augured little for party 
success. 



^88 ADAMS AND DOWNFALL OF THE FEDERALISTS 

Meanwhile, the republicans were united for Jefferson. The Vir- 
ginia and Kentucky resolutions gave them a strong principle on which 
to appeal to the voters, and they strengthened their position 
Republicans ^^ criticizing the administration at every possible point. 
Preparations for war had involved heavy expenses, the 
national debt had grown during the eleven years of federalist control, 
and this gave ground for charging the party with extravagance. The 
evident desire of Hamilton to make the new army permanent induced 
the charge that he leaned toward militarism. In March, 1800, 
congress ordered the dismissal of the new army, and this was a blow 
at the extreme federalists. The assertion of the right to impress 
American sailors aroused great feeling against England, 
p .®*'^. J which reacted against the party which had usually stood 

by that country. Beneath all the arguments drawn from 
these and other sources was the continual assertion that the federalists 
stood for the rule of a selfish upper class, dominated by the capitalists, 
while the republicans represented the mass of the people. The asser- 
tion was generally true. The federalists had ignored the popular 
nature of American government, and Jefferson at last had organized 
the great mass of farmers and working people in a party which would 
correct recent tendencies toward class domination. It was the first 
of several great periodic popular upheavals by which the people have 
shown that they mean the government to rest on the will of all the 
people. 

In this campaign the nominating caucus was fully developed. In 
1796 republican and federalist senators and representatives, acting 
for their respective parties, held conferences and recom- 
mended presidential candidates to the people. But their 
action was not accepted as binding the party leaders ; for although 
the electors generally favored the caucus candidate for president there 
was much scattering in the vote for vice-president. Early in 1800 cau- 
cuses were again held. Adams was recommended by the federalists, 
and his friends insisted that the entire party was bound to support 
him. When Hamilton and his faction showed a contrary purpose they 
were pronounced party traitors. The republicans had their own in- 
ternal jealousies. Virginia expected to carry most of the South for 
Jefferson, but she needed the support of a strong Northern state, for 
which purpose New York seemed best suited. Clinton, of that state, 
did not like the Virginia leadership, as was shown in the convention 
of 1787 ; but at this time he was held in check in New York by Aaron 
Burr, able, but distrusted by many men. Burr was willing to make 
alliance with Virginia, and in 1796 he was supported as the regular 
candidate for vice-president. But in that year he received only 30 
votes to Jefferson's 68, and only one of the- thirty was from Virginia. 
He felt he was badly dealt with, and in 1800 demanded assurances 
that he would be supported equally with Jefferson. His terms were 



THE ELECTION OF 1800 289 

accepted by the caucus and by the party ; and for many years there- 
after the decision of the caucus was considered binding on the party. 

In the autumn of 1800 the differences between Adams and Hamilton 
precipitated a disastrous factional fight. Adams, frank by nature, 
expressed himself freely about the opposition of the ad- 
verse faction. As several members of the group lived Hamilton's 
in Essex county, Massachusetts, he dubbed them the gga^nst^ 
"Essex Junto." Hamilton was stung to the quick. He Adams, 
thought his own position in the party threatened, and wrote 
a pamphlet for secret circulation among the federalists, in which he 
declared that his friends did not constitute a British faction, as 
charged by Adams. Had he stopped there the result would not have 
been bad ; but he went on to attack Adams, recognized party leader, 
and the gleeful approbation of his friends shows that they thought 
the best part of the affair would be the destruction of the president. 
The pamphlet fell into the hands of the republicans, who republished 
it with exaggerations, and thus forced the author to issue an authentic 
copy. Then the world beheved that Hamilton had violated his party 
allegiance. There followed a reaction more damaging to Hamilton 
personally than to his opponent. Each man had his followers, and 
they became so embittered toward one another that party success 
was impossible. 

While the country was still talking about this incident, the election 
was held. Adams got all the votes from New England, 39 in number, 
10 from New Jersey and Delaware, 7 of Pennsylvania's 
15, as well as 5 of Maryland's 10, and 4 of North Carolina's J^^J^°^? 
12 — in all, 65. One elector in Rhode Island, fearing ^^^^^ ^g^^ 
treachery on the part of the extremists, voted for Adams 
and Jay, so that Pinckney, running with Adams, had only 64 votes. 
Jefferson had all the other votes, a total of 73. Burr, who ran with 
him, had the same number, and as neither had the highest number of 
votes cast, there was no election, and the house of representatives 
must select a president, the delegation of each state having one vote. 

The republicans had a majority of the electoral college, and the 
people had voted with the intention of making Jefferson president 
and Burr vice-president. Would the house execute the 
popular will, or would it act on its own judgment ? The J^^'^u^'^ '" 
federahsts were of the latter opinion, and made a plan to jggj^ 
carry their own states for Burr with a hope of bringing 
him into the presidency while Jefferson got the second place. In a 
caucus of their party they carried through their plan. Burr pro- 
tested against it, but in such weak tones that it was thought that he 
was privy to the scheme. It is hardly probable that the federalists 
would have supported him without some kind of promise in their 
behalf, though this does not mean that Burr meant to keep such a 
promise once he was president. When the house came to act, Jefferson 



290 ADAMS AND DOWNFALL OF THE FEDER.\LISTS 

had eight of the sixteen states and Burr had six, two being divided. Then 
Hamilton showed that moral quality which raised him in great crises 
above party. He disliked Jefferson, but believed him better than 
Burr, whom he well knew to be faithless to promises. Through his 
efforts the federalist representatives from Vermont, Delaware, and 
Maryland were induced to refrain from voting, and on the thirty-sixth 
ballot, February 17, 1801, Jefferson received the votes of ten states 
and was declared president-elect. Burr never forgave Hamilton his 
part in the election and, although vice-president, was thenceforth an 
ill-disposed partner in the republican administration. This situation, 
which caused so much anxiety at the time, was responsible for the 
adoption of the twelfth amendment, 1804, by which electors voted 
specifically for president and vice-president. 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

General secondary works for Adams's administration are the same as those for 
the preceding chapter. The same is true for the original sources and for the writ- 
ings and biographies of leading men. On special phases of the administration the 
following works are valuable : 

The Kentucky and Virginia resolutions : texts are in A merican History Leaflets, 
No. 15, and in MacDonald, 5(fe; Documents (1897); also in YXYiot, Journal and 
Debates of the Federal Convention (1830), IV, App., pp. 357-388, which contains 
also the second resolutions with the replies of some of the states ; Anderson, 
Contemporary Opinion of the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions {Am. Hist. Review, 
V, 45, 225), contains a full discussion; Warfield, The Kentucky Resolutions of 
1798 (1887), a narrative history with brief mention of the Virginia resolutions; 
Powell, N idlification and Secession in^ the United States (1897), has a chapter on the 
resolutions of 1798; Loving, Nullification, Secession, etc. in the United States (iSg^), 
combats the theory that the constitution is a growth ; and Bassett, Federalist System 
(1906), chap. XVIII. 

On the alien and sedition acts, see accounts in the Histories by MacMaster, 
Avery, Hildreth, and Schouler; Bassett, Federalist System (1906) ; Rives, Madison 
(1859-1868) ; Hunt, Madison {igo2) ; Randall, /('^fr.yo» (1858), partisan; Tucker, 
Jejfferson (1837), defends Jefferson; Adams, C. F., John Adams, 2 vols. (1871), 
the federalist side. 

On party politics: Gordy, History of Political Parties, 2 vols. (ed. 1904), deals 
with French situation at length; Stanwood, History of the Presidency (1898), 
chap. V, a good summary of the elections of 1800 and 1801 ; Morse, A. D., Party 
Revolution of iSoo (Am. Hist. Assoc. Report, 1894); Ibid., The Politics of John 
Adams {Am. Hist. Review, IV); Farrand, Tlie Judiciary Act of iSoi (Ibid., V); 
South Carolina in the Presidential Election of iSoo (Ibid., IV), contains letters from 
C. C. Pinckney; also lives and writings of Adams, Jefferson, Hamilton, and 
Madison. 

On the naval operations of the time : Maclay, History of tite United States Navy, 
3 vols. (rev. ed., 1898-1901); Maclay, History of American Privateers (1899); 
Spears, History of Our Navy, 5 vols. (1S97-1898), a popular narrative. 

For Independent Reading 

Morse, J. T., Life of John Adams (1885) ; Maclay, History of American Priva- 
teers (1899) ; Weld, Travels through tlie States of North America and Canada, 2 vols. 
(1799), very popular when published; and D wight, Travels in New England and 
New York, 4 vols. (1821-1822), an excellent book. 



CHAPTER XIV 

INTERNAL HISTORY AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS UNDER JEFFERSON 

AND MADISON 

Republican Reforms 

From the beginning of his administration Jefferson rejected the 
ceremonials which his party had denounced, and which the federalists 
defended on the ground that they created respect for the 
government. The carriage of state with six horses was simplicity! 
discarded, and he rode horseback and unattended through 
the streets of the capital, like any other well-mounted citizen. The 
formal weekly receptions became levees to which any citizens who 
chose might come unannounced. The annual speeches to congress, 
which reminded the republicans too pointedly of the king's speech 
to parHament, became written annual messages, reports of the 
executive on the state of the nation. Federalists ridiculed these 
changes, but the people were pleased. 

The inauguration was equally simple. Jefferson came to Washing- 
ton as a private citizen, lodged at a tavern, and just before noon 
on March 4 walked up Capitol Hill, accompanied by a 
group of friends, to take the oath of office administered by auguration. 
Jolin Marshall, a strong and determined federalist, whom 
Adams a few weeks earlier had appointed chief justice. His inaugural 
address has long been considered a great state paper. Good citizens, 
he said in effect, must recognize the right of the majority to rule, but 
the majority must not oppress the minority. It was time to lay aside 
the bitterness of controversy and to remember that political intol- 
erance was as bad as religious intolerance. Differences of opinion 
are natural, but federalists and republicans are alike Americans and 
should unite to preserve the union and representative concjuation 
government. He pleaded in noble language for peace, 
cooperation in developing the resources of a great country, and 
patriotism and good will in realizing the blessings of liberty. These 
words were calculated to pacify the fears that the republicans would 
overthrew the foundations of society, so sedulously aroused by the 
federalists in the late campaign. It was Jefferson's dearest wish to 
conciliate his enemies, especially those in the North, who had been led 
to believe him an atheist and something of an anarchist. 

291 



292 INTERNAL HISTORY AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

He announced his principles in terms his followers never forgot. 
He wished to see, he said, "a. wise and frugal government, which 
shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave 
Pohtica them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of in- 

dustry and improvement, and shall not take from the 
mouth of labor the bread it has earned." He enumerated many means 
of achieving these ends, among them "equal and exact justice to all 
men," "honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliance with 
none," the preservation of the rights of the states as the best guardians 
of domestic concerns, the support of the union "in its whole consti- 
tutional vigor," "the supremacy of the civil over the military author- 
ity," the rights of popular election as the only arbiter short of revolu- 
tion, the sufficiency of a well-estabhshed militia, payment of the 
national debt, and economy in public expenditures. So deeply did 
these principles sink into the minds of the people at large that no later 
party or candidate has dared to repudiate them. 

The new cabinet was wisely chosen. Madison became secretary of 
state, Albert Gallatin, the best financier in the party, became secretary 
of the treasury. General Dearborn, of Massachusetts, 
c b' t ^^^ secretary of war, Levi Lincoln, of the same state, 
attorney-general, and Robert Smith, of Maryland, secre- 
tary of the navy. The postmaster-general, Gideon Granger, of Con- 
necticut, was not then in the cabinet, but the post was important 
because of the many subordinates. Assigning three of these places 
to New England shows how much it was desired to conciliate the people 
of that section. Dearborn and Smith were not strong men, but 
Jefferson did not propose to make much use of army or navy. 

In their day of power the federalists were very bitter toward the 
republicans. They called them "the rabble," filled the offices with 
their own partisans, appointed only their friends to the 
Appoint- federal judgeships, and in February, 1801 , created a number 
Office. o^ ^^w courts, spending their last moments of power in 

filling them with their own followers. Their opponents 
were naturally exasperated, and came into office eager for spoils. 
Jefferson wisely withstood the demand ; for he saw that the thing for 
his party to do was to dispel the charge that it would overthrow the 
established order. He refused to remove officials unless it was shown 
that they were guilty of misconduct or of partisanship. He was thus 
able to prevent wholesale removals, which disappointed some of his 
hungry supporters. He refused to deliver commissions for the 
"midnight appointments," that is, the court officials under the act 
of February, 1 801, which Adams had signed but left undelivered in the 
executive offices. At his suggestion congress repealed this act in 
1802. On the other hand, Jefferson appointed his own followers, 
saying when as many republicans were in office as federalists he would 
continue the parity. 



GALLATIN AND THE FINANCES 293 

Next, he turned to the national debt, which under the federalists 
had grown from $77,500,000 to $80,000,000. Jefferson was pledged 
to reduce it and gave Gallatin a free hand. That careful 
financier examined his resources and concluded that the ^.^^^^'P'^ 
debt could be paid in sixteen years. The revenue then poUcy. 
yielded $10,600,000 a year, of which $4,500,000 went for 
interest, $5,500,000 for army and navy, and the rest for general ex- 
penses. Gallatin proposed to pay $7,300,000 a year for interest and 
to curtail the debt, and as the ordinary expenses could not well be 
lessened he would effect most of the saving by reducing the army and 
nax'y. At the outset he encountered a difficulty in the loss of $650,000 
of the levenue, because the repubhcans were pledged to abolish 
internal revenue duties. Thus it happened that he had but $2,650,000 
for the support of army, navy, and the civil establishment. This 
sum he divided with the greatest care. To the army he allowed 
$930,000, to the navy $670,000, which left $1,050,000 for ordinary 
expenses. This made it necessary to reduce the army to a mere 
handful and to tie up in the dockyards most of the ships of the navy. 
Jefferson was pleased. He did not like a standing army, and con- 
sidered a navy a useless toy which, as he said, might well 
be assembled in the eastern branch of the Potomac, where J^ff^rson 
the ships "would require but one set of plunderers to take Navy, 
care of them." Many congressmen winced under Gal- 
latin's economy ; but he was inexorable, Jefferson supported him, and 
the plan was adopted. 

The result justified Gallatin's hopes. At the end of a year the 
revenue was nearly $3,000,000 more than he had expected, which gave 
him a comfortable surplus. In 1803 we purchased Louisi- 
ana, paying $1 1,250,000 in bonds and $4,000,000 for claims Gallatin's 
(see page 299). Gallatin announced that he could pay the mg^t 
latter out of the surplus and that the new bonds would 
postpone the payment of the debt only eighteen months. In 1804 
congress ordered the construction of a frigate to replace the Phila- 
delphia, lost at Tripoli (see page 296), and all eyes turned to Gallatin 
for the money. He would not take from the funds set aside for the 
debt, and congress had to lay a special duty, the "Mediterranean 
Fund." In 1805 the revenues rose to $14,000,000, and in 1806 to 
$14,500,000, yielding a surplus of $6,000,000. Many congressmen 
thought the time for economy was now past, but Gallatin and Jef- 
ferson urged patience, promising if the policy of economy were fol- 
lowed for two years longer there would be an ample reserve and at least 
$5,000,000 for such uses as congress might deem fit. 1807 was another 
fat year, and the surplus was now $7,600,000, and the debt, including 
the bonds paid for Louisiana, had been reduced from $92,000,000 to 
$69,500,000. In 1808 the embargo was in force, revenues fell off, 
and this splendid progress was halted. 



294 INTERNAL HISTORY AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

Gallatin's financial policy pleased the mass of thrifty people. It 
was that of the careful husbandman, who, finding himself overwhelmed 

with debt, sets aside from his annual income a sum neces- 
Gallatin and g^j.y ^-^j liquidate his obligations within a reasonable time 
Contrasted. ^"^^ rigidly reduces expenditures accordingly. It looked 

to the ultimate extinction of the debt, on the principle 
that freedom from debt is as good for a nation as for an individual. 
In contrast with it was the policy of Hamilton, who thought little of 
pajdng the debt and much of making the nation strong enough to 
weather financial storms. He would have a navy to protect commerce, 
which would increase the revenues, manufactures to build up the 
industrial efficiency of the country, and a strong capitalist class to 
promote the development of the nation's resources. He looked 
farther into the future than Gallatin, but he did not appreciate so 
well the desires of the average citizen. 

Jefferson's first term saw a remarkable and probably an unexpected 
development of the power of the federal courts. Asserting the right 

to interpret the constitution, they began to declare null 
TheRepub- j-j^^g both of congress and the state legislatures (see page 
beans an 357). As the judges were federalists, it seemed that the 
ciary. opposition, ensconced in this seat of power, were defeating 

the will of the people expressed in the elections. The case 
seemed more difficult, because the constitution alTorded no other way 
of removing a judge than impeachment, which must be for "treason, 
bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." But if the senate, 
as a court of impeachment, chose to consider partisanship in a judge 
a misdemeanor, no power could gainsay them. So clear was this that 
the republicans determined to proceed, believing that if they estab- 
lished the principle that the senate could remove the judges, future 
partisanship in that quarter would be avoided. 

The first case was that of Pickering, judge of a district court in New 
Hampshire, a man whose inebriety had led to insanity. He was 
impeached and removed from office in 1803, and the people approved, 
although it seemed singular that insanity was pronounced a mis- 
demeanor by the highest court in the land. Then the republicans 
turned to Judge Samuel Chase, of the supreme court. He was a 
violent partisan, as his conduct in the cases under the alien and sedi- 
tion laws in 1800 showed. He expressed his views openly, and in 
1803 declared to a federal grand jury in Baltimore that the republicans 
threatened the country with mob rule. At this the house impeached 
him, and the senate sat as a tribunal. John Randolph, an able but 
erratic Virginian, was chief prosecutor on behalf of the house. He 
included so many charges besides partisanship that opinion rallied to 
Chase and the impeachment failed. It was believed that a contrary 
verdict would have been followed by the impeachment of Marshall. 
As it was, the republican attack on the courts was checked, and the 



A NAVAL WAR 295 

chief justice remained in a position to exert a powerful influence 
upon the development of constitutional law. 

The War with Tripoli 

For many years Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli laid tribute 
on trade in the Mediterranean, and the powers of Europe acquiesced. 
After the revolution our ships began, also, to be seized, 
and we were forced to buy treaties with handsome presents ^11"^^^° 
of arms and money. First and last we paid enough 
money in this way to build several excellent ships, but for all that 
the freebooters were not satisfied. In 1801 the pacha of Tripoli cut 
down the flagstaff of our consulate as a declaration of war, because 
Tunis received richer presents than Tripoli ; and about the same 
time Algiers showed symptoms of ill will. Jefferson desired peace, 
because, like Washington in 1795, he felt we were not strong 
enough to make war on a great power. But this policy did not apply 
to Tripoli, and early in 1801 he sent Captain Dale with four ships, the 
President, Philadelphia, and Essex, frigates, and the Enterprise, a 
sloop of war, to teach the Barbary States to respect us. 

Dale could not attempt land operations, and when the Tripolitans 
collected an army and drew their navy up under the guns of their forti- 
fications, he could only establish a blockade and cruise 
along the coast. Fortune, however, threw in his way an operations 
enemy's cruiser, which was quickly taken. Because 
congress had not declared war, Jefferson had not authorized captures, 
and the conquered ship, disarmed and dismantled, was allowed to 
escape to Tripoli, where her crew told such stories of American ferocity 
that the pacha's soldiers were filled with a respectful terror. In 1802 a 
second squadron went to the Mediterranean, but did nothing effective. 
These meager results disappointed the people at home, and the com- 
mander. Captain Morris, was dismissed the service. In 1803 a third 
commander of squadron went out. Captain Preble. With the aid of 
some small boats borrowed from the king of Sicily, who was also at 
war with the pacha, he conducted a bombardment of the city of 
Tripoli, but inflicted little damage. Preble remained in the Mediter- 
ranean during the winter, and showed a determination to isolate the 
enemy completely. In the spring of 1804 he received important 
cooperation from William Eaton, an eccentric but patriotic American 
in Egypt, who, without authority from his government, sought Hamet, 
dispossessed elder brother of the pacha, and set out from Egypt to 
capture the government of Tripoli by land. The pacha ^ , , . 
was a usurper and yielded rather than endanger tran- ^^^^ 
quillity at home, although the army of Eaton and Hamet 
was only 500 men. In 1805, when the eastern half of his kingdom 
had been won over, he concluded a treaty, retaining his throne, but 



296 INTERNAL HISTORY AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

agreeing to remain at peace with the United States in the future with- 
out tribute, and to surrender all Americans held in his country. 
Nothing was done in behalf of Hamet, who was now forced to retire 
from the positions he had won, but the next year we allowed him a life 
pension of $200 a month. 

The war with Tripoli had a wholesome effect on the other Barbary 
States, and they were content to remain at peace without further 
presents. It also gave the na\y exercise in a theater of 
thTwar' actual war, and brought it added prestige at home and 
abroad. It contained incidents of heroism which fired the 
American imagination. Two of them especially were long remem- 
bered. While Preble held Tripoli closely invested from the sea he 
sent Lieutenant Somers among the enemy's ships in the 
Somer° ketch Intrepid, loaded with bombs and powder, to explode 
it in their midst and escape if possible. The American 
ships waited at a distance for the return of the brave crew. After 
a time they saw the ketch blow up when in contact with the Tripoli- 
tans, but neither Somers nor his men came back. Their fate was not 
known, but it was believed that he leaped into the magazine with a 
lighted torch, devoting himself to death to accomplish the object for 
which he was sent out. 

The other adventure was more successful. The PliUadelphia, 
pursuing the enemy too eagerly, went aground at the mouth of the har- 
bor of Tripoli, and Bainbridge and his crew were taken. 
deiphia ' "' Shortly afterwards the ship was floated by the enemy and 
taken under the protection of their guns, where she 
frowned unpleasantly at the Americans in the offing. Stephen Deca- 
tur, commanding a ketch, sailed boldly into the harbor, boarded the 
Philadelphia, filled her with combustibles, set her on fire, and escaped 
in his ketch through a shower of badly aimed shots from land batteries 
and the ships in the harbor. He was a cool and capable officer, and 
was promoted for his conduct. In 181 5 he returned to the Mediter- 
ranean with a formidable squadron and dictated favorable treaties 
with the Barbary States at the mouth of the cannon. 

The Purchase of Louisiana 

In 1800 most Americans believed that the settlement of the eastern 
half of the Mississippi basin would inevitably be followed by the 

acquisition of the western half. Acute alarm was occa- 
The im- sioned in Washington's administration when it was 
Louisiana. thought England was about to get a foothold in this 

region ; for while no one feared Spain's control of the 
region in question, England's ownership was another matter. For- 
tunately, the danger soon passed, but apprehension was again aroused 
when in the spring of 1801 it began to be reported that Spain had 



NAPOLEON AND LOUISIANA 297 

transferred Louisiana to the powerful and aggressive Napoleon, who 
intended to build up a vast colonial power in its borders. The rumor 
soon became a certainty, but as rr.onths passed and the province 
remained in the hands of Spain the public mind remained calm. 
Late in 1802 it was violently agitated when news came that the 
Spanish governor in New Orleans had withdrawn the right of deposit 
granted in the treaty of 1795. The public construed this as a change 
of policy in anticipation of the new regime in Louisiana, and the West 
was for seizing the mouth of the river before it was too late. Jefferson 
wisely thought the action of the governor unauthorized, 
and restrained the popular wrath while he negotiated. j)g^„Qg°i 
Five months later he was informed by the Spanish minister 
that the right of deposit would be restored, and this removed the 
question from the range of possible war and left it freely in the field 
of diplomacy. 

It was the president's plan to impress France with our seriousness 
in the matter, and to that end he used the strongest language. Let 
France know, he said, that the nation which held the mouth 
of the Mississippi was our enemy, and if Napoleon per- j^i^^iq^^^ 
sisted in his purpose we should "marry ourselves to the 
British fleet and nation," so that England and the United States, 
cooperating for supremacy at sea, would hold at their mercy the 
revived French colonial establishment. He let the British minister 
see what he meant, and at a dinner paid him such marked attention 
that the French minister made it a subject of comment in his letter to 
Talleyrand. Generally speaking, Jefferson was pacific, not because 
of cowardice, as his enemies thought, but because he abhorred war 
and thought it was usually undertaken through unreasonable impulse. 
His vigorous attitude toward France shows how positive he could be 
when he considered a vital issue at stake. Meanwhile, Livingston, 
our minister in Paris, was instructed to sound Napoleon in regard to 
the purchase of the Isle of Orleans and West Florida. It is not 
probable that Jefferson thought the proposition would succeed, but 
it offered a point of departure in the negotiation. 

Unknown to him, events in Paris were shaping themselves more 
favorably than he dared hope ; and to understand them we must go 
back to the treaty of San Ildefonso, October i, 1800. By 
that agreement Napoleon induced Spain to transfer P^^Jf^"^ 
Louisiana to him in exchange for the Grand Duchy of fonso. 
Tuscany, which, elevated to the kingdom of Etruria, was 
to be given to the Duke of Parma, son-in-law of the king of Spain, 
when a general peace was made in Europe. Napoleon promised not 
to sell the territory thus acquired to any nation but Spain, and it was 
agreed that later negotiations should be entered into for the cession of 
West Florida. The treaty was kept secret for the time being, but its 
essential features were soon known. This vast acquisition of land 



298 INTERNAL HISTORY AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

was to be the basis of a revived colonial empire, which the rising 
Napoleon thought would increase his popularity with the glory-loving 
French people. 

Before that scheme could be realized the island of Santo Domingo 
must be conquered. Here Toussaint L'Ouverture, at the head of an 

army of blacks, was fighting to maintain the power he had 
Toussaint founded. Every step he took in the progress of military 

despotism seemed but a shadow of the course of a greater 
despot in France. The world took notice and smiled, whereat Na- 
poleon, deeply irritated, felt the greater need of suppressing the man 
who made him ridiculous while he defied French authority. In 
February, 1801, Napoleon made the treaty of Luneville and was at 
peace with the continent. England continued the war with little 
heart, and brought it to an end a year later in the treaty of Amiens. 
This period of victory offered the triumphant First Consul the op- 
portunity to bring Santo Domingo back to obedience. 

January, 1802, arrived in Santo Domingo Leclerc, one of the best 
French generals, with an army of 10,000, and the war of reconquest 

began. Toussaint wished to use guerilla methods, but his 
Toussaint officers overruled him. After three months of struggle 

they began to yield to the blandishments of Leclerc, think- 
ing that it booted little to suffer further in behalf of the black emperor. 
At last Toussaint himself ventured to surrender, being assured of 
personal safety. After six weeks of fancied security he was arrested, 
sent to France according to the orders of Napoleon, and in less than a 
year died in a fortress in the Jura Mountains. Then Napoleon sent 
an order to restore slavery, his intention from the beginning. But 
for that, he might have ruled the island and proceeded with his colonial 
plans in Louisiana. As it was, the negro laborers rose to a man. Tous- 
saint's officers were true to Leclerc, but all the efforts of the combined 

white and black forces did not check the onslaughts of the 
De^feated maddened laborers who saw slavery restored in the neigh- 
boring island of Guadeloupe. Then yellow fever appeared. 
In three months 24,000 men, soldiers and sailors, had died, and Leclerc 
demanded 17,000 more, with avast sum of money, before the work of 
subjugation was done. He announced that this could only be done 
by killing over half the lower classes, male and female, above twelve 
years of age ; and he thought that peace once restored, annual revolts 
might be looked for in the future. Before such a stupendous under- 
taking even Napoleon's resolution quailed, and it was decided to 
abandon the island. 

Louisiana was now useless to Napoleon, and although 
Purchased ^^ ^^^ assured Spain he would not sell it, he looked 

around for a buyer. April 10, 1803, he told Marbois, 
head of the treasury, to see if the United States would entertain 
an offer to buy. The shrewd Talleyrand, scenting an opportunity for 



LOUISIANA ACQUIRED 299 

profit, anticipated Marbois, and the following day opened the matter 
with Livingston, our minister. The two were discussing the purchase 
of the Isle of Orleans when Talleyrand said, "What would you give 
for all Louisiana?" The suggestion was unexpected, but Livingston 
concealed his eagerness, and said that as he expected a special envoy 
from the United States in two days, he wished the matter to be 
deferred that long. The envoy was Monroe, whom Jefferson had sent 
to try to purchase the Isle of Orleans and West Florida. On the thir- 
teenth Marbois and Livingston talked until midnight about the affair, 
the former inquiring if we would pay 60,000,000 francs in cash and 
also assume claims of Americans against France worth 20,000,000 
francs. Livingston said this was too much, but he felt inwardly that it 
was a good bargain, and after some haggling the purchase was made on 
that basis. The treaty was signed on May 2, although it was ante- 
dated to April 30. It increased the national domain by 140 per cent. 

The transaction pleased Jefferson, but also alarmed him. A strict 
constructionist, he could find no authority in the constitution for 
purchasing foreign territory, and he began to prepare 
an amendment granting congress the right. He seems to r f-g I**^ 
have forgotten this when he proposed to buy the Isle of 
Orleans. An intimation from Paris that Napoleon might change his 
mind before an amendment could be adopted caused the president 
to abandon his plan, and the treaty was duly ratified October 21, 
1803. December 20, to the gratification of every American in the 
Mississippi valley, the stars and stripes was hoisted over New Orleans. 

Now arose the cjuestion of boundaries. According to the treaty we 
received "the colony or province of Louisiana, with the same extent 
that it now has in the hands of Spain, and that it had when 
France possessed it, and such as it should be after the ^o^^siana's 
treaties subsequently entered into between Spain and 
other states." The words were from the treaty of 1800. Livingston 
asked Talleyrand what they meant. " I do not know," was the re- 
ply, "you must take it as we received it." "But what did you mean 
to take?" said Livingston, to which the astute Frenchman again 
said, "I do not know," adding, "You have made a noble bargain for 
yourselves, and I suppose you will make the most of it." At that 
time Talleyrand had in his cabinet a copy of the instructions designed 
for Victor, who was to have been the first French governor of Louisi- 
ana, informing him that the boundary on the west was the Rio Grande, 
and on the east the river Iberville, i.e. the eastern border of the Isle of 
Orleans. This was quite definite, but it was unknown to Jefferson for 
some time, and meanwhile he adopted a theory worthy of Talleyrand 
himself. 

Before 1762 Louisiana extended to the Perdido, including Mobile, 
which as the outlet of a river system reaching from Georgia to Missis- 
sippi was greatly desired by the United States. Jefferson saw in the 



300 INTERNAL HISTORY AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

words of the treaty, "that it had when France possessed it," an op- 
portunity to claim this part of what he must have known was un- 
doubtedly West Florida, i.e. Spanish territory, and, in 
How Jeffer- Talleyrand's words, he "made the most of it." He com- 
j°° * ^ municated his opinion to congress, which accepted it, and 
passed. February, 1804, the Mobile act, erecting the region 
in question into a customs district and annexing it to Mississippi terri- 
tory. Lest this lead to war with Spain, Jefferson tactfully located 
the customs house for the new district north of the Florida line. His 
plan was to hold the dispute in abeyance until Spain was in a war, 
and then seize the desired district. The Southwest, to whom the 
Coosa-Alabama line of river communication was of the utmost impor- 
tance, approved his plan, and thought nothing of the points of national 
honor involved. But Jefferson did not trust entirely to the prospect 
of war. He would use it, if possible, as a means of forcing Spain to 
withdraw, and to that end he hoped to enlist the efforts of Napoleon, 
whose influence in Madrid was all but supreme. The French emperor 
understood this game and skillfully turned it against the American 
president by holding out West Florida when he wished the good will 
of Jefferson, and by withdrawing it when his temporary purpose was 
accomplished. ii*^^. 

Dissension in th^ REFtfrn^iCAN Party 

By the beginning of 1804 Jefferson s popularity was well established. 
None of the calamities prophesied by the federalists had followed 

his election. On the contrary, the debt was being paid 
S ccess"* through Gallatin's wise economy, Louisiana had been 

acquired, party rancor was dying, business was prosperous, 
and the president manifested a desire to conciliate all sections and 
interests. It was also evident that Jefferson directed his party with a 
strong hand. He early recognized Burr as a disturbing element and 
proceeded to crush him. The character of the New Yorker would 
have justified this, to say nothing of his intrigue for the presidency in 
1 80 1. Burr was attacked through the New York patronage, which 

was sedulously given to Clinton, his bitter enemy. The 
His Attitude vice-president was the least submissive of men, and now 
toward Burr, began to lean toward the federalists, and this only increased 

the difference between him and his party. Finally, he 
fell into the net of Pickering and the extreme New England federalists. 
They were so bitter against Jefferson that they planned to carry their 
section out of the union before his insidious conciliation should warp 
it out of their hands. It was an erratic scheme, and probably would 
have been rejected by the people, but the schemers decided to make 
the attempt if New York, the great commercial state of the North, 
could be induced to join them. To that end they approached Hamil- 



THE YAZOO CONTROVERSY 301 

ton, who rejected their proposals. Then they turned to Burr, who 
was complaisant. They got him accepted as federalist candidate 
for governor in the spring of 1804, thinking that his own ^ 

friends and the federalists would elect him. But now ^hdmed.'^' 
Hamilton exerted himself, and defeated Burr at the polls 
by disclosing the object for which he had been nominated. This 
angered the discredited man, and the result was the duel on July 11, 
1S04, in which Hamilton was killed and Burr's political influence 
blasted. Jefferson in national affairs and Clinton in state affairs 
reaped the fruits of that foolish crime. 

A more serious party disturbance came through the opposition of 
John Randolph, a vehement and caustic speaker against whom few 
members of congress could stand in debate. As chairman 
of the ways and means committee in the house he was a Randolph. 
chief exponent of the administration policy. His lofty 
manner offended many republicans, particularly the men from the 
North, for whom he openly expressed contempt. His ideas were not 
always practical, and Jefferson in a quiet way began to oppose the 
most impossible of them. Randolph then struck back, the oc- 
casion being the Yazoo claims, whose origin goes back to Washing- 
ton's administration. 

After the revolution Georgia claimed the lands to the Mississippi 
by a title formally as good as that by which the other states claimed 
their Western lands. She also held that the region involved 
in the secret clause of the treaty of 1782 should come to her companies. 
because it was originally a part of her domain. The 
United States might well dispute the latter claim, but left it in abeyance, 
hoping that all the region would soon be transferred to the federal 
government. But Georgia wished to realize on the lands, and by 
several grants sold them to great land companies, known as Yazoo 
companies. The last of these grants, including the others, was made 
in 1795 at about a cent and a half an acre. The sale was made by a 
corrupt legislature, and the next legislature declared it null. Now 
resulted a pretty piece of confusion, in which the Yazoo lands were 
claimed by Georgia, the United States, since most of them were in the 
disputed region, and the grantees, who held that a state could not 
annul a grant for the corruption of its own agents. Georgia was 
deiiant, and as President Adams did not wish to coerce a state, a 
compromise was arranged by which Georgia relinquished the lands to 
the federal government, which undertook to erect them into Missis- 
sippi Territory, and to pay damages to Georgia and the 

'^^^ . >. . . -^ • i J r .1 I t4. Compromise 

companies. Commissions were appointed tor tne latter proposed. 

purpose, and reported among other things that the United 
States should pay Georgia $1,250,000, and the grantees the proceeds 
of the sale of 5,000,000 acres of land. In 1803 a bill was before con- 
gress to put this compromise into effect. 



302 INTERNAL HISTORY AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

It was at this point that Randolph opened his attack on the admin- 
istration. He disliked Madison greatly, thinking him a trimmer. 
Most of the Yazoo stock was owned by speculators living in the 

North, and the representatives in congress, from that 
Randolph section, republican and federalist, were anxious to pass 
and t e ^ ^^^ |^|jj^ Jefferson favored it, probably because he wished 
promise. to build up his party in the North. All this aroused the 

suspicion of Randolph. He made no objection to reim- 
bursing Georgia for her claim, but he denounced the project to pay the 
companies. His scathing words defeated the bill at that time, but it 
came up again in 1805, when the speculators employed Granger, 
postmaster-general, to lobby for the measure. This angered the sharp- 
tongued Randolph, whose bitter strictures were now thrust at the 
administration which harbored the lobbyist. The republicans were 
divided into Yazoo and Anti-Yazoo men, the latter being chiefly 
Southerners. They were nearly equally divided, and Randolph was 
able to defeat the bill at this time. Although taken up again from time 
to time, it was not passed. In 1810, in the case of Fletcher vs. Peck, 
the supreme court held that the Georgia grant of 1795 was a contract, 
and that the legislature of 1796 could not annul it, and this strength- 
ened the cause of the Yazoo men. In 1814, when Ran- 
End of the do^ph was no longer a member of congress, it was voted 
troversy. ^o give the company $8,000,000 in settlement of the 

claims, and with this the matter came to an end. 
At first Jefferson kept himself clear of the dispute, and he was too 
strong to be openly attacked. In 1804 he was reelected president 

by 162 to 14 electoral votes, getting all the votes of New 
ReSt°e°d England but Connecticut's. For the support of New York, 

Clinton received the vice-presidency. Jefferson, at the 
height of his glory, announced in 1805 that he would not be a candi- 
date for another term, and it was generally thought he would 
make Madison his successor. Randolph and his friends began to 
make plans to support Monroe, who had acted with them. While 
the breach in the party was thus widened, Jefferson brought before 
congress a scheme to acquire Florida, which gave Randolph another 
opportunity to show hostility to the president. 

While Jefferson deferred occupation of West Florida to a more 
favorable time, he renewed diplomatic efforts to get Spain to yield 

what we wished ; but to his overtures the king returned a 
Jefferson's haughty refusal. In 1805 Talleyrand entered into the 
Acquiring affair, communicating an informal suggestion that we 
Florida. trust Napoleon to conduct negotiations for the purchase 

of all Florida for $7,000,000. He meant that the money 
sent to Madrid should find its way into the French treasury to pay 
subsidies which Napoleon exacted from prostrate Spain. The sug- 
gestion pleased Jefferson, although he hoped to get the Floridas for 



JOHN RANDOLPH INSURGENT 303 

Jess than the price named, and December 5, 1805, he sent a secret 
message to congress asking for authority to offer $2,000,000. Ran- 
dolph, chairman of the ways and means committee, was the man to 
move a grant ; but he was obdurate. His influence with the com- 
mittee was great, and he induced them to report in favor of measures 
of defense, saying he would never vote a penny to buy territory which 
we justly owned. The house overrode him, voting after a long debate, 
72 to 58, that the money be placed at the president's disposal. But 
so much time was consumed in discussion that the opportunity 
was lost. When the suggestion was made, Napoleon needed 
money. Within four months he won the victories of Ulm and Aus- 
terlitz and dictated the treaty of Pressburg, and his coffers were 
overflowing. He accordingly refused to bring pressure to bear on 
Spain. 

From that time, 1806, Randolph was in open opposition. Now 
came an unexpected development. His followers would support him 
when he appeared as a mere critic of one of the administra- 
tion measures, but when he was an acknowledged insur- cf^^"'^^- 
gent they began to fall away, fearing the power and strength, 
popularity of Jefferson. Of the ablest and truest were 
Nicholson, of Maryland, Macon, of North Carolina, the speaker, and 
Monroe. Jefferson sought to detach them from their leader, and 
succeeded with the first by appointing him a federal judge. The 
second remained unmoved, but the congress elected in 1806 was against 
Randolph, and Macon was not reelected speaker. His defeat insured 
a new chairman of the ways and means committee. Monroe acted with 
Randolph until the election of 1808 elevated Madison, Jefferson's 
choice, to the president's chair. In 1809 an arrangement was made, 
through Jefferson's aid, to make Monroe secretary of state under 
Madison, an agreement consummated in 181 1. Randolph, shorn of 
his strength, continued to annoy Jefferson. In the house none dared 
encounter his withering scorn, and he had his way in debate. The 
president wisely ignored the attacks, although he probably winced 
in secret under them. The retirement of the annoyer in 1813 to make 
place for Jefferson's son-in-law, Eppes, only interrupted Randolph's 
career. He was reelected in 1814, and with a short interruption served 
in congress until 1829, an able but eccentric free lance and sometimes 
a nuisance. 

The Schemes of Aaron Burr 

When Burr saw his career ended in the East he turned to the West. 
Had he settled in New Orleans, or some other city in which a duelist 
was not unpopular, he might have risen to professional 
and political prominence. But his ambition looked to totheWest. 
larger things, and he wished to found a state of his own in 
the West. For such an adventure he had genius in leadership, but he 



304 INTERNAL HISTORY AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

lacked men and money. The first he hoped to get in the West and the 
latter from either England or Spain. 

Historians are not agreed on the nature of his plans. He was 
indicted for treason in that he attempted to wrench Louisiana from 

the union and set it up as an independent state. Most of 
Was Burr s j^jg contemporaries beheved him guilty as charged, and 
Loiiisiana? some living historians accept the same view. According 

to them he was to collect looo men on the Ohio, reach 
Lcuisiana about the time the territorial legislature declared the 
province independent, and with the connivance of General Wilkinson, 
commanding the union forces there, establish his supremacy. It is 
known that he tried to get money for this purpose from the English 
minister and failed, and that he then tried to get it from Spain, where 
he also failed. He promised England to place his new state under 
English protection, thus opening a vast field for British commerce. 
He told Spain that his state would present a useful barrier between 
the United States and Mexico, then in Spanish hands. It is also 
known that he was in close conference wifh Wilkinson, who was cap- 
able of any treachery. 

The other contention is that his real purpose was to conduct, in 
cooperation with a band of New Orleans adventureres, a filibustering 
Q . expedition against Vera Cruz and Mexico City. He did, 

unquestionably, tell some of his followers this was his 
object, and he had maps and other information about Mexico which 
seemed to substantiate his words. He revealed this plan to some of the 
most influential leaders of the West, Andrew Jackson among others, 
and won their approval ; for Spain was much hated in this quarter. 
To the plainer people of the West he spoke of a colony on the Red 
river, where he had acquired a large land grant, but this was ad- 
mittedly a subterfuge. The real controversy is as to whether his 
conspiracy was aimed at Louisiana or Mexico.^ If it was at the former. 
Burr lied when he spoke of the latter ; if at the latter, he Hed when he 
spoke of the former. Probably we shall never know in what respect 
he told the truth. Wilkinson testified that the conspiracy was 
against Louisiana; but Wilkinson's word is not ordinarily to be 
taken. He was a pensioner of Spain, and was concerned in most of the 
plans to separate the Mississippi valley from the United States. 
Wilkinson shared whatever guilt Burr incurred, and he was talking 
to clear himself ; but this was true of some of those who testified that 
Mexico was the objective. It must be remembered, also, that it is 
possible that Burr meant to do both of the things alleged. It was quite 
within the power of his audacious imagination to hope to secure 
Louisiana first and then operate against Vera Cruz. 

>For the view that Louisiana was Burr's objective the best authority is Henry Adams, 
History of the United States, III, chs. 10-14. For the other view see McCaleb, The Aaron 
Burr Conspiracy. 



BURR'S ACTIVITY 305 

Be this as it may, Burr gave himself earnestly to his scheme, going 
hither and thither in the West, collecting boats, supplies, and men at 
Blennerhassett Island, near Parkersburg, West Virginia. _. «, . 
November 15, 1806, was the date set for their departure, paj^g/ *™* 
Rumor was rife all through the West that he would attack 
New Orleans, and in October, he was indicted for treason in Kentucky. 
As no positive evidence could be adduced he was acquitted, and con- 
tinued his preparations. But the indictment checked volunteering, 
and he could not set out on the appointed day. It was an untoward 
event ; for at New Orleans the situation favored success, if Burr had 
designs there. The legislature was about to meet, and Wilkinson had 
taken his army to the Texan frontier, leaving the city unprotected. 
If the adventurer had appeared with 1000 men, as he promised, the 
city would have been at his mercy. But the men were wanting, and 
Wilkinson, able to take care of himself in an emergency, decided to 
desert a failing cause. He informed Jefferson of a conspiracy to seize 
Louisiana, but concealed his connection with it. He hastened to. the 
city and noisily gave orders to make the place safe against assault. 
The president, meanwhile, received Wilkinson's letter. He had heard 
rumors against Burr before that, but took no action, lest friends of the 
accused charge him with persecuting a political rival. But now the 
charges were definite, and he sent a proclamation through the West 
for the arrest of all conspirators. Burr's friends warned him that 
it was coming, and hastily gathering all his resources, sixty men and 
thirteen flatboats, he set off for New Orleans in the last days of the 
year. He still counted on Wilkinson, but when he learned at Natchez 
how vain was this reliance he abandoned his followers to 
their fate, and, disguised, sought to escape through the ^^^j. 
forest to West Florida. At Fort Stoddert, when nearly 
across the boundary, he was recognized, arrested, and sent to Rich- 
mond, Virginia, for trial. 

The case aroused wide interest. Chief Justice Marshall presided 
at the hearing and John Randolph was foreman of the grand jury 
which presented Burr for trial. Both men were bitter g^j.j..g jj.j^j 
enemies of Jefferson, and seemed to wish Burr's acquittal. 
By the constitution, treason is levying war against the government, or 
giving aid and comfort to the enemy, and two witnesses to the same 
overt act are necessary for conviction. Marshall ruled that a man 
must be present when the overt act was committed in order to be 
guilty of treason within the meaning of the constitution. As Burr 
was in Kentucky when his followers assembled on the Ohio river, he 
was not guilty as charged, although it was well known that he planned 
the whole movement. The ruling was fatal to the prosecution, and 
Burr was acquitted. Luther Martin, leading lawyer for Burr and long 
an enemy of Jefferson, outdid himself in making it uncomfortable for 
the president. One expedient was to summon Jefferson to testify 



3o6 INTERNAL HISTORY AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

and to bring certain papers with him. The summons was disregarded 
on the ground that the president was not to be at the command of 

the federal courts. Marshall was a bold judge strugghng 
Clash be- to establish the independent power of the judiciary, and 
tween the jj^ j-j^jg rotable case, in which the executive appeared as 
and*the^^ prosecutor, he went as far as he dared go in his attempt to 
Judiciary. make the president do the will of the court. In refusing 

this subpoena, Jefferson, as Adams in the case of Dr. 
Cooper, 1800, and other presidents at later times, laid out the line 
beyond which the court was not to go. 

Relations between England and the United States 

When Burr took up his Western schemes, England and Napoleon 

were joined in the final struggle to determine the destiny of Europe. 

Each striving to cripple the resources of the other came at 

America length to attempts to restrain the trade of neutrals. As 

rv^*-^„ Napoleon after 1806 was dominant on the continent from 

Carrying iai-- i-ni-i i- 

Trade. the Adriatic to the Baltic, the only important neutral 

was the United States, whose citizens for a time reaped 
large profits from the sale of American products and by carrying 
freights between European ports. American ships were rapidly 
built, and foreign ships were transferred to American registry, to the 
discomfiture of British owners, whose own profits were lessened by the 
high insurance they must pay in the dangerous days of French licensed 
privateers. The mobile sailor population of the world was also drawn 
into the American service, so that not only the British merchant 

marine but the British naval ships also suffered for lack 
Trade Re- Qf service. Out of this situation grew regulations to im- 
and^im"^ pede the American neutral trade, and a greater activity in 
pressments. impressing sailors on American ships. The weakness of 

the American navy, under Jefferson's pacific policy, 
invited these discriminations. 

Impressment rested on inalienable citizenship, held at the time 
by all the nations of Europe. America, as a new country, held for 

transferable citizenship, and the naturalization laws of 
lS°rest-°^ the United States were framed on that basis. But in 
ment. actual practice neither party to the controversy confined 

itself strictly to the principle at stake. Sailors on British 
ships frequently deserted in American ports, took out naturalization 
papers, and shipped on American vessels without much concealment 
and with open approval of the American population. Such duplicity 
was not to be endured by the mistress of the sea. British ships-of-war 
retaliated by boarding American vessels, mustering the crews on deck, 
and taking off all whom they chose to declare British subjects. Some- 
times they took men who were undoubtedly American born. Some- 



ENGLAND AND THE NEUTRAL TRADE 307 

times, also, the men they took had forged papers certifying to American 
birth. Between these difficulties the ways of Presidents Jefiferson and 
Madison were hard. Impressment was practiced under the federalist 
presidents, and much negotiation occurred to remedy it, but no results 
were reached. It recurred with increased energy under Jefferson. 
Each instance of this wrong announced in the American papers aroused 
the popular wrath and prepared the way to the war of 181 2. When 
finally the British ships cruised off the American harbors searching all 
vessels that came out or went in, it was hard for the president to 
restrain the people from acts which must have led to hostilities. 

Less irritating, perhaps, but of greater real hardship, was the in- 
creasing number of seizures of ships charged with violating British 
rules of war. Of these regulations the most noted was 
the Rule of War of 1756, declaring that a trade not open p^^^°^^^^ 
in peace could not lawfully be opened in time of war. " ^' 
The dispute, as we have seen, came up in Washington's administration, 
but it was not settled. American skippers found a way around it by 
taking cargoes from the West Indies to their home ports, where the 
goods became American, and if reexported to Europe as such were 
not, as they held, liable to seizure. It was a nice point, but the British 
courts allowed it, the rule being laid down in the famous case of the 
Polly, 1800, that such goods became American goods and were not 
liable to capture if they were landed on American docks and paid 
American duties. For some time after the European war reopened, 
1803, this rule favored the Americans. So profitable was the trade 
that the expense of landing and paying duties was comparatively 
insignificant. Then came the complaint of British shippers that the 
Yankees used this as a subterfuge to engross all the trade of the 
French and Spanish possessions in America. The British government 
opened certain ports in their American colonies to the goods of enemy 
nations, with the hope that the trade drawn thither would 
go thence to England in British ships; but even this did ^^^° ® 
not break up the objectionable Yankee practice. Then 
came the decision of the British court in the case of the Essex, 1805, 
in which it was held that a neutral ship pleading the right accorded in 
the decision of the case of the Polly must prove that in landing her 
cargo in a neutral port it was the intention of the owners to make the 
cargo neutral goods and not merely to evade the rule of 1756. As 
this intention must be shown to the satisfaction of the British courts, 
proving it was difficult. Under the new rule, many ships were seized, 
and complaints were loud in America. In England the merchants 
applauded because insurance rates were now raised for their Yankee 
rivals, and the navy was pleased because officers shared in the prizes 
seized. 

In 1806 died William Pitt, head of the ministry under which this 
severe policy was conducted. The changes which followed brought 



3o8 INTERNAL HISTORY AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

Charles James Fox, long a friend of America, into the foreign of- 
fice. He assured Monroe, our minister, that he would endeavor to 
have the recent restrictions modified, but warned him not 
ade ^8o6^ ' ^^ expect payment for the 500 prizes already taken. Even 
this concession was difficult to obtain ; for the cabinet 
as a whole dared not antagonize the merchants and navy by op^ly 
modifying their rules. Then Fox resorted to a subterfuge, known 
as "Fox's Blockade," May 16, 1806. A proclamation declared 
blockaded the coast of Europe from Brest to the Elbe, but the naval 
officers were instructed to enforce it only from the Seine to Ostend. 
Neutral ships, therefore, bound for posts between Brest and the Seine, 
and between Ostend and the Elbe, were allowed to go undisturbed, 
spite of the rules formerly enforced. It was a clumsy way of doing us 
a favor, but it left us the Netherlands with the Rhine valley and the 
northwest corner of France ; and it might have served until the end 
of the war had France acquiesced. 

But Napoleon scorned to get his foreign supplies through the con- 
nivance of his enemy. Feigning to believe Fox's Blockade effective 
for the whole coast line involved, he replied, November 21, 
The Berlin ^ g^^^^ with the Berlin Decree, declaring : i . Complete block- 
1806. ' ade for all the possessions of Britain in Europe; 2. All Brit- 

ish property, public or private, and any merchandise com- 
ing from Britain, whoever owned it, to be prize of war ; 3. No ship 
coming from Britain or her colonies to be admitted into a port con- 
trolled by France, and 4. Confiscation for vessels trying to evade this 
blockade by false papers. This outrageous decree, for which Fox's 
proclamation was no justification, ignored the doctrine of contraband, 
and announced, in effect, that its author was greater than international 
law. Moreover, he had not a respectable squadron to enforce it. 
Only a few minor class ships-of-war were left to France after the battle 
of Trafalgar, 1805, and these, darting out of the protected harbors 
at the unprotected merchantmen, besides her privateers, were the 
only means of enforcing the blockade against the mistress of the seas. 
The only redeeming feature of the decree was that it was not enforced 
against the United States for nine months after promulgation. 

The decree was a challenge to England, and touched her pride. 
The reply of the ministry was two Orders in Council, which only in- 
creased the distress of the American shippers. The first, 
First and January 7, 1807, forbade neutrals to trade from port to 
Orders in P^""^ °^ France or her allies. It was a severe blow at our 
Council. skippers, who were accustomed to dispose of cargoes in 
various markets as prices favored. In April a new election 
gave the government a parliamentary majority of two hundred, mostly 
country squires chosen on the ground that the church was in danger. 
In the tory ministry which now came into power George Canning, 
sometimes coarse, sometimes clever, but always patriotic and able, 



JEFFERSON'S PEACE POLICY 309 

was foreign secretary. November i, six weeks after Napoleon began 
to enforce his decree against our shipping, there appeared, in Great 
Britain, the second Order in Council. It forbade neutral trade with 
the entire coast of Europe from Trieste to Copenhagen, unless the 
neutral vessels concerned first entered and cleared from a British 
port under regulations to be afterwards announced. Canning thought 
France could not exist without American food products, and he ex- 
pected by this means to force her to take them by permission of 
Britain. But Napoleon did not yield readily. December 17 he issued 
the Milan Decree, ordering the seizure of every neutral 
ship which allowed herself to be searched by England, or The Milan 
which cleared from an English port. Beyond this was ^^^^ 
nothing that could distress our commerce. Any ship 
bound for Europe, except for Sweden, Russia, or the Turkish pos- 
sessions, was liable to capture by one side or the other. By the end 
of 1 807 our merchant marine, distressed on every side, was threatened 
with destruction, and loud complaints reached the administration by 
every ship from abroad. 

Jefferson's Reply to Europe 

Jefferson abhorred war as a means of settling disputes, and thought 
most questions could be settled by appeal to interest. Neither he 
nor the majority of his party thought the country able to . 
bear the burden of war. Like Washington, when he pg^ce. 
accepted the Jay treaty in 1795, they thought it better to 
bear the insult offered them than appeal to a course which would in- 
crease the national debt, involve great expense for a navy, and put in 
jeopardy the independence of the nation. Neither he nor his party 
lacked patriotism, but they represented the rural classes and did not 
feel the attacks on commerce as keenly as the merchants and ship- 
owners, chiefly federalists. All these considerations prompted the 
adoption of pacific means of defense. 

The first was the non-importation act of 1806, passed to force 
concessions from England. It provided that certain specified goods 
which could be produced in the United States or in other 
countries than England should not be imported from the ^Q^^^tio^ 
ports of Great Britain after November 25 following. The ^^^^ ig^g^ 
president did not favor the bill, but accepted it when the 
republicans made it a party measure. Randolph opposed it, declaring 
with his peculiar vehemence that we ought either to fight or submit 
to England. The act was to be followed by negotiations, and Monroe, 
minister to England, and William Pinkney, now sent thither as his 
colleague, were authorized to make a treaty which would rectify 
our wrongs. All this was a reply to the decision in the case of the 
Essex. The act did not go into effect until December 14, 1807. 



3IO INTERNAL HISTORY AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

Fox died soon after Monroe and Pinkney began negotiations, and 
his successor was less friendly. They did the best they could, but got 
no concessions worthy of the name. The treaty they 
Futile signed in London, December 31, did not give up impress- 

M^nroe*and ^'^^^^' ^^^ insisted that West India products pay a duty of 
Pinkney. not less than 2 per cent before they be exported to Europe 
as American goods, and that European products pay not 
less than i per cent duty in American ports before being exported to 
the islands. It was to be inoperative unless we bound ourselves not 
to abide by Napoleon's Berlin Decree. Thus it seemed that England 
dictated our own taxes and that she was bent on driving us into war 
with France. Jefferson realized that the treaty would not be ratified, 
and would not submit it to the senate. He concealed its terms to pro- 
tect Monroe from the criticisms he believed it would bring down on the 
negotiators. It showed how futile were the non-importation act and 
the hopes from negotiation. 

Then Jefferson turned to the embargo, in an especial sense his own 
policy. He would keep American ships from the sea until the time of 
danger was past, avoid the irritating incidents which were 
The Em- Jij^gly to arouse the war spirit in his own people, and force 
England and France to yield in order to get our products. 
He would thus prove that war is unnecessary and that armies and 
navies are a useless burden. Congress gave its support, and Decem- 
ber 21, 1807, the embargo act was passed. It prohibited the depar- 
ture for a foreign port of any merchant vessel, except foreign vessels in 
ballast, and required vessels in the coasting trade to give heavy bonds 
to land their cargoes in the United States. The president was given 
discretionary power to modify the operation of the law in specific 
cases, but its duration was made indefinite. Peaceful coercion was 
an untried experiment of far-reaching eft'ects, yet it passed the two 
houses in four days and was a law before the people understood its 
significance. Congress accepted it on the authority of Jefferson at a 
time when it seemed that all other measures were futile. If successful, 
it would be a brilliant climax of a presidential career in which were 
such achievements as Gallatin's financial policy, the purchase of 
Louisiana, and the dissipation of partisan bitterness. 

The first attempts at enforcement showed that peaceful coercion 
was impracticable. Shipowners would not give up a trade which be- 
came more profitable as it became more dangerous. They 
Difficulty of hurriedly instructed their captains to avoid American ports 
«ie Em-^ and to continue in the carrying trade between foreign 
bargo. ports. Those whose ships remained at home in idle- 

ness complained loudly, and the law was evaded so 
much that two supplementary acts were soon passed to make it 
effective (January 8 and March 12). At first the farmers did not feel 
the embargo as the traders felt it; for the crops were sold when it 



REPE.\L OF THE EMBARGO 311 

passed. But by the end of summer it came home to them in lower 
prices. Products which in 1807 sold unusually high, on account of 
the war abroad, now sold unusually low because they could not be 
exported. The federalists made much of this discontent, and their 
course stimulated it, and thus encouraged evasions of the law. In 
the autumn two more enforcing acts were passed. Even a rowboat 
was now subject to the law, and collectors of the ports were given 
despotic powers over every ship that sailed. 

Such was the situation when the election of 1808 occurred. Madi- 
son was the administration candidate, C. C. Pinckney had the sup- 
port of the federalists, and John Randolph was rallying 
his friends for Monroe. The result was 122 electoral j8og'°°° 
votes for Madison, 47 for Pinckney, and none for Monroe. 
George Clinton, vvho also had 6 votes for president, was elected vice- 
president, although he had shown great uneasiness under the Virginia 
domination. All New England but Vermont was again in the federal- 
ist column, and for this change the embargo was responsible. In the 
house the federalists also gained strength, but their adversaries still 
held control. 

These events, and the increasing defiance of New England, which 
seemed ready to take arms if the embargo were strictly enforced, 
shook the determination of the republicans, and senti- 
ment for repeal began to develop in the party. Jefferson JL^^^g'^^ °* 
observed the trend with great disappointment. He had bargo. 
not lost faith in peaceful coercion as a theory, but he was 
forced to see that it could not be enforced unless the majority of the 
people believed in it, and he was at last brought to sign a bill to super- 
sede the embargo by the non-intercourse law of 1809. 

It decreed non-intercourse with England and France, Non-inter- 

course l^&.w 
leaving the president to suspend it for whichever of the ^f ^^^g 

two nations should first abandon her restrictions. Jeffer- 
son signed the bill in much bitterness of spirit, and a few days later 
retired from office. The new law left open the trade with every nation 
but England and France, and to these our products went 
indirectly. For one year this situation continued, the g-^^'^^'^'*.. 
government trying meantime to effect a settlement by ^^^^ ' ' 
negotiations. All was in vain, and May i, 1810, a third 
act concerning trade, known as "Macon's Bill No. 2," was passed. It 
repealed all restrictions on commerce with the two nations, but author- 
ized the president to reinstate them for one nation when the other 
repealed its offensive decrees or orders. It was a bid for relaxation, 
and if accepted by one power was likely to be accepted by the other. 
The result showed it to be as futile as the preceding measures. Our 
commerce was caught in a bitter conflict between two great states 
who would hardly stop cutting one another to pieces to secure the good 
will of the United States. Jefferson's embargo had important sig- 
nificance in the economic history of the time (see page 349). 



312 INTERNAL HISTORY AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

General Works. Besides the Histories by McMaster, Hildreth, Schouler, and 
Avery (see page 274), reference is made especially to Henry Adams, History of the 
United States of A merica during the Administrations of Jejferson and Madison, 9 vols. 
(1889-1891), a work unsurpassed for scholarship and clearness, rather extensive for 
the general reader, but a source of comfort to the student. It has the New England, 
though not the federalist, point of view, but honesty and good judgment are always 
evident. Volumes 1-4 deal with the years 1801-1809. A short work of much 
merit is Channing, The Jejfcrsonian System (1906). Hart, American History told 
bv Contemporaries, 4 vols. (1897-1909), is also useful. For sources, see as above. 
Gallatin's reports are full, and may be found in The American State Papers, 
Finance, I and II. As one proceeds in the story the volumes in the same series 
on Public Lands and Commerce and Navigation become additionally important. 

For writings and biographies of the prominent men of the time, see above, 
page 275. Other important biographies are: Dodd, Life of Nathaniel Macon 
(1903) ; and Battle, ed., Letters of Nathaniel Macon, John Steele, and William Barry 
Grove (Univ. of North Carolina Bulletins, No. II). On John Randolph two books 
are available, the first able but hostile, the second favorable but undiscriminating. 
They are : Adams, H., John Randolph (1884), and Garland, Life of John Randolph 
(1850). Adams, H., Life of Gallatin (1879), and Stevens, Albert Gallatin (1884), 
present in a convenient form the services of the secretary of the treasury in this 
period. For extended references on Jeflferson see Channing, The Jejersonian 
System, ^'j/^-i'jd. 

The Louisiana Purchase. The earliest considerable account is Barbe-Marbois, 
Histoire dc la Louisiane et de la Cession (1829, and an English translation in 1830). 
It was written by one of the negotiators, and defends the sale of the province. The 
documents on the American side are full and can be found in the American State 
Papers, Foreign, II and Public Lands, I. Later American accounts are : the chap- 
ters in Henry Adams, History of the United Slates, I and II ; Ogg, The Opening of the 
Mississippi (1904) ; and Gayarre, History of Louisiana, 4 vols, (revised edition, 1885). 

Burr's Scheme. The usual view that Burr wished to revolutionize Louisiana is 
best stated by Adams, History of the United States, III. The view that Mexico 
was Burr's objective is defended with ability in McCaleb, The Aaron Burr Con- 
spiracy (1903). The important documents are in Robertson, Report of the Trial 
of Colonel Aaron Burr, 2 vols. (1808), Trial of Colonel Aaron Burr, 3 vols. (1807- 
1808) ; Safford, The Blennerhassett Papers (1864), containing Blennerhassett's 
journal and correspondence with Burr ; Wilkinson, Memoirs of my Own Time, 3 vols. 
(1816), presents the author's side, but he is so much distrusted that even his cor- 
respondence is not to be accepted. 

Relations with England and France. On this subject Adams, History of the 
United States, IV, V, and VI, is very valuable. Many newly unearthed documents, 
American and foreign, are given at length, and the story is carried forward with 
spirit and breadth of treatment. The American State Papers, Foreign, II, contains 
valuable documents. Wheaton, The Life, Writings, and Speeches of William 
Pink>iey (1826), and Pinkney, The Life of William Pinkncy (1853), also contain 
valuable information. For a list of the important pamphlets which the contro- 
versy called forth, see Channing, The Jejfcrsonian System (1906), 283-285. Stu- 
dents interested in the subject should examine the writings of Madison, Monroe, 
Jefferson, and Gallatin (see above, page 255). 

For Independent Reading 

Maclay, History of the United States Navy, 3 vols. (1898) ; Spears, Story of the 
American Merchant Marine (1900), in which the conditions of the sea-born^ com- 
merce is well treated. Basil Hall, Voyages and Travels (1895), covering the years 
1802-1812, valuable for the experiences of British naval ships on the American 
station. Memoirs and Letters of Dolly Madison, Wife of James Madison (1SS6), 
interesting for social life in the early days in Washington. 



CHAPTER XV 

THE WAR OF 1812 

Origin of the War 

Both England and France seized American ships under the restric- 
tions on commerce just described, but as England had the stronger 
navy her offenses were more numerous. The losses from 
this source fell most heavily on the merchants and ship- ^s'gf^ujgg^ 
owners, chiefly federalists and friends of England, who Alone, 
wished for peace with that country. Since Macon's bill 
No. 2 removed the restrictions on trade, pleasing the maritime class, 
and as we could not well fight France for doing what her rival did to a 
much larger extent, the prospect for peace would have been brighter 
in 1810, if seizures had been the only source of irritation. But 
another source of resentment was impressments, practiced, it is true, 
by both nations, but on a much larger scale by England. 
Here the brunt of wrong fell on the sailor class. As ^Q^^^.^~ 
story after story was told of native Americans carried 
away into the hard service of the British navy, the popular ire rose 
higher and higher. British ships took sailors from ships in American 
harbors without regard to the neutrality laws, and lay in wait off the 
chief ports of the Atlantic coast, searching the vessel that came out. 
All the old hostility which lingered in American minds from the days 
of the revolution, or sprang up in connection with Jay's negotiations, 
now flared up again, and the nation drifted toward war. 

Had England been wise, much of this irritation would have been 
avoided. It is true she did not wish war with the United States. 
Engaged in a life and death struggle to stay the advance of ^ , ., 
Bonaparte in Europe, she had adopted the policy of starv- ^^tfty^g ^ 
ing her enemy into subjection. If our merchants tried to 
evade her regulations, so much the worse for them, and if she seized 
stringently the sailors she claimed as hers to enable her to man her 
ships-of-war, so much the worse for the sailors. It was no tim.e, 
thought Canning, for the niceties of international courtesy. But 
America did not desire war, and had Canning's position . . 
been asserted with more consideration, war would probably incidents 
have been avoided. As it was, there occurred several harsh 
incidents, which Jefferson and Madison were willing to overlook, 
but which goaded the popular mind until they resulted in a wave 

3^3 



314 THE WAR OF 1812 

of hatred which the administration could not resist, until congress at 
last forced the president to begin the struggle against his best judg- 
ment. In this sense George Canning was the chief author of the war 
of 1812. 

The first of these incidents was the Chesapeake-Leopard affair, 1807. 
At that time impressments were very frequent. An English squadron 

searching for some French ships came into Lynnhaven 
I. chesa- Bdij, near Norfolk, Virginia, and anchored there. Several 
'"^"''Va"-" of their sailors deserted, some of them Americans pre- 
1807. ' viously impressed into the British service. At that time 

the naval ship, Chesapeake, was taking on her heavy guns 
preparatory to her departure for the Mediterranean. It was reported 
that she had shipped some of the deserting British sailors, and Admiral 
Berkley, commanding the British ships on the station at Halifax, 
ordered that she be intercepted at sea and searched. Her captain, 
Barron, was ordered by the president to take care that no British 
deserters were in his crew, and thought he had fulfilled his instructions, 
but one man under an assumed name escaped his notice. Just be- 
fore he sailed, the British ship, Leopard, came to Lynnhaven Bay 
with Berkley's orders. June 22 she followed the Chesapeake, as the 
latter stood out to sea, came alongside at close range, and signalled 
that she had dispatches. Barron allowed her to send a boat, and an 
officer coming on deck handed him Berkley's order with the announce- 
ment that if deserters were aboard, they must be handed over. Bar- 
ron replied that he had none of the kind mentioned. He should have 
prepared for action, but the letter from the Leopard was not explicit, 
and he did not realize he was about to be attacked. A few minutes 
after the officer left the Chesapeake the British ship came within pistol 
shot, having the advantage of the wind, fired a shot across the Chesa- 
peake's bow, and followed it by a broadside. The two ships were of 
nearly equal strength, and the British captain did not wish to lose the 
advantage of beginning his work before his opponent was ready. 
Barron was entirely unprepared for battle, but hastened his efforts 
while his helpless vessel sustained for fifteen minutes the enemy's fire. 
All he could do was unavailing, and he hauled down his colors with 
three men killed and eighteen wounded. Ere they touched the deck, 
one of his officers, for the honor of the flag, managed to fire one gun, 
the only reply the Americans made to the cruel punishment they re- 
ceived. Then the British came aboard, found three Americans who, 
having been impressed on a British ship had deserted and joined the 
Chesapeake, and the one native British deserter who had enlisted under 
an assumed name ; and these were taken off. The American ship 
made her way to Norfolk, where her arrival was received with an out- 
burst of rage which spread over the country until the whole nation 
quivered with excitement comparable to that which ninety-one years 
later was aroused by the destruction of the Maine. Barron was sus- 



IRRITATING INCIDENTS 315 

pended for five years because he had not been prepared for action, and 
Jefferson exerted all his art to prevent immediate war. 

He recognized the strength of the popular indignation, and for a time 
showed energy. He promptly issued a proclamation ordering British 
public ships out of American waters and forbidding Ameri- 
can citizens to furnish them supplies. He sent off to course°°^ 
London a demand for reparation, for the punishment of 
Berkley, and for the relinquishment of impressments generally. 
When Canning received this demand he offered to investigate the in- 
cident and do what was just, but he refused to consider the demand 
that the British government give up impressments. The British press 
and public, long accustomed to resent the pretensions of the Yankee 
nation, applauded his position and demanded war, if war was neces- 
sary to support England's supremacy at sea. Here was a direct 
challenge, but Canning thought the president would not . , 

accept it. He recalled Berkley, who had acted without Atti3e.^ 
orders, but a proclamation was issued warning British 
seamen who had been "enticed" into foreign service to return to their 
allegiance, declaring that if taken on board enemy ships they would 
be treated as traitors, and commanding naval officers to seize them on 
merchant vessels and to demand them from captains of foreign naval 
ships. At the same time it was decided to transfer negotiations in re- 
gard to the recent affair to Washington, where Erskine was the British 
minister. 

When this was known in America, congress was in session, and the 
embargo act was soon passed. It showed Jefferson's purpose to 
negotiate while he employed "peaceful coercion." Four 
days after it passed George Rose arrived to treat for the ^jfg^^^^ 
settlement of the Chesapeake affair. He was instructed iggg. 
to demand the withdrawal of Jefferson's recent proclama- 
tion as a condition precedent to negotiations. After some hesitation 
the president agreed that this should be done and asked Rose to show 
his instructions. The latter unwillingly complied. He would restore 
the impressed seamen, he said, if we would disavow Barron for en- 
couraging the desertion of British sailors. This was distinctly what 
Barron had not done ; to concede it would put us in the wrong, and the 
negotiations came suddenly to an end. Probably Canning had not in- 
tended that they should have a more successful course. Rose re- 
turned to England, the recent outrage was not redressed, three Ameri- 
can-born sailors remained in a British prison, "peaceful coercion" 
was demonstrating its inadequacy to deal with the situation, and a 
large portion of the people were coming to the conviction 
that nothing but war would force the stubborn Canning pjckering. 
to a reasonable attitude. But Rose discovered one fact 
while in America to which he later clung tenaciously. He learned how 
much opposed to war was the federalist party in New England, and he 



3i6 THE WAR OF 1812 

made a fast friend of Senator Timothy Pickering, of Massachusetts, 
who led him to believe that in case of war the states east of the Hudson 
might be withdrawn from the union and attached to England. Pick- 
ering cherished the idea, and his correspondence with Rose in the years 
immediately following gave prominent Englishmen a mischievous 
idea of American affairs. 

Rose's short course ran through the three first months of 1808. He 
left British interests in the hands of the regular minister, Erskine, a, 
, whig, a friend of conciliation, and a man who saw with 
3. rs ne s g^i^^j-j-^-^ ^\^q rising tide of hostility toward England. Ad- 
vising Canning that war feeling was increasing, he was in 
the spring of 1809 instructed to make arrangements for a treaty which 
would remove all the differences between the two powers. The terms 
proposed were very hard, but Erskine believed himself justified in 
modifying them, and concluded a treaty so favorable to America that 
Canning repudiated it at sight. Before this was known in America 
many ships loaded with produce set sail for Europe, assured that 
British restriction would be inoperative when they arrived. Their 
disappointment was keen, but Canning allowed them to return home 
without seizure since they sailed under misapprehension. 

Erskine was now recalled, and Jackson, a narrow and obstinate 
Briton, took his place, with the promise that he should retain the post 
at least a year. He began by tactlessly telling Madison 
'^' ■f^^'., that Erskine had been overreached by the American 
Mission. government. He was asked to withdraw the expression, 
and when he refused received a curt notice that no further 
communications would be held with him. He departed from Washing- 
ton in high rage, leisurely visiting Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, 
and Boston, where the federalists received him with demonstrations of 
sympathy. According to promise, he was allowed to hold his position 
until September, 1810. It was evident that England cared little to 
preserve peace with us, and all the time the popular resentment in- 
creased. 

At this point the course of our story turns to France. Napoleon's 

attitude toward the United States was as unfair as England's, but his 

power to injure was smaller because of his weakness at 

TheBa- gg^^ jje chiefly exercised it in seizing our ships by two 

D°J!!?K-f,f-n^* notable decrees. Just after he knew of the embargo act, 
Kambouillet , i i . i ti i am n o ^i 

Decree. he ordered, m the Bayonne decree, April 17, 1808, the 

seizure of all ships in French ports flying the American 

flags. Such vessels, he said, could not be truly American, since the 

embargo act forbade them to leave their home ports. A great deal of 

property was thus confiscated, and the American government spent 

much time trying to get payment for it. March 23, 1810, Napoleon 

issued the Rambouillet decree, confiscating every ship which had 

entered a port of France or her dependencies since the preceding May 



NAPOLEON'S PERFIDY 317 

20. Under it several hundred vessels were taken. The procedure 
was justified on the ground that the non-intercourse act forbade French 
ships to come to American ports and authorized their seizure if they vio- 
lated the act. It was really taken because Napoleon needed money, 
which he got in large amounts from the sale of the confiscated property. 

Before America fully understood this deliberate perfidy, Napoleon 
was planning another stroke, the object being to lead us to war with 
England. With Macon's bill No. 2 in mind he caused 
Madison to be told that the Berlin and Milan decrees would ^^^°}^°\ 
be repealed November i, 18 10, his understanding being Madison, 
that congress had abandoned non-intercourse and would 
oppose England's restrictions. We had not undertaken to resist 
England, but only to apply non-intercourse to her commerce. Madi- 
son should have remembered this, but he was anxious to open the 
suspended commerce, and too readily accepted the promises of France. 
November 2 he gave notice that France had removed her restrictions, 
and March 2, 181 1, congress reimposed non-intercourse on England, 
as Macon's bill No. 2 contemplated. It was soon evident that 
Napoleon had hoodwinked our president ; for by a system of licenses 
and a high tariff he made it as hard as ever for the American ships in 
French harbors. England could see this as well as anybody. She 
refused to repeal her Orders and complained that we favored France, 
her enemy. By this time American feeling was so strong against 
England that our people did not care how she felt. We forgot to 
blame Napoleon, as we well might have done, and the government 
had begun to take a stififer tone toward Great Britain. It was just 
at this time, April i, that Monroe, according to the agreement made in 
1809, succeeded Smith as secretary of state. He had suffered many 
indignities while minister in England, and he must have taken keen 
delight in the rising tide of resistance which he observed in the country 
and the administration. 

A clear manifestation of this altered spirit came soon afterwards. 
In May, 181 1, the British frigate Guerriere was impressing sailors ofif 
Sandy Hook, and the American frigate. President, Captain 
John Rodgers, forty-four guns, was ordered to repair to the '^^® ''''^^'- 
post and stop the practice. He sailed promptly, passing ^^"(//ge/^ 
the scene of the affair of the Chesapeake and Leopard, four ign. 
years unredressed by England, and May 16, off the Virginia 
coast, encountered a British ship of war headed southward. Hoisting 
his colors, he gave chase, thinking the Guerriere was before him. At 
sunset he was overhauling the fugitive, who at last came to in the 
twilight but refused to give her name. Suddenly a shot was fired 
which struck the President's mast. Immediately the American ship 
began to fire, and after a fifteen-minute battle the stranger ceased to 
fire and reported herself in distress. Rodgers lay to until morning, 
when, to his disappointment he learned that he had not attacked the 



3i8 THE WAR OF i5i2 

Guerriere, as he supposed, but the Little Belt, about half his size. Her 
captain alleged that the President fired first, but the evidence to the 
contrary was overwhelming. A short time later a new British minister 
arrived in Washington, announcing that he was instructed to settle 
the Chesapeake-Leopard dispute; but the nation, glowing with enthusi- 
asm for Rodger's action, cared little for the overture. The minister 
was asked if the trade restrictions would be relaxed, and when he said 
"No" his work was at an end. 

Additional hostility to England was engendered by the outbreak, 
in 1811, of Indian troubles in Indiana, where the white settlers were 

now steadily penetrating. By a treaty of 1809 the Indians 
Harrison of central Indiana ceded a large tract of land on the Wa- 
aiid the bash. It was the ninth similar step since the treaty of 

western In- Greenville, 1795. The more patriotic Indians opposed 
dians, 1811. this relinquishment of their ancestral lands, and declared 

the treaty of 1809 illegal. They found leaders in two 
brothers, Tecumseh and "The Prophet," men of exceptionable abihty, 
who lived peaceably with an agricultural tribe where Tippecanoe Creek 
joins the Wabash. They had great influence with the neighboring 
tribes and united them in a league to oppose further encroachments by 
the whites. In 181 1 Tecumseh went to the South to form a similar 
league among the Creeks, Cherokees, Choctaws, and Chickasaws. 

Taking advantage of his absence, William Henry Harrison, 
xf^'ecanoe governor of Indiana Territory, with 800 men, marched into 

the region recently ceded and came at last to the town on 
the Tippecanoe. Here he was surprised in the early morning by about 
400 Indians, and lost 188 killed and wounded before he beat off the 
attack. As the foe retreated and left their village to be burned, Harri- 
son was hailed victor throughout the Northwest. The Indians had re- 
ceived arms and ammunition from Canada, and this was taken as an 
additional wrong from England. 

Meanwhile, the popular resentment had expressed itself in the elec- 
tion of 1810, when seventy new members were sent to congress, most 

of them replacing advocates of peace. Before this the 
Changed leaders in congress were men whose experience went back to 
Sentiment ^j^g |.jj^^g q£ |.j^g revolution. They had seen so many dark 
Election of <^3.y?, that they feared to hope for bright ones. The new 
1810. men were young. Their leaders were Clay and Johnson of 

Kentucky, Porter of New York, Grundy of Tennessee, and 
Lowndes, Cheves,and Calhoun of South Carolina ; and the average age 
of the seven was only thirty-four. They had fought for their election 

most vigorously, and felt bitterly toward the old Virginia 
Party " group of leaders, who never quite forgave them their vic- 
tory. Both factions called themselves republicans, but 
the newer men rejected many of the more theoretical principles of the 
old school. They believed that the national honor had been insulted, 



GROWING SPIRIT OF RESISTANCE 319 

and demanded war, their eyes meanwhile being cast at Canada. 
They began their work by electing Clay speaker and securing the im- 
portant committees. 

Before congress met on November 4 Madison accepted the demands 
of the war party, and his annual message recounted our wrongs and sug- 
gested measures of defense. The old leaders opposed 
this, but the federalists, thinking to embarrass their an- Madison 
cient enemies, joined the new party in raising an army of ^j^'^ ^^° 
25,000 men and in putting the navy on a war footing. An Party. 
attempt to raise taxes, however, resulted in failure, and the 
government was left to support war, if war came, by means of a loan. 
For that kind of an operation it was seriously handicapped 
by the refusal of the preceding congress to recharter the ^' S- Bank 
United States bank. The many state banks could not chartered, 
make the loan of $11,000,000 now called for. At this 
time the bonds could not be sold in Europe, and the federalists, who 
were chiefly the trading class, would not take them because they op- 
posed the war, and when the bids were opened only $6,000,000 had 
been subscribed. Lack of money was most serious throughout the 
war about to begin. 

In May, 181 2, a republican caucus renominated Madison for the 
presidency. He had the support of the war party and his small per- 
sonal following ; but the friends of Samuel Smith did not 
attend the caucus. In New York, where the two CHntons Madison 
dominated the repubHcans, much jealousy of the Virginia nated. '" 
supremacy appeared, and a movement was rapidly form- 
ing for a coalition between the malcontents and the federalists, in 
opposition to Madison. George Clinton died in April, and Virginia, 
turning away from the alliance with New York, took Massachusetts 
for her Northern yoke-fellow, offering the vice-presidency to Elbridge 
Gerry, who had recently been republican governor of that common- 
wealth. Clinton's death, however, did not end the plans of the New 
Yorkers. His nephew, De Witt Clinton, took up his mantle, was 
nominated for the presidency by the New York legislature, and ran 
the race with the endorsement of the federalists. When the votes were 
cast in the following November Madison had 128 of the 217, eight 
from Vermont and all those from the states south of the Delaware. 
Had Pennsylvania not given him her twenty-five votes he would have 
been defeated. 

England now saw plainly the drift of the United States toward war. 
To the American protests was added the fact that the English people 
were suffering for food products. Wheat sold at nearly 
four dollars a bushel, and the trade with the continent J^f Br'^'sh 

1 r r 11- 11T1--1 Relenting, 

went on under a system of forged licenses, both British 

and French, for which honest Englishmen could only blush. Under 
these conditions there arose a powerful demand that the Orders in 



320 THE WAR OF 1812 

Council be repealed, and the ministry were urged to relieve a disas- 
trous situation before an American war should be added to the other 
burdens. At last they were willing to yield, if the French government 
would state publicly that its decrees had been repealed. No such 
statement was expected, but the offer showed that the government was 
weakening. May 11, 181 2, the prime minister, Spencer Percival, who 
had stood stoutly for the Orders, was assassinated by a fanatic. 
The friends of America, led by the briUiant Henry Brougham, now 

pressed harder than ever for repeal. Then came news 
J^^ ^^^^^^ that the United States had declared an embargo for two 
June 23. ' months as a preliminary step to war. With the nation 

clamoring for peace, and with Brougham eloquently plead- 
ing the cause of the starving people, the new ministry at last gave 
way, announcing on June 16 that the Orders would be withdrawn, a 
promise which they redeemed on the 23d. 

The British relaxation came suddenly, and the Americans were un- 
prepared for it. The war party was in control in congress, and carried 

the president with it. June i he sent a war message which 
WarDe- occasioned a short and sharp debate, followed on June 
Tune i8 1 8 by a declaration of war for which the vote was 19 to 

13 in the senate and 79 to 49 in the house. Had there 
been a cable the war would probably not have occurred. As it was, 
there was a feeble attempt to patch up differences when news came 
from London, but feelings were now too much aroused for such a step, 
and the project failed. Fourteen of the senators and 62 of the rep- 
resentatives who voted for war lived south of the Delaware. Only 
II of those who voted against it lived in that region, and of these but 

two were republicans. Thirty-three federalist representa- 
U^teT °°* ^^^^^ issued an address declaring the struggle unjustifiable. 

Thus the war was sectional, and began with dissension in the 

nation. The war party thought that harmony would be restored once 

fighting began, but the event showed how much they were mistaken. 

In fact, the country was not ready for war. The president, timid, 

diplomatic, and unable to control the politicians around him, could not 

inspire with energy an administration in which the only 
Weakness first rate man, Gallatin, was harassed out of his peace of 
of the Ad- rnind by enemies in his own party. The army, neglected 
Uon!\rmy, ^y the republicans, was without trained officers. The 
andNavy.' West Point Academy, authorized in 1802, had as yet 

yielded none of the fruits for which it later was distin- 
guished. Officers who had served in the revolution were now too old 
for effective duty, and the new political appointees were pompous and 
inexperienced, and lacked the respect of the privates. The navy, dis- 
dained by Jefferson, had only the frigates built by the federalists, and 
some smaller vessels constructed for use against Tripoli, less than 
twenty in all. But their officers were excellent, and the sailor popula- 



PLAN OF THE WAR P-\RTY 321 

tion was as good as could be found in the world. The gunboats Jeffer- 
son built for harbor defense were not able to take the sea. The 
treasury was without money, and the country shuddered at the thought 
of higher taxes. Loans were the only resource, and these were difficult 
with the moneyed class opposed to war and the money markets of 
Europe prostrated by the struggle then raging there. The young 
leaders in the house realized these difl5culties, and strove to surmount 
them. They carried through congress a bill to raise the 
army, now a little more than six thousand strong, by 25,000 f^°^ 
men, and another bill to authorize the president to call out party. 
50,000 militia. They also asked for an addition to the 
navy of twelve seventy-fours and twenty frigates, but this was re- 
fused. WTien they moved war taxes there was further denial, and they 
were forced to content themselves with a loan of Si 1,000,000. All 
this happened early in 181 2. 

The war party planned a vigorous campaign in Canada and the oc- 
cupation of Florida, if Spain, England's ally in Europe, should make 
war on America. They thought the Canadians would 
•n-illingly throw oflf the British yoke in order to unite %\ith pj^^^j^ ^° 
the great repubhc to the southward, and they believed 
that the war would end quickly and \'ictoriously. They expected the 
Atlantic ports to be blockaded, and trade to be driven from the sea, 
but so much had been endured on that score that a little more suffering 
would hardly make a difference. Kentucky and the Northwest were 
keen for the Canadian campaign, while Tennessee longed for the signal 
which would open to them the Coosa- Alabama line of communication, 
with free exit at Mobile. As it turned out, there was no 
war ^-iih Spain, but Mobile was occupied without resist- -v^Te^ pian 
ance. On the other hand, England's plan, more slowly 
formed, was to beat back the attempt on Canada, to blockade the 
coast, and crush our ships at sea, and in the latter part of the war to 
carry offensive operations into the home of the war party, Virginia and 
Louisiana. Into these four phases, therefore, the actual fighting of the 
war of 1 8 12 was resolved. 

/rf^ fC>, The Struggle for Can.\da 

The Canadian defenses were along the lakes, a series of posts from 
Mackinac to Lake Champlain. It was proposed to break this line at 
the eastern end, while supporting expeditions carried it at 
Fort Maiden, near Detroit, at Fort Erie, on the Xiagara Canadian 
river, and at Kingston. Those places taken, all the Defense, 
columns would concentrate on Montreal. It was thought 
the campaigns would be accomplished w\\\\ little or no opposition. 
Had the commanders been good and the cooperation perfect, such 
might have been the result. 



322 



THE WAR OF 1812 



The first move was from Detroit, where General Hull commanded 
with nearly 2500 men. In July he crossed the Detroit river and 
marched toward Maiden. General Brock commanded the 
British force and made heroic efforts to defend the position. 
Hull moved slowly, gave him time to concentrate, and 
then fell back because he dared not attack a force half the size of his 
own, nearly half of his opponents being Indians. The army was dis- 
gusted, their want of confidence in their leader only increased 



HuUat 
Detroit. 




Hull's panic, and when Brock, following the Americans to Detroit, 
surrounded the place and demanded its surrender, the fort, garrison, 
and supplies, to his surprise, were handed over without an effort to de- 
fend them. Hull pleaded that he was surrounded, his communications 
cut, and his men likely to be butchered by the hostile Indian if he 
resisted to the end. His position was indeed perilous, but a braver 
man would have made some effort to defend himself. A 

Surrender ^^^^ "^^^ ^ ^^^^ '''•^^^ ^^ ^'^^ Convicted by a court martial 
of cowardice and neglect of duty and sentenced to be shot, 
but the president pardoned him on account of honorable revolutionary 
services. The loss of Detroit left the frontier open to Indian raids 
and created disgust for the men directing the war at the time when 
there ought to have been enthusiasm. 



ON THE CANADIAN BORDER 323 

Nor was there more success at other parts of the border. The 
column sent against Montreal got under way after much delay and in 
November reached the Canadian line, whereupon the 
militia refused to leave the country and were marched Repulse of 
back by their commander, Dearborn, to winter quarters j^°^ 
at Plattsburg. The other column failed also. Assembled Columns, 
on the Niagara to the number of six thousand it essayed to 
carry the war into Canada under General Stephen Van Rensselaer, a 
New York politician and an inexperienced general. The regulars 
under General Smythe refused to cooperate, and Van Rensselaer was 
driven back from an attack on Queenstown with a loss of 1000. Then 
Smythe was placed in command. He was as bad a commander as 
his predecessor, and his attempted invasion in November was repulsed 
so easily that he was freely accused of cowardice. In these three for- 
ward movements the private soldiers showed ability, but their com- 
manders and many of the other officers were evidently unfit for their 
posts. By the middle of 1813 all these commanders were removed. 

After Hull's defeat William H. Harrison, of Tippecanoe fame, was 
placed over the Western army, which he organized as fast as a poor com- 
missary department permitted. Late in the autumn of 
181 2 he was in a position to move forward, and marched to Harrison's 
attack the British at Maiden. He sent General Win- i^^Jhr'^" 
Chester forward to make preparations at the rapids of the Northwest. 
Maumee, fifty miles from Maiden. While there, Win- 
chester was called to the help of Frenchtown, on the Raisin river, 
thirty miles beyond. He hurried forward with 900 men, took the place, 
but could not fortify it. January 22, 1813, he was attacked and de- 
feated by Proctor commanding more than 1000 whites and Indians. 
Surrounded in the snow, the Americans were cut down or massacred by 
the Indians, until the remainder, over 500 in all, were forced to sur- 
render. At night the savages, crazed by liquor, fell on the wounded 
prisoners, whom Proctor left without guard, and killed them to a man. 
The act infuriated the men of the frontier, and "Remember the 
Raisin " became their battle cry for the rest of the war. Harrison was 
forced to give up his advance, but he did not lose the confidence of the 
Western people. 

Throughout the spring and summer of 1813 he made ready for 
another attack, and in September was before Maiden with 
4500 men. By this time the Americans had gained con- ^^ ^°' . 
trol of Lake Erie, and the British, not daring to with- 
stand a siege with no help possible by water, burned Detroit and 
Maiden and retreated. Harrison pursued them on 
Canadian territory, forced a fight at the river Thames, T^ames^ *^ 
and won a signal victory. One of the slain was Tecum- 
seh, who from the first had aided the British. It was the first 
successful battle in the long announced invasion of Canada, and 
it gave peace to the Northwest. 



324 THE WAR OF 1812 

For this valuable result the gunboats on Lake Erie deserve much 
credit. Hull's surrender showed that we never could retake Detroit 

as long as it could be supplied by water. Accordingly 
Perry's every efifort was made to build and buy ships for service 

Lake Erie. ^^ ^^^ lake. By September, 1813, Captain Oliver H. 

Perry had six vessels well armed and manned. On the 
loth he met and destroyed the British lake fleet, slightly weaker than 
his own. His dispatch announcing the victory ran: "We have 
met the enemy and they are ours. Two ships, two brigs, one schooner, 
and one sloop." The victor became very popular. 

Holding Lake Erie and Detroit did not mean the conquest of 
Canada. Montreal was still to be taken, and for that purpose General 

James Wilkinson was called from New Orleans to take 
Wilkinson's command of the large force at Sackett's Harbor, near 
F^lure on Kingston. He was to march down the St. Lawrence, sup- 
Lawrence, ported by another army led by General Wade Hampton 

by way of Lake Champlain. The only virture in Wil- 
kinson's appointment, which was due to his friendship with Armstrong, 
now secretary of war, was that it made way for Andrew Jackson's 
command in Louisiana in 1814. Wilkinson was incompetent, and 
Hampton, who was a good general, cooperated with him reluctantly. 
Wilkinson moved slowly, as if he did not desire to succeed. Hampton 
reached an advanced position on the Chateaugay, held it until con- 
vinced that the other army would do nothing, and then returned 
to winter quarters at Plattsburg, on Lake Champlain. Wilkinson, 
who had fought some skirmishes without success, then fell back 
to Sackett's Harbor. Hampton, who resented being placed under the 
incompetent Wilkinson, resigned, and his superior was at length 
removed from command. Thus ended in failure the second year 
of fighting on the New York border. The most valuable thing accom- 
plished was that through defeat the army was seasoned to fighting, 
the old generals had been weeded out, and a number of capable 
minor ofiicers had been given an opportunity to show their abilities. 
Of the latter were Major General Jacob Brown, in command of the 
forces on the Niagara, and Brigadier General Winfield Scott, who 
served under him, an excellent drill master and a bold fighter. 

The year 18 14 began gloomily for the Americans. They were dis- 
couraged by a war which brought so little success, New England 

seemed on the point of withdrawing from the union. 
Sobering volunteering had nearly ceased in the Atlantic states, 
Defeat. 3,nd the treasury was empty. Moreover, Napoleon wa^ 

checked in Europe, and England might be expected to 
carry on the war with more energy in America. All this sobered 
the people, and as the months passed men began to forget that it was 
a repubHcan war and to reahze that the life of the nation was at 
stake. 



BETTER FORTUNE 325 

They were encouraged by news from Brown. All thought of a 
grand offensive movement into Canada had been given up, but he 
was not willing to remain idle. Moving about 2500 
men into the enemy's territory, he attacked gallantly, ^^j^^^ , 
Scott, who was selected to lead the advance with 1300 Lane "1814^ 
men, met, July 5, Riall with 1500 men and won a signal 
victory at Chippewa. The Americans showed great eflficiency in 
marksmanship, and lost only 297, while their opponents lost 515. 
Brown now united with Scott, and they met the main body of the 
British three weeks later at Lundy's Lane. The action began in 
the afternoon and lasted five hours, until darkness intervened. Every 
part of the field was hotly contested, and the Americans gradually 
pushed, the British from their positions. When the fighting ceased 
they had lost 853 out of 2000 engaged and the enemy had lost 879 
out of 3000. So far as actual fighting went. Brown had the better 
of it, but he considered it advisable to fall back when his opponent 
received reenforcements. The movement into Canada was abandoned. 
It had accomplished all that could be expected in showing that 
American soldiers could win victories when properly led and trained. 

While this campaign was being fought, Sir George Prevost, com- 
manding in Canada, led a splendid army of 11,000 men along Bur- 
goyne's old route, hoping to pass Lake Champlain and 
create consternation on the Hudson. Such a campaign, McDon- 
if successful, must have an important influence in New oug^'sVic- 
England, where an active group of leaders wished to have L^j^g 
those states join Canada in order to be rid of the Virginia Champlain. 
predominancy. General Macomb, commanding at Platts- 
burg, on Lake Champlain, had only 2000 men to meet this invasion, 
and Prevost felt that he could easily dispose of them. On the lake 
were two small fleets, the American commander being Captain Thomas 
McDonough, a young man of thirty, who proved to have remarkable 
capacity. The fighting strength of the British ships was double 
that of the Americans. To succeed in his plans Prevost must destroy 
McDonough, and the two squadrons joined in deadly combat on 
September 11, while the army before Plattsburg awaited the result. 
The British expected the victory because their largest ship, a frigate 
of thirty-seven guns, outclassed our strongest vessel. They concen- 
trated their attack on the Saratoga, McDonough's largest ship. 
After two hours' fighting it was disabled, when the commander, by 
a daring maneuver, turned it around so that a fresh broadside was 
brought to bear, with the result that the British frigate struck her 
colors in half an hour. By that time the whole British squadron 
was defeated, and Prevost's army retreated to Canada. McDonough's 
achievement occasioned an outburst of joy throughout the country, 
and, like Perry's victory on Lake Erie, it rendered safe an important 
part of the frontier. 



326 THE WAR OF 1812 

For the blundering in this important part of the theater of war 
the Virginia regime was chiefly responsible. Jefferson's non-resistance 

policy was more creditable to his heart than to his head. 
Why the jjj^ predecessors filled army and navy with federalist 
W^k.^ officers and showered contempt upon republicans who 

might have been appointed. He repaid their scorn with 
interest, and in army appointments he ignored the federalists and 
collected as weak a group of incompetents as could be found in any 
service. Their selection can only be explained on the theory that 
he believed they would never have anything of importance to do. 
That the navy did not undergo the same deterioration was due to 
the fact that its officers were taken from the maritime class, mostly 
federalists in sympathy, and to the effect of the Tripolitan war in 
keeping alive the best traditions of the navy. With regard to the army 
Madison continued the same course as Jefferson. Eustis, secretary 
of war from March 7, 1809, to December 31, 1812, was a shiftless 
politician who knew not how to choose the generals or to plan a cam- 
paign. His successor, Armstrong, more active than Eustis, muddled 
things by holding to his friend, the incompetent Wilkinson, and by 
going to the field himself, where he produced confusion by interfering 
with plans of better men, until at last, overwhelmed by the loss of the 
capital, he was forced out of office August 30, 18 14. He was succeeded 
by Monroe, a more practical administrator though not an ideal secre- 
tary, who outlasted the war. Hamilton, secretary of the navy from 
March 7, 1809, to January 13, 1813, was as weak as Eustis and did 
little to strengthen his department. His successor in office until 
December i, 18 14, was more active and strengthened the navy by 
constructing small ships of war to operate against the enemy's com- 
merce. Thus in these two important departments defeat and disaster 
taught wisdom as truly as in the command of the armies. It required 
much sad experience to teach the nation the necessity of training 
in order to conduct such an important affair as a great national 
struggle. 

Operations at Sea 

The war party did not despise the navy, as their project to build 
seventy-fours and frigates shows ; but they could not overcome 

the prejudices of the regular republicans. In 1807, 
State of when Barron's failure to fight the Leopard caused great 
in 1812. disgust among those who opposed a navy on principle, it 

was decided to discharge the crews of the leading frigates 
and to raise the number of gunboats to 257. Congress indorsed the 
policy. Jefferson preferred gunboats because they confined the 
navy to harbor defense and were cheap. The federalists jeered at 
his idea that small craft armed with light guns could keep the enemy's 
ships out of our ports, and the experience of war showed they were 



SUCCESSFUL NAVAL ACTIONS 327 

right. The war party in 1812 had come to realize this, and failing 
to get the new ships they wished they put the vessels we had in a 
proper state of service. Eight ships, four of them forty-fours, with an 
equal number of smaller vessels, was the strength of the navy. Most 
people thought that to send them against the mistress of the sea was 
but to throw them away; but many inward-bound merchant ships 
were on the ocean in need of protection. Five ships, commanded by 
Rodgers and Decatur, were in New York harbor when the official 
information of the declaration of war reached that place, and in an 
hour they were at sea searching for a British convoy known to be on 
the ocean. They sailed boldly across the Atlantic to the English 
coast, thence to the Madeiras, and then to Boston without adventure. 

The day before Rodgers arrived in Boston came, also, the Constitu- 
tion, Captain Isaac Hull, nephew of the commander at Detroit, 
with thrilling news of victory. August 19 she met and 
defeated the British ship Guerriere, 38 guns, after a fight ^av^^^^"^ 
of half an hour. The disabled ship could not be taken Duels, 
into port, and was fired and abandoned. She had been 
very active in impressments, and her destruction occasioned joy 
from one end of the coast to the other. Then followed a series of 
naval duels in which the Americans bore themselves with distinction. 
In October the Wasp captured the Frolic and started with her for 
an American port, but both ships were later taken by a larger enemy 
vessel. Shortly afterwards the United States took the Macedonian 
and carried her safely into Newport, while in December the Constitution 
defeated and burned the Java, ^8 guns. February 24 the Hornet 
sunk the Peacock after an action of fifteen minutes. In all these 
affairs the American ship, except the Wasp, was stronger than her 
opponent ; but the accurate fire and good seamanship of the Americans 
astonished the enemy and brought them to realize that their best 
efforts were demanded on this side the Atlantic. In America, 
also, the effect was marked. A wave of enthusiasm for the navy 
swept the country, and congress voted to build sixteen new ships 
of war. 

June I, 1 8 13, came a disaster which sadly checked the American 
ardor. Captain Lawrence, who commanded the Hornet against 
the Peacock, was now in charge of the Chesapeake, fitting in Boston, 
with orders to cruise off the mouth of the St. Lawrence 
in order to intercept supplies for the British in Canada, ^j^^ ^cTe°a- 
Blockading the harbor was the Shannon, Captain Broke, peahe. 
with some smaller ships. He was anxious for a combat 
with the Chesapeake, sent in a challenge, and ordered his companion 
ship away so as to induce Lawrence to come out. The latter needed 
Uttle urging. He was rashly brave, and the recent victories had made 
him overconfident. He had been in command only ten days, his 
best officers were ill and absent, and his crew were raw and sullen. 



328 THE WAR OF 1812 

The ships were nearly of equal size, but the Shannon was manned by 
a well-drilled crew who adored their commander. Lawrence had not 
received the Briton's challenge when he learned that only a frigate 
kept the blockade. He was not averse to action, and the opportunity 
to get to sea seemed too good to miss ; so he boldly sailed out, and 
at six o'clock the action began at the outer edge of Massachusetts Bay. 
In sixteen minutes Lawrence was mortally wounded, and his ship 
had surrendered after a brave battle. The Chesapeake was carried 
to Halifax, where the body of her commander was given honorable 
burial by the victors. The remains were later reinterred in New 
York. Lawrence's utterance as he was carried below, "Don't give 
up the ship," was repeated far and wide, and the people forgot his 
rashness in admiration of his courage. 

The repeal of the Orders in Council by England led her to hope 
that the war might be avoided, but she would not give up impress- 
ments, and the hope of adjustment vanished. It thus 
Naval Sue- happened that it was not until the spring of 1813 that 
Checked. she gave her best strength to the task before her. At this 
time the blockade was made stringent, commercial ships 
were vigorously seized, and a strong naval force continued off the 
coast. Decatur, with the United States and Macedonian, trying 
to get to sea by way of Long Island Sound, was forced into New 
London harbor and bottled up for the rest of the war. In the spring 
of 1 8 14 he was transferred to the President, blockaded at New York. 
It was not until the following January that he was able to get out 
in a storm, the blockaders pursuing and forcing him to an unequal 
fight, in which he surrendered. Similar fates awaited most of the other 
ships in the navy. The Adams was burned in the Penobscot, 1814, 
to prevent capture by the enemy; the Argus was defeated by the 
Pelican off the coast of Wales in 1813 ; the Enterprise, the newly 
built Frolic, and the Essex were all taken before the close of the war. 
The Constellation and the Congress were also securely blockaded in 
American harbors. At the beginning of the war we had 
Growth of ^ |-gj^ effective ships and seven smaller vessels ranked as 
1815.' brigs. So fast had the navy grown, spite of losses, that 

at the close of 18 15 it contained seventeen ships, three 
of them new seventy-fours, nine brigs, thirteen schooners, and three 
sloops. 

War was hardly declared before American privateers were on the 
seas. Subscription lists posted at the merchants' coffeehouses 
. . invited all adventurous persons to share the expense and 

Privateers. Profit sure to come through despoiling Great Britain's 
rich maritime trade. In Massachusetts, New York, 
and Maryland the response was particularly generous. Three-fourths 
of the 492 Hcensed privateers were from these three states. Good 
sailing and the ability to get out of tight places were necessary qualities 



WASHINGTON CAPTURED 



329 



of a good privateer. Some of the captains displayed great boldness, 
attacking British privateers, and even small naval ships, with success. 
Half of the ships engaged in the field did not come up to these require- 
ments and took no prizes, but those best fitted for the enterprise 
paid their owners handsome profits, while they enriched our naval 
history with some of its most thrilling exploits. In the war of 181 2, 
1344 prizes were thus taken from Great Britain, the last in which 
the United States have resorted to privateering. 



WASHINGTON" 
AND VICrNITY. 



The British Campaign on Chesapeake Bay 

In the summer of 1814, as Prevost prepared his invasion of New 
York by Lake Champlain, a British iieet under Admiral Cochrane 
and a army of 4000 men under Major General Ross 
appeared in the Chesapeake to create a diversion for the ^^^^ 
benefit of the northern operations. The plan was to pedition. 
take the capital and to seize Baltimore, especially disliked 
for its part in privateering. Ross landed without opposition at 
Benedict, on the Patuxent, forty miles from Washington, and marched 
unopposed on the city. News of his movement had reached the 
president seven weeks earlier, 
and the militia were frantically 
called out. They came to- 
gether slowly, commanded by 
General Winder, a man of lit- 
tle determination. Fall- 
ing back before the advancing 
foe, he at last faced them at 
Bladensburg, five miles from the 
capital. His position was good, 
a hill commanding a bridge 
across the Patuxent, and he had 
sufficient artillery. His forces 
were between six and seven 
thousand, all raw militia ex- 
cept five hundred marines and 
sailors under Captain Barney, 
of the navy. They were just 
assembled, did not know their 
officers, and Winder had no in- 
fluence over them. As the 
British approached the bridge 
they received the American 
artillery fire, but dashed across, 

formed, and advanced on the Americans. The militia delivered one 
or two fires, and fled pell-mell. Barney's men stood their ground, 




330 THE WAR OF 1812 

firing with steadiness until about to be surrounded, when they 
fled from a field on which they now had no support. The British 
. on the evening of the same day, August 24, entered 

Tak^en°^°° Washington, from which president, officials, and many 
residents had fled. The capitol, president's house, and 
the executive offices were burned by the troops. Ross justified 
this piece of vandalism as retaliation for the destruction of the parlia- 
ment building at Toronto in the preceding year. The 
B^Ud"^ Americans did not pretend to justify the outrages at 

Burned. Toronto, but asserted that it was the action of pri- 
vates, whereas the torch was applied in Washington at 
the direction of the commanding general. As an act of retaliation 
Ross's course went far beyond the action alleged as its justification, 
and it was committed with such evident relish by him and his officers 
that it cannot be defended as soldierly conduct. 

While Ross moved against Washington seven small vessels appeared 
before Alexandria, levied a contribution, and rejoined the main force 
as Ross, his work at Washington done, embarked his 
Atta^ed^ force and moved on Baltimore. September 11 he landed 
at North Point, twelve miles from the city, against which 
he advanced on a narrow neck of land between the Patapsco and an 
arm of the bay, saying he would winter in the city even if "it rained 
militia." Next morning he was mortally wounded in a skirmish, 
but his army continued to advance. The people of the city and state 
had collected to the number of 14,000, and earthworks were constructed 
to protect the place. The harbor was impeded by sunken hulks and 
defended by Fort McHenry, well garrisoned by regulars and sailors. 
While the army approached by land the navy under command of 
Admiral Cochrane began to shell the fort. After several hours' bom- 
bardment the admiral reported that he could not advance; and 
although the infantry had carried the American first line, they did 
not feel like charging the works before them, and it was decided to 
withdraw to the ships. The expedition dropped down the bay, 
and a month later sailed out the capes to take part in the expedition 
against Louisiana. 

The attack on Washington showed as clearly as the 

ofMilUia^ operations in Canada the weakness of untrained militia. 

It is still more evident that the disaster was due chiefly 

to the lack of intelligent general officers. But the campaign about to 

be conducted around New Orleans revealed the value of militia when 

well trained and well led. The destruction of the cap- 

tA^^°^ ital aroused great indignation against the administration, 

strong. ai^d Armstrong, secretary of war, resigned. He was chiefly 

responsible for the inertness in his department, although 

Madison and congress, it must be admitted, had given him slender 

resources. Armstrong was succeeded by Monroe, who for nearly a 

year was head of the state and war departments. 



LOOKING TOWARD FLORIDA 331 

Meanwhile, British troops had landed at various harbors in Massa- 
chusetts and Connecticut, burning such crafts as they found. A 
more serious demonstration was an expedition against 
the eastern coast of Maine. The country as far as the ^**^^^ °^ 
Penobscot was seized after little resistance by the natives. Elsewhere, 
with the intention of holding it after peace was made, 
in order to establish a safe route from Montreal to Halifax. When 
it was given up in 181 5, the inhabitants, it was said, regretted that 
they did not continue under British sway. 

The War on the Gulf Coast 

It will be remembered that the war party hoped for an opportunity 
to acquire Florida. Spain was England's ally, her South and Central 
American colonies were revolting one after the other, 
at home she was struggling for existence against Napoleon: for^j-lorida^ 
what better opportunity could there be, thought the 
expansionists, to oust her from the part of the coast which destiny 
evidently meant us to occupy ? Madison accepted the idea, and would 
have carried it out by invading Florida without other pretext than 
the Louisiana treaty, had not the senate restrained him. Spite of 
this, two important events happened on the Florida border, one of 
them resulting in increase of American territory. 

In 1810 the inhabitants of the part of West Florida nearest the 
Mississippi revolted against Spain, proclaimed themselves a state, 
seized the post at Baton Rouge, and asked for annexation 
to the United States. Madison by proclamation ordered ^^^°^ 
the governor of the territory of Lousiana to extend Acquked. 
authority over this district without coming into conflict 
with any Spanish post. He asserted our right to West Florida by 
the Louisiana treaty and proposed to hold the region in question 
subject to future agreement with Spain. Thus our authority was 
extended to the Pearl river, beyond which was Mobile in undisturbed 
Spanish possession. 

The revolt of the Spanish colonies in South America was suggestive, 
and a plan was made for a similar movement in East Florida. When 
it was accompHshed, the United States, it seems, was to 
step in and annex the territory, as at Baton Rouge. In jgiand* 
181 1 congress in a secret act authorized the president 
to take possession of Florida under certain conditions, and Madison 
appointed two commissioners who repaired to the Georgia frontier. 
Amelia Island, just within the Florida line, was the scene of much 
smuggling, which it was desirable to break up. Here occurred a 
weak attempt at a revolution, and American soldiers occupied the 
island, but the revolt had so little support from the inhabitants that 
Madison did not dare carry out the plans made for him. Amelia 
Island was held, however, until 1813. 



^^2 THE WAR OF 1812 

In the autumn of 1812 Madison called out 2070 west Tennessee 
militia under Andrew Jackson, to march to Natchez, expecting to 

use them against Florida. This was merely an execu- 
Seizure of tive act, and when congress refused to sanction the pro- 
E°ik^h posed expedition Jackson was recalled to Xash\dlle. 
Confess ^^^ west Tennessee militia were eager for war, and had 
1813. ' confidence in their leader. Their opportimity came late 

in 1 8 13, when it was decided to send them as one of three 
expeditions against the Creek Indians, who were on the warpath in 
sympathy \\-ith the Indians of the Xorthwest. The Tennesseans were 
to march into the Creek country from the north, the Georgia militia 
from the east, and an expedition from Xew Orleans was to approach 
through Mobile Bay and the Alabama river. 

The most difficult task was Jackson's, but it alone was successful. 
When the winter closed in he had reached the upper Coosa, after 

winning two \dctories over his adversaries. Four days 
Subdue^d ^ '"'^ marching and one good \-ictory would have given 

him complete success, but he could not get supplies, and 
his men mutinied and were sent home. With only a handful of 
followers he held what he had gained until new troops were raised, and 
March 27 completed the subjugation of the Creeks in the victory 
of Horse Shoe Bend, or Tohopeka. His campaign showed that he 
had remarkable power of command as well as resourcefulness and 
energy. In consequence he was made a major general and assigned 

to the command of the seventh military district. Besides 

MobUe Louisiana, the district included Mobile, which had been 

Seized. , . , • • * -i n -vt 

annexed -without resistance m April, 1813. Xow, as 

in regard to Baton Rouge, Madison acted under his interpretation 

of the Louisiana treaty. 

Jackson's first act in his new capacity was to make the treaty of 

Fort Jackson, August 9, by which the Creeks gave up their lands in 

southern and western Alabama. He thus opened a 
The Treaty ^,^^^ region to white settlement, and made safe the Coosa- 
Jackson. Alabama line of communication. Next he turned to 

Mobile. The advance guard of the great expedition 
against New Orleans had arrived at Pensacola; Jackson seized the 
town regardless of neutrality obligations, and the British sailed away. 

He was hardly back in Mobile when he learned that 
Occupied^ New Orleans was threatened by a body of more than 

10,000 troops. He hastened to the city, which was 
nearly undefended, calling the militia from Tennessee, Kentucky, 
and Georgia as he went. Had Winder, in the preceding summer, 
shown half Jackson's energy, Ross would not have reached Wash- 
ington. 

December 10, the British fleet anchored in Lake Borgne, and 
early on the 23d a division of the army was landed eight miles below 



THE EIGHTH OF J.\XUARY, 1S15 ^ss 

the city on a strip of land less than a niile wide, between the ri\-er 
and the swamp. Instantly Jackson was in motion, delivering in 
the evening and early night a sharp battle which drove 
the enemy to take refuge under the levee until reenforce- Arrival of 
ments came up from the ships. Then Jackson fell back g^^^^J^ 
and began to construct breastworks. Pakenham, the Orleans. 
British commander, was cautious, and would not move until 
all his forces were landed, including the artillery. He thus allowed 
Jackson time to construct formidable defenses, which the royal 
artiller}' could not destroy. On Januar}^ 8, 1S15, he threw away 
his caution and attempted to carry these works. He and his whole 
army held American militia in contempt, and thought 
they would break when charged \'igorously by British ^*"^® °^ 
regulars. In the early dawn two red-coated columns Orleans, 
rushed on Jackson's lines, one near the river and one 
near the swamp. They met a withering rifle-fire from which the 
bravest soldiers must have recoiled. T^nce they were rallied and led 
forward by their best officers, and each time repulsed \\'ith great 
slaughter. Pakenham and General Gibbs were killed, and General 
Keene severely wounded. The loss in this part of the army was 
1971 killed and wounded, and on Jackson's side 13. Meanwhile, 
Colonel Thornton, -oith 600 regulars, crossed to the west bank of the 
river to carry some batteries there, which bore on the ground over 
which the British must attack on the east side. He met an insufficient 
force of Louisiana and Kentucky militia, swept it aside, took the 
batteries, and held the west bank at discretion. Fortunately for 
the Americans, this movement was delayed until after the attack on 
their intrenchments on the east bank was repulsed, and by that severe 
blow the British were so crippled that they rehnquished the campaign 
and withdrew to their fleet. 

The victory at Xew Orleans was one of the great events in American 
history. It not only saved the mouth of the ^Mississippi from conquest 
and restored to the people confidence in their ability to 
^^•in battles, but it gave the Western people, who 'had ^f^*^*^^ 
won it without much help from the seaboard, the con- victory, 
fidence to assert a greater influence in national affairs. 
To these people, and to many others in all parts of the country, Jackson 
became the greatest living American. He had, besides his military 
qualities, political courage and integrity, which sustained him in 
a long and important career. He was unschooled in the arts of war 
and statesmanship, but in each field his remarkable natural sense 
made him essentially efficient. No American has left a stronger 
mark on our political histor\'. 

Before Jackson's \-ictor)' was won, peace was made between England 
and the United States. The Russian Czar, from 1S12 an ally of 
England, sought to end the war, and believed it might be done since 



334 THE WAR OF 1812 

the Orders in Council were repealed. He offered each party his 
services as mediator. Madison accepted, and in the spring of 1813, 
Bayard, of Delaware, and Gallatin, set out for St. Peters- 
Peace Ne- burg to join John Quincy Adams, our minister there, in 
BeKun°°^ a peace commission. The action was hasty; for Eng- 
land had not accepted the mediation. She told the Czar 
that the question between her and the United States did not admit 
of mediation. But she did not wish to offend her powerful ally, and 
expressed a willingness to treat directly with the American commis- 
sioners. Such a course would give her a freer hand in the negotiation. 
After some delay the British ministry repeated the offer to Madison, 
and congress, accepting it for what it was worth, sent Clay and 
Jonathan Russell as additional commissioners of peace. England 
appointed three men of little prominence, Lord Gambier, Henry 
Goulburn, and Dr. Adams. The Americans took it as a slight that 
more capable men were not named, but the ministry expected to 
keep the negotiations well in hand. The commissioners began their 
labors at Ghent early in August, 1814. 

The Americans asked that impressments and the right of search 
be relinquished. The British replied with such demands that it 
seemed they did not desire peace. We were asked, for 
Ghe^nt^^^ ^ °^^ thing, to accept an Indian buffer state on our north- 
west as an offset to our attack on Canada. The war 
against Napoleon was then believed to be ended, the English people 
were elated, they had not heard of the better fighting of the Americans 
on the northern frontier in the third year of the war, and the result 
was stout demands on their part. The American commissioners 
reported the demands to Madison, who made them public. An out- 
burst of indignation ensued in nearly every part of the United States. 
Lord Castlereagh, the prime minister, seeing that the war would go 
on with more energy than before, concluded to modify his terms. 
England was exhausted by the long war on the continent and needed 
peace more than she needed to triumph over America. Castlereagh 
had begun to see that the continental nations would be secretly against 
England in adjusting the affairs of Europe, and he did not wish at 
that time to be embarrassed by a transatlantic war. So it happened 
that as the American commissioners were about to go home the British 
abandoned the worst of their conditions. From day to day they 
gave up still more, with the result that finally a treaty was signed, 
December 24, in which neither side gained or lost. It provided 
for the cessation of arms, the restoration of conquests, 
Sien^dD ^^*^ ^ Commission to settle the long-disputed Canadian 
24, 1814. * boundary. The matters for which we went to war were 
not mentioned; but as England was to reduce her navy 
with the coming of peace, the question of impressment was no longer 
important. February 15, 1815, the treaty was unanimously approved 



NEW ENGLAND IGNORED 335 

by the senate. For the first time since the constitution was adopted 
the United States faced the future without anxiety about their foreign 
relatioj^. 



^r^ 



.v^J> New England Discontent 



New England generally chafed under Southern control. Non- 
importation, embargo, and non-intercourse affected her business 
prosperity more than the South's. Moreover, it seemed 
likely that she, a trading community, would continue to be Isolation of 
outclassed by the agricultural section. Every new merciX" 
state admitted to the union added to the strength of states, 
the rural classes. New York itself, once fair fighting 
ground for the commercial class, was becoming a farmer's state 
through the settlement of her rich western lands. What hope was 
there that commercial New England should get justice from this 
powerful aggregation directed by the authors of the existing poHcies ? 
Probably the majority of New Englanders were not concerned with 
this question, but it rankled in the breasts of the federalists. Their 
only hope of return to power was in the defeat of the republicans, 
which seemed impossible, or in separation from the union. In 1803- 
1804 Pickering and his friends planned for separation with the support 
of New York, but they failed through the opposition of Hamilton 
(see page 300). When war against England threatened, 
they took up the plan again, this time hoping to join ^^^'^ °^ 
New England with Canada under British protection, ^J.^^^~ 
thus making a great state in which the New England states Federalists, 
would have good opportunity for commercial and political 
expansion. Not all New Englanders favored this plan, but the radical 
federalists cherished it and hoped to utilize the popular discontent 
to carry it through. 

Their attitude was known in England. Did not Pickering keep 
his friend Rose, minister for the early months of 1808, well informed? 
And did not Jackson revel in federalist flattery from 
Baltimore to Boston? In 1809 came John Henry to JE^""^!^*" 
Boston, an agent of the governor of Canada, seeking content into 
to learn just what could be expected in that quarter. Disunion. 
His letters were discreet, but they reveal great dissatis- 
faction on the part of the leading federalists there. In 1812 Foster, 
the English minister in Washington, was in close cooperation with 
the federalists, they urging that England should not yield to the admin- 
istration. If war came, said they, it would be short and disastrous 
to America, and the administration would be overthrown. And 
when war was declared, 34 federalists in the house, 19 of them from 
New England, issued an address declaring the war unjustifiable and 
defending England's attitude. All this was well considered in London, 
and as a token of appreciation the ministry in establishing the com- 



336 THE WAR OF 1812 

mercial blockade exempted the New England ports north of New 
London. When Madison called on the states for quotas of militia 
in 181 2, Massachusetts and Connecticut refused to raise troops to 
serve out of the state, but took steps to equip their forces for state 
defense. There was much unemployed money in the New England 
banks ; probably half the specie in the country was in New England. 
Yet the war bonds of the government could hardly be sold there, 
less than $3,000,000 being disposed of, while the Middle states took 
nearly $35,000,000. With this opposition the president could not 
deal. He was forced to conduct the war without much aid from the 
states east of the Hudson. 

Early in the war the federalists in Essex cou,nty, Massachusetts, 
issued an address written by Senator Pickering for a convention 
to consider the situation within the state. There was 
Hartford much animated discussion in other parts of the state. 
Called. b^t a number of conservative federalists in Boston, led 

by Dexter, secretary of war under Adams, checked the 
movement in that city, and the other towns hesitated also. The 
movement was revived in the autumn of 18 14, when Washington 
was in ashes and part of Maine, then under Massachusetts authority, 
was occupied by the British. Governor Strong, much opposed to the 
war, now called out the militia to repel the invader. He placed it 
under state ofhcers and asked the secretary of war if the expenses 
would be paid by the national government. He was told that the 
secretary had no authority to pay troops not in national service. 
Then the extremists declared that the state was abandoned in time 
of need, that the taxes she paid generously were not used for her defense, 
and that she must look out for her own interests. The governor 
called a meeting of the legislature, in which the program of the ex- 
tremists was adopted by 250 to 76 votes in both houses. The majority 
chose twelve delegates to a convention at Hartford, December 15, 
to consider the condition of the country. Connecticut approved 
the movement and appointed seven delegates, while Rhode Island 
appointed four. The lower house in New Hampshire's legislature 
approved, but the council was republican and no delegates were named. 
Nor were any sent from Vermont. It was a rural state and had no 
sea-going commerce, and it was not so badly alienated. 

While these things occurred, came the congressional elections 
of 1814. In New England the federalists gained nine seats, and of 
the whole forty-one the republicans had only two. But in the entire 
country the federalist representation shrank from 68 to 65. Thus 
while the war party gained 12 places outside of New England, it lost 
within that region. The explanation is that the calamities of 1814 
were uniting the people of the Middle and Southern states, and it 
seems that but for the efforts of the extremists the same results would 
have occurred in the Northeast. 



THE. HARTFORD CONVENTION 337 

Senator Pickering, in Washington, observed the meeting of the 

Hartford convention with delight. He had his following in it, 

mostly young men, who wished immediate steps taken 

toward separation. But another spirit prevailed. A The Con- 
f ^ ^. • 1 ^1 1 vention in 

group of more conservative men gained the ascendancy session. 

and made George Cabot, a timid man, president. Two 
delegates appointed by popular meetings in New Hampshire and one 
chosen by the town of Windham, Vermont, presented themselves 
and were given seats, making the membership 26. The meetings 
were secret, and continued until January 5, when an adjournment 
was ordered to meet in Boston at the call of the president. An address 
was published in justification of its conduct, filled with ideas taken 
from Madison's Virginia Resolutions (see page 285), and upholding 
the opinion that a state should conduct her defense when invaded. 
Seven suggested amendments to the national constitution were also 
announced, which, with the report, were submitted to the states 
represented in the convention. From the people at large and from 
the legislature they met a warm approval ; and Massachusetts and 
Connecticut sent delegates to lay the demands of New England before 
the national government. Just at this stage, when disunion seemed 
inevitable, came news of the treaty signed at Ghent, December 24, 
and the whole movement collapsed. 

Contemporaries freely charged the Hartford convention with 
promoting disunion, and sometimes it was pronounced traitorous. 
One of the members, Harrison Gray Otis, to vindicate 
himself in after years, published the journal of the con- Significance 
vention. But it was a mere skeleton of the proceeding, England 
and contained no speeches or other matter to show what Discontent, 
the delegates really intended. Theodore Dwight, secre- 
tary of the convention, published a history of the convention, but it 
was in the tone of an advocate, and has not been received as a frank 
statement. The amendments proposed by the convention demanded 
concessions which congress and the nation must have denied. They 
asked for a relinquishment of the compromise of the constitution by 
which three-fifths of the slaves were counted in representation and 
in the apportionment of direct taxes, for a two-thirds vote to admit 
a new state to the union, for a like vote to declare war, or to establish 
commercial non-intercourse, for the prohibition of officeholding 
to naturalized citizens, for the ineligibility of a president for two 
terms, and for the denial of the authority to lay an embargo 
longer than sixty days. The men who announced this program were 
experienced political leaders. They must have had some policy in 
reserve to be adopted if their demands were refused. They doubtless 
knew they had aroused a great popular impulse which could hardly 
be turned backward. It is difficult to believe they expected the 
national government to yield, and failing that, it seems very probable 



338 THE WAR OF 1812 

that they meant to carry the movement they had so carefully and 
ably developed to its logical conclusion, some sort of disunion. 

On the other hand, it must be remembered that the union in 1814 
was not so sacred a thing as later. Recently entered into on the 
ground that it was best for the states to act together, it was to most 
men still a thing of political expediency. The New Englanders were 
in a position to ask what it was worth to their section. The extreme 
federalists repudiated the republican doctrines, rejected government by 
all the people, and Puritan as they were, felt an aversion to a govern-, 
ment controlled by men openly charged with skepticism. They 
thought, also, about their commercial interests and about the possi- 
bility of being overwhelmed by new states. From their standpoint 
it was not unnatural to ask if the union was an advantage to New 
England. These thoughts were strongest in the minds of the extreme 
federalists. To them the collapse of their plans with the end of the 
war must have been a disappointment. But to the mass of New 
Englanders, moderate federalists as well as republicans, the passing 
of the crisis was probably a relief. They quickly regained their con- 
fidence in the union, and New England discontent immediately dis- 
appeared. The federalist party, from its apparent sympathy with the 
Hartford convention, received a blow from which it did not recover. 
One test of the eflficiency of a state is its ability to meet a great 
crisis; for example, its ability to wage war. In this sense the war 
of 18 1 2 gives us an opportunity to see how far we had 
f th w^°" come in the road of political self-direction since we became 
an independent power. Badly as the struggle was fought 
out, it was carried on more successfully than the revolution. Until 
it began we had not seriously determined whether or not we could 
make war. We had no army, and a weak navy. We had no corps 
of trained officers to marshal the citizen soldiers. We had no 
machinery of credit to enable the government to place its emergency 
loans, and the sense of nationality was not developed to enable the 
government to draw the support it ought to have from all sections. 
The calamities of the first two years of war showed every /man these 
weaknesses, and the lesson was well learned. When war ended, the 
people were aroused, they had acquired a good military organization, 
they were determined to have an adequate navy, they had come to 
see the need of common effort, they were ready for a better financial 
system, and they were fighting their battles better than before. 
When the struggle was over, the whole system of inelTiciency was a 
thing of the past. From that time to the present the nation has 
never gone back to the old state of unpreparedness, the army has 
been better organized, the navy has been respectable, and the na- 
tional resources have been held in hand with a reasonable sense of 
national needs. The war of 181 2 was worth all it cost in national 
humiliation ; for it taught the American people to take seriously its 
function of national defense. 



BIBLIOGRAPHECAL NOTE 339 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

The general works on the period treated in this chapter are the books by Adams, 
McMaster, Schoulcr, Ilildrcth, and Wilson (see page 312), and Babcock, Rise of 
American Nationality (1Q06). Adams's treatment (vols. VI-IX) is the fullest, the 
best presented, and most scholarly, and it contains many extracts from original 
documents. Most histories of this period show too much sense of humiliation 
at the conduct of the war. It is perhaps a federalist survival. The war was badly 
conducted, and the people of the time were chagrined at its failures, but the his- 
torian may well suppress his feelings in order to unfold the patent causes of the 
failure. The only considerable work in this better spirit is Mahan, Sea Power in its 
Relations to tltc War of 1S12, 2 vols. (1905). 

The sources, legislative, diplomatic, executive, administrative, and others, 
are the same as for the preceding chapters (seepage 312). Niles, Weekly Register, 
76 vols. (1811-1849), begins to be valuable for this period. See also, Yinvi, Ameri- 
can History told by Contemporaries, vol. Ill, chap. XIX (1906), and MacDonald, 
Select Documents (1898). 

On the British side see Martincau, History of England, 4 vols. (American 
edition, 1864). Volume I deals with the years 1800-1815. The treatment is un- 
satisfactory, but an adequate history of England for this period remains to be 
written. Broderick and Fothcringham, The Political History of England (Hunt 
and Poole, editors), vol. XI (1906), treats the period in a condensed and dry 
manner, six pages being given to the war with the United States. Valuable docu- 
ments are in Castlereagh, Correspondence, vols. VIII-X (1851-1853). See also 
the two English series. Parliamentary Debates (Cobbett) and Parliamentary Papers, 
and Tlie An>iiial Register, 1810-1815. The best Canadian works are: Kingsford, 
History of Canada, 10 vols. (1887-1898), not always reliable for details; and 
Withrow, Popular History of the Dominion of Canada (1899). 

Besides the biographies and writings of leading men cited on previous pages 
(see pages 275, 312) the following are useful: Schurz, Life of Henry Clay, 2 v^ols. 
(1887) ; Morse, Life of John Quincy Adams (1882) ; C. F. Adams, editor. Memoirs 
of John Quincy Adams, 12 vols. (1874-1877) ; Writings of John Quincy Adams 
(Ford, ed., 191 3-) ; and Kennedy, Memoir of the Life of William Wirt, 2 vols. (ed. 
i860). 

Military Operations. On the American side the documents will be found in 
abundance in the American State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. I, and Naval Affairs, 
vol. I. Adams, History of the United States, vols. Vl-tX, contains the best American 
account. It contains valuable extracts from reports. See also: C. J. Ingcrsoll, 
Second War between the United States and Great Britain, 4 vols, in two scries (1845- 
1849, 1852), strongly republican; Lossing, Pictorial Ficld-Book of t lie War of 1812 
(1868), not always accurate in details; Brackenridge, History of the Late War be- 
tween the United States and Great Britain (18 17 and many later editions), a straight- 
forward narrative ; Johnson, History of the War of 1S12-1S15 (1882), clear and read- 
able ; and Soley, Wars of the United States, in Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, 
vol. VII, contains good bibliography. The following special works are also use- 
ful : McAfee, History of the Late War in the Western- Country (1816) ; Dawson, 
Civil and Military Services of Major General William Henry Harrison (1824) ; Cruik- 
shank, Documentary History of the Campaigns upon the Niagara Frontier (1896-1904) ; 
Latour, Historical Memoir of the War in West Florida and Louisiana in 181 4-1 Si 5 
(I*>nglish translation, 1816) ; Bassett, Life of Andrew Jackson, 2 vols. (1911); and 
Parton, Life of Andrew Jackson, 3 vols. i860. 

British Operations. Treated in James, Military Occurrences of the Late War, 
2 vols. (1818), — worth reading, though questioned by American writers; Gleig, 
Ca^npaigns of the British Army at Washington, Baltimore, and New Orleans (1821), a 
good account; Richardson, War of 1812 (1842, rev. ed. 1902), deals with the Ca- 
nadian campaigns; and Tupper, IJfc and Correspondence of Major General Sir 



340 THE WAR OF 1812 

Isaac Brock (rev. ed. 1847). For contemporary notice see The Annual Register, 
1812-1815. 

Naval Affairs. The leading American books are: Mahan, Sea Power in Its 
Relations to the War of 1812, 2 vols. (1905), very judicious; Maclay, History of the 
United States Navy, 2 vols, (new ed. 1901-1902), readable and generally trust- 
worthy; Maclay, History of American Privateers (1899) ; Coggeshall, History of the 
American Privateers and Letters of Marque during our War with England (1856). 
The British accounts are often at variance with the American accounts. See 
James, Naval History of Great Britain, vols. IV-VI (1886), Ibid., The Chief Naval 
Occurrences of the Late War (1817) ; and Williams, The Liverpool Privateers (1897). 

On the Treaty of Ghent the documents are to be found in A merican State Papers, 
Foreign, vol. Ill ; Gallatin, Writings, and Adams's Memoirs contain valuable in- 
formation about the negotiations. See also J. Q. Adams, The Duplicate Letters, 
the Fisheries, and the Mississippi (1822), and Ibid., Writings, W. C. Ford, ed. 
(1913-). Hildt, Early Diplomatic Negotiations of the United States with Russia 
(Johns Hopkins, Studies, 1906) has an account of the Russian offer of mediation. 

New England Discontent. Adams is the best general authority. Other works 
are: Adams, Documents Relating to New England Federalism, 1800-1815 (1878); 
Dwight, History of the Hartford Convention (1833) ; Carey, The Olive Branch, or 
Faults on Both Sides (1814, many times reprinted) ; and Goodrich, Recollections 
of a Life-time, 2 vols. (185 1), contains incidents relating to the Convention. 

For Independent Reading 

Maclay, A History of American Privateers (1899) ; Hollis, The Frigate Con- 
stitution (1900); Goodrich, Recollections of a Lifetime, 2 vols. (1851); Dwight, 
Travels in New England and New York (1821-1822); Stone, Life and Times of 
Sa-go-ye-wa-ha, or Red Jacket (1841); Brighton, Admiral Sir P. V. Broke (1866); 
and Memoirs and Letters of Dolly Madison (1886). 




CHAPTER XVI 

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 

Growth of the West and Southwest 

The vastness of the natural resources of the continent impressed 
the colonists from the earliest days, and the success of the revolution 
strengthened this confidence. Masters of their own future, the men 
of 1783 eagerly looked forward to an era of rapid empire-building. 
In imagination they saw the interior of the continent settled by many 
people and divided into rich and happy states. Already the tide 
of settlement had passed into Kentucky and Tennessee and was 
beginning to penetrate the region north of the Ohio and south of Lake 
Erie. Further south a similar movement was rolling back the forests 
of western Georgia. 

A glance at the early census returns shows how well the hopes of 
the men of 1783 were realized. In 1790 the West, exclusive of Georgia, 
had a population of 109,368, in 1815 the same territory 
contained about 1,600,000 inhabitants ; and in these were j^jgration. 
not included a very numerous migration from the East 
to western New York. This progress was achieved at the expense of 
the older states, which increased in the same period from 3,819,846 
to about 6,800,000 inhabitants. As all Europe was then at war, emi- 
gration to America was inconsiderable, and the rapid gain in Western 
population came chiefly from the older states. The South con- 
tributed its share to Tennessee and Kentucky, and to the region imme- 
diately north of the Ohio. New England was not well adapted to 
agriculture, and stories of the opportunity in the West carried away 
a constant stream of humanity from her farms and villages. New 
England saw their departure with chagrin. The census reports indi- 
cate how disastrous it was for her. The population of Connecticut, 
237,946 in 1790, was only 275,248 in 1820, and the population of Mas- 
sachusetts, exclusive of Maine, grew from 378,787 to 523,287 within 
the same period. Albany was the immediate objective 
of those who migrated, thence they traversed the Mohawk j^^^ york. 
valley to the rich Genesee lands beyond it, and on to the 
lake, which was reached at Buffalo about 1800. In all western New 
York were fertile lands to which the incomers were diverted. They 
soon passed beyond the state's borders, following the shore of the lake 
into northern Ohio, and thence into the much greater forest still farther 

341 



342 SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 

west. While many New Englanders settled in the West by other 
routes, this direct road from Albany to Buffalo, a highway for canal 
and railroad traffic in our own day, was the route by which most of 
the New England life went to its new home in the West. Since the 

Southerners settled largely in the region just north of the 
Two Strata Ohio, it happened that for a long time there existed a clear 
°. °^^u' divergence of ideals between the northern and southern 
West. parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. The advance into 

Georgia was almost entirely Southern, the immigrants 
being from Virginia and the Carolinas. They carried slaves with them, 
and quickly established cotton plantations which became the basis 
of vast wealth. 

The sale of the public lands was closely connected with this progress. 
As long as the settlers were concerned with the Western lands claimed 
by New York, Connecticut, Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia, 

regulations by congress were of no importance ; but be- 
p^hi^*'^ °^ yond these were the rich tracts on the Ohio, for whose 
Lands. disposal a land policy had to be devised. From colonial 

times a usual method of selling public lands was to grant 
them to large companies or rich individuals who could afford to open 
them to settlement and to import European purchasers, if necessary. 
Such a course was less likely to draw off the population from the older 
parts of the country; and for that reason it now commended itself 
to the majority in congress. For this reason large tracts were sold in 
1788 to the Ohio Scioto Companies, and Symmes, a private speculator, 
got another great grant in the same year. These projects were lo- 
cated respectively on the Muskingum, the Scioto, and the Great 
Miami, all more than a hundred miles beyond the point at which the 
Ohio crosses the boundary between Pennsylvania and Ohio. The 
land adjacent to that boundary was to be sold by the government to 
the settlers directly. 

This first plan adopted to sell the latter land, announced in 1785 
and slightly modified in 1787, provided that the region between 

Pennsylvania and the eastern corner of the Ohio Company's 
The Town- ig^nfjg should be surveyed in townships six miles square, 
tern. ^^■ch containing thirty-six sections one mile square, or 

640 acres. The smallest amount to be sold to one buyer 
was to be a section, and sales were to be at auction at the seat of govern- 
ment at not less than one dollar an acre. The sixteenth section of each 

township was to be reserved for schools. In 1787 Ohio 
Settle- ^g^g organized as a territory, with General St. Clair for 

North of governor. When Washington became president, the Ohio 
the Ohio. Company had planted the settlement of Marietta, and 

Symmes that of Cincinnati. The Scioto Company was 
an inflated speculation, and was soon in a collapsed condition. Be- 
tween the Scioto and the Little Miami in a large tract were the mili- 



THE NATIONAL LAND POLICY 343 

tary lands reserved by Virginia for her revolutionary soldiers. In 
1790 nearly 4300 white inhabitants were in the Northwest Terri- 
tory, 1300 of them in and around Cincinnati, 1000 at Marietta, and 
2000 in the country of the Illinois, at Kaskaskia, and on the Wabash. 
Six years later the population of the territory was placed at about 15,000. 

The men of the West freely declared that this slow growth was due 
to the illiberal policy of land sales. The remedy, they said, was to 
make purchases easy to the actual settler. In 1796 they 
got a small concession. Lands might now be sold in sec- ^^"^^^^^ 
tions of 640 acres, at not less than $2 an acre, and land ^g^^ 
offices were to be opened at Pittsburg and Cincinnati. 
As sales did not increase, further relaxation was made in 1800 in a 
law for which William Henry Harrison was chiefly responsible. Four 
additional land offices were opened in Ohio, tracts as small as 320 
acres might be bought, and four years' credit was allowed the purchaser. 
The price remained $2 an acre. This law promoted immigration, as 
was desired. In 1800 the population of Ohio was 45,365, in 1810 it 
was 230,760, and in 1815 it was about 400,000. 

Another result was a vast amount of land speculation, by small 
owners as well as large, who bought on credit, hoping to sell at a profit 
before the last payments were due. The suffering con- 
nected with the war of 1812 caused a collapse of this spec- changes, 
ulation, and in 1820 a new law gave up the credit system 
and provided that small holdings, not less than 80 acres, should be 
sold for cash at not less than $1.25 an acre, which since that time has 
been the minimum price at which the public land has 
been sold. Offering a small farm cheap for cash made it 
possible for any man to acquire a homestead who could pay $100, 
and it favored the rapid settlement of the West. Distribution was 
made still easier by laws of 1830 and 1841 providing that poor persons 
settled on land without title should have a preemptive right to their 
holdings. The next and last step in easy distribution was the home- 
stead act of 1862, for the gift of small farms to actual settlers. The 
provisions mentioned refer to farming lands : since 1820 timber lands 
have brought not less than $2.50, mining lands $5.00, and coal lands 
$10.00 an acre. All these prices were minimums. Early in the cen- 
tury auctions were continually held. As the lands were opened in 
districts and the best offered first, they frequently brought more than 
the minimum. This was particularly true of the cotton lands in Ala- 
bama and Mississippi. 

The Northwest Ordinance, 1787, created the Northwest Territory, 
with governor, council, and judges appointed by congress. 
When it had 5000 free male adult inhabitants a territorial Q^^j^ance 
legislature was to be organized to make local regulations, j^g.^^ 
It was later to be divided into not less than three nor 
more than five territories, and each, when it contained 60,00c 



344 SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 

inhabitants, might be admitted to the union as a state. Slavery, ex- 
cept as punishment for crime, was not to exist in its Hmits. The 
first congress under the constitution confirmed the ordinance and in 
1790 it was adopted for the territory south of the Ohio, with some modi- 
fications, chief of which was that slavery was not forbidden in this 
region. It is the basis of our territorial system. 

In 1800 that part of the Northwest Territory west of a line from 
the mouth of the Kentucky to Fort Recovery and thence north to 

Canada was set aside as Indiana Territory. The eastern 
Territory. P^^^ retained the old name, and in 1803 Ohio was admitted 

to the union, congress agreeing to turn over the school 
lands, one thirty-sixth of the total area, and to pay 3 per cent of the 
proceeds from land sales in the state to the construction of roads. In 

1805 Michigan Territory was organized, and Illinois in 
Territories. 1809. These four states and territories, larger than all the 

Atlantic states north of the Carolinas, had in 1820 a 
population of 792,719, and were receiving an enormous tide of immi- 
gration. Wisconsin became a territory in 1836. As the settlers ad- 
vanced the Indians fell back. Defeated by Wayne in 1794 and dis- 
couraged by the victory of Harrison at the Thames in 18 13, they 
did not resist the encroachments on their domains. In one treaty 
after another they sold their possessions and retired westward. 

South of the Ohio the unsettled region was on the Gulf. The com- 
promise of 1798 (see page 301) was followed by the creation of Missis- 
sippi Territory, between the Chattahoochee and the 
^f^}^^Q% Mississippi, bounded on the north by a line from the mouth 
Region. ^^ ^^^ Yazoo to the Chattahoochee. The lands north of 

this territory were conceded to Georgia. In 1802 a second 
and more extensive agreement was made, by which Georgia ceded to 
the United States her lands beyond her present boundary, receiving 
in return the narrow strip just south of Tennessee, $1,250,000 from the 
proceeds of land sales, and the promise that the national government 
would extinguish the Indian titles in Georgia "as early as the same 
... can be peaceably obtained on reasonable terms." All this 
Territory?" region was now made Mississippi Territory, and congress 

promised to admit it as a state when its population was 
as much as 60,000. Within it were Creek, Chickasaw, and Choctaw 
Indians, the first in what is now Alabama and western Georgia, the 
second and third along the Mississippi. Settlement in the South 
proceeded more slowly than in the North, probably because slavery 
kept back the poorer whites. In the first and second decades under 
the constitution Georgia absorbed most of the migration southward, 
and after 1804 Louisiana received another portion of it. During these 
decades the intervening region, occupied by Indians, was not reached 
by settlers. Jackson's victory over the Creeks, 1814, and the treaty 
which followed, cut a wide zone out of the heart of the Indian country 



INDUSTRL\L DEVELOPMENT 345 

approximately three-fourths of the later state of Alabama, and opened 
it to settlement. The land was very fertile, and sold at auction at 
high prices on credit. A few years later the price of cotton 
fell, and there was much suffering among the incautious ^*^^'d^ 
speculators. But the movement brought in a large settlement, 
number of settlers, and in 1816 Alabama Territory was cut 
off from Mississippi. The settlement of this region increased the demand 
for slaves, prices rose, and spite of the law of 1807 against importations 
a great deal of smuggling followed in the Gulf region. In 1800 Missis- 
sippi Territory had 8850 inhabitants, in 1810 it had 40,352, and in 
1820 it had 75,448. In 1820 Alabama had a population of 127,901. 
The former became a state in 1817, the latter in 18 19. 

Meanwhile, the west bank of the Mississippi was yielding to civiliza- 
tion. In 1805 congress created the Territories of Orleans and Loui- 
siana, respectively, south and north of the thirty-third de- 
gree, the seat of power of one being New Orleans and of ^°"^^.°^ 
the other St. Louis. They grew moderately. In 1810 gouri. 
Orleans had 76,556 inhabitants and in 181 2 was admitted 
to the union as Louisiana. At the same time Louisiana Territory 
changed its name to Missouri. Thus by the end of the period under 
consideration, 1 783-181 5, the vast Western region had been staked out 
for the reception of a great number of inhabitants as far as the western 
limit of the rich strip bordering the Mississippi, and just beyond Lake 
Michigan in the extreme Northwest. It was not until near the middle 
of the century that more westerly limits were staked out. 

Industrial Development 

In the West, as in the older states, the chief industry was farming. 
Raising food for the inhabitants themselves was the first necessity of 
colonies and frontier settlements. Beyond this they had 
supplies for the outside world, sending them down rivers ^^'tJJg^^aj 
to the Atlantic seaboard or to the Gulf port of New Orleans j^ Europe, 
from the Mississippi valley. The acquisition of Louisiana 
gave a great stimulus to the latter region, because it opened to unques- 
tioned use the great river across which Spain's hand in one way or 
another was generally placed in restraint of our trade. The years 
under consideration saw the rapid advance of manufactures in Eng- 
land, which raised the price of English wheat and made it more profit- 
able for Americans to send their grain abroad. Then came the long 
period of European war, lessening the foreign food supply and drawing 
on the American market at favorable prices. Spite of restrictions on 
the carrying trade our exports of food products grew steadily. 

But the most advance in American agriculture was in cotton produc- 
tion. The interior parts of the South were not adapted to rice, sugar, 
or tobacco. Cotton they could raise, but the removal of the seed 
was slow and expensive. In 1793 Eli Whitney, a native of Massa- 



346 SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 

chusetts, a graduate of Yale, and for a time a schoolmaster near 
Savannah, invented the cotton gin, next to McCormick's reaper the 
most important agricultural machine now in use. It 
The Cotton g^yg g^ great impetus to cotton raising. From North 
Carolina southward was an immense region, not well suited 
to wheat production or grazing, and destined to slow development had 
not this invention opened another possibility. As it was, the road to 
wealth became suddenly broad and plain. Cotton was worth forty- 
five cents a pound in England, and the recent development of spinning 
and weaving there had made it possible to supply the world with great 
quantities of cloth. In 1791 only 38 bales of cotton, of the modern 
standard size, 500 pounds each, were exported from the United States. 
In 1809 the whole crop was 218,723 bales, and in 1816 cotton exported 
was worth $24,106,000 and was by far our most valuable single export. 
At that time the price was twenty-eight cents a pound. 

The production of cotton stimulated the spread of slavery in the 
interior parts of the South. Vast areas of cheap land awaited cultiva- 
tion for a crop yielding a ready money return, and the 
Cotton an ^^^^ ^^^j, ^^^ labor. White men might have worked 
them, but it was easier and quicker to employ slaves. 
Besides, the social system already established in the South looked to 
the creation of estates, not to a mass of small farmers ; and for the 
maintenance of estates a permanent laboring class was necessary. In 
a new country, where the free laborer became a landowner with facil- 
ity, slave labor was the only certain form of a permanent laboring 
class. Thus, the introduction of cotton farming on a large scale, just 
when slavery seemed in a way to be extinguished (see page 350), har- 
dened the grasp of the institution on the far South, and checked the 
growth of antislavery sentiment, then very strong, in the non-cotton- 
raising slave states, Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. 

Before the adoption of the constitution the state of our commerce 
was confused, and statistics for it are unsatisfactory. In 1790 the 
exports were worth $19,000,000. The war which soon 
began in Europe stimulated our commerce both by raising 
the price of products abroad and by making our merchants the pur- 
chasers of the products of the French, Spanish, and Dutch colonies, 
products reexported to Europe at a good profit. This colonial trade 
was so profitable that complaint was made that it seriously injured 
other industry by drawing to itself all the available capital in the 
country. By 1795 our total foreign exports reached $67,000,000, of 
which $26,000,000 were reexported products. The colonial trade was 
irregular, but it rose generally, until in 1806 it reached a maximum at 
$59,640,000, while the exports of domestic origin were then less than 
$49,000,000. After that came restrictive measures at home and 
abroad which reduced the total exports to an average of about $33,000,- 
000. There was much speculation connected with commerce in its 



COMMERCE AND FISHERIES 347 

prosperous years, and the influence was probably bad. Merchants 
took chances in whatever field seemed to offer opportunity, and ex- 
pected to recoup themselves by one lucky stroke for the loss through 
an unlucky one. 

This rise in commerce was accompanied by similar progress in navi- 
gation. Before the revolution more American ships were engaged in 
the trade with the West Indies than in that with the British 
ports in Europe. After the revolution the West Indian shi^oinT 
trade was lost on account of the navigation laws, which 
induced congress to establish restrictions of its own. In 17S9 and 1790 
it enacted discriminating duties in behalf of American ships, and the 
consequent increase in American tonnage was so rapid that the British 
shipowners were in consternation. Foreign traders then employed 
41.19 per cent of all the tonnage engaged in our trade. It fell slowly, 
until in 1795 it was only 9.7 per cent ; and from that time until the war 
of 1S12 its highest proportion was 17.2 per cent. Meanwhile, our 
actual tonnage grew, until in 1807 it was eight times as great as in 
1789. After that it decreased under the operation of our various 
restrictive acts, but it recovered after the war, and in 181 6 was 77.48 
per cent of all the tonnage engaged in our foreign trade. The 
statistics available show that far the larger part of this tonnage was 
American built. 

The fisheries also demanded governmental assistance. In colonial 
days they yielded great profits and were encouraged by the mother 
country as a breeding source of seamen. The treaty of 1 783 
guaranteed the American fishermen the right to fish on pjsheries 
the Banks, and in territorial waters as well, but did not allow 
them to dry fish on any but unsettled shores. Whatever advan- 
tage lay in this was later neutralized by restrictions passed in England 
forbidding the importation of the product of foreign fisheries and by 
English bounties to fishermen. Loud complaints now arose from the 
whale and cod fishers of America. Deprived of their best market, they 
petitioned congress for aid, and so much was it felt that our own nurs- 
eries of the sea should be sustained that one of the first steps taken 
by congress under the constitution was to allow a drawback on 
fish exported equal to the duty on the salt used in curing them. In 
1792 the law went farther, and awarded a bounty in money to persons 
engaged in cod fishing. Under its operation the industry revived and 
became prosperous. 

The embargo, the subsequent restrictions, and the war which 
followed again checked the fisheries, to the great satisfaction of the 
Canadians, who resented having to share the inshore 
fishing with the Americans. In their behalf the British i^.^? . 

. . . X* 18x161*165 

government, in making the treaty of Ghent, sought to with- ^j^gj. ^g^-^ 

hold the right. It held that the war ended the treaty 

grants of 1783, and would not yield them again unless we allowed 



348 SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 

British, subjects to navigate the Mississippi. To tliis Clay, one of the 
negotiators, objected so stoutly that the treaty as finally made was 
silent on each question. It was, however, agreed that later negotia- 
tions should settle the fisheries question. With the return of peace 
Americans appeared in their old haunts only to be warned off by armed 
vessels. They might fish, they were told, on the Banks, but they would 
not be allowed within territorial waters. Then came negotiations, 
the upshot of which was provisions in the convention of 1818 that 
our fishermen might take fish off the Magdalen Islands, in the Gulf 
of St. Lawrence, and along the most unsettled shores of Newfoundland 
and Labrador, with the privilege of curing fish and getting certain 
necessary supplies in uninhabited parts. On this basis the fisheries 
continued with a restricted prosperity. 

The years immediately following the revolution saw a sad disorder 
in the currency. Exports were relatively small and much of the 
foreign specie which had come into the country in the 
The Cur- channels of trade was drained out to pay balances. Seven 
states sought to remedy the deficiency by a return to paper 
money, or state notes, a form of currency forbidden in the constitu- 
tion soon to be adopted. In 1791 a national bank was created with 
a capital stock of $10,000,000. Its notes were issued cautiously, and 
were gladly received everywhere. Its power to present for redemption 
the notes of state banks enabled it to check overissue by such banks. 
Thus the paper currency was sound until the charter of the bank ex- 
pired in 181 1. The bank asked for a continuation of its existence, 
but the republican majority was very hostile, and would not even allow 
an extension to wind up its affairs. Then a swarm of state banks 
sprang up, each issuing its notes without restraint. The government 
was soon at war, and, anxious to get money of any kind, 
Distress in g^ye its bonds for these insecure overissues, and received 
18^2. ° them for its dues, with the result that it lost $5,000,000 in 
the process. In 181 1 there were 88 state banks with a 
total circulation of $22,700,000: in 1816 there were 246, with circu- 
lation of $68,000,000. This alarming inflation led to the incorpora- 
tion of the second United States bank, 1816, and by 1820 the circula- 
tion of the state banks had fallen to $40,641,574. In the panic which 
followed the capture of Washington, 18 14, all the banks south of New 
England suspended specie payment and did not resume until 181 7. 
During the war of 1812 $36,680,000 of treasury notes were issued, 
nearly half of which was outstanding at the end of 181 5. 

The last quarter of the eighteenth century brought a great revolu- 
tion in the world's manufactures. Before that time weav- 
New Era in -j^g^ spinning, nail-making, and most everything else was 
factures. done by hand in the homes of cottagers. But beginning 
with Hargreaves's spinning jenny, 1764, several inven- 
tions led to the power loom, by which the textile industry was shifted 



BEGINNING OF MANUFACTURES 349 

from the cottages of the operatives to the factory of the great manu- 
facturer. The same thing happened in other Hnes, and the result 
was the factory system, with its large outlay of capital and its peculiar 
relation of employer and employees. This process was first established 
in England, and it was well developed by 1800. 

For a time no response to this English development was seen in 
American industry. There was from colonial days a good deal of man- 
ufacturing of the old kind, ironware, hats, shoes, nails, 
and farm implements being some of the notable products, r?^^ 
The lack of capital, the profits of agriculture, and the abil- factures in 
ity of British manufacturers to undersell served to delay the America, 
introduction of the new system. But spite of the difficulties, 
some advance was made. In 1 793, the year Whitney invented the cotton 
gin, Samuel Slater, in partnership with Moses Brown, set up at Paw- 
tucket, Rhode Island, the first successful cotton factory in the United 
States. It was supplied with machinery of the British design, and its 
example was imitated in many other places, although the enterprises 
struggled along with many drawbacks. 

In 1807 began the restrictions of the importation of British mer- 
chandise, lasting in one form or another until the war, which, with 
the blockade that followed it, effectually shut out foreign 
goods. Thus for eight years the American manufacturers Influence of 
had the home market to themselves. The result was a jjargo and 
marvelous rise in manufacturing. In 1807 the cotton the War. 
industry employed 8000 spindles, two years later it had 
80,000; and similar progress was made in other lines. Among all 
classes spread an enthusiasm for articles made in America, and poli- 
ticians wishing to be popular appeared on public occasions in homespun 
clothes. Since the failure in commerce resulted in much unemployed 
capital and labor in the seacoast region of New England, it was here 
that manufactures gained most rapidly. The proverbial Yankee 
skill with machinery and the hard conditions of farming added to the 
stimulus. At the close of the war New England supplied 
a large part of the country's merchandise, and the agri- ??®*^*^ °^ 
cultural South was sending thither $6,000,000 a year to facturingon 
settle balances for goods purchased at higher prices than it society, 
formerly paid abroad. It seemed to the federalists a just 
retribution that they who forced the war on the country should thus 
be made to feel one of its burdens. The rise of manufactures created 
a new class of rich men, less prominent in social and business matters 
than the old aristocracy of commerce. Between the two classes there 
followed sharp dissensions, but the manufacturers had greater natural 
strength than their rivals, and with the aid of a protective tariff gained 
so rapidly in wealth that ten years after the war they dominated the 
policy of the government in relation to business. 



350 SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 

Slavery Made Sectional 

In 1776 slavery existed in all the states. Many of the colonists 
wished to arrest its spread, but the British merchants protested, and the 
king vetoed the restrictive colonial laws. The colonists 
The Slave resented his action, and seized the first opportunity to act 
Revotudo^n-^ for themselves. In the "Association" of 1774 slave im- 
ary Period, portations were forbidden, the first congress after inde- 
pendence reasserted the restriction, and for the rest of the 
revolution the trade was checked. After the war commerce generally 
was controlled by the states, all of which but those in the far South 
forbade the slave trade. There were vast unsettled regions in the 
Carolinas and Georgia, and it was thought they must have negroes 
to develop them. But even here the advocates of restriction won, and 
by 1798 each of these states had forbidden further importations. The 
constitution, it will be remembered, declared that congress could 
not prohibit the trade before 1808. 

Meanwhile, a movement for emancipation had swept over the 

entire North. In this section were few slaves, and the opponents of 

the institution needed only to organize the non-slavehold- 

Emancipa- ers, a large majority, to carry laws for emancipation. 

tioninthe Vermont led the way in 1777 by declaring slavery illegal 

J* TT in the bill ot rights incorporated in her constitution, and 
under C-on- 1 • i- 1 1 • i • • en 

stitutional New Hampshire did the same in the constitution 01 1784. 

Provisions; In each State the few slaveholders could only convert 
their slaves into servants for wages or sell them out of 
the reach of the state's jurisdiction. The Massachusetts constitu- 
tion of 1780 declared that "all men are born free and equal," and in 
1783 the court in a test case held that this annulled a master's right to 
the labor of his slave. Thus in three states the institution passed 
quietly out of existence. 

In others the cause of freedom encountered greater opposition, but 
its advocates had recourse to the legislatures. Their request for eman- 
cipation by state statutes was met with argument that 
to free the slaves was to confiscate property. After 
struggles of varying length, they carried each Northern state but one 
for gradual emancipation, which meant that slave children born after 
the enactment of the said statutes should be free on reaching a specified 
age, usually twenty-five years. The first victory of this kind was in 
Pennsylvania, chiefly through the efforts of the Quakers ; and it came 
in 1780. Connecticut and Rhode Island followed in 1784, New York 
in 1799, and New Jersey in i8oa. The men of New York were not 
satisfied with their achievement, and in 181 7, when the power of the 
slaveholders was much weakened, a law was carried for complete 
emancipation after 1827. Delaware alone of the Northern states re- 
tained slavery, and here it was safe until the end of the civil war. 



OPPOSITION CHECKED IN THE SOUTH 351 

The movement for freedom was felt south of the Mason and 
Dixon line and was strong in Virginia, where Jefferson, Washington, 
and many other leading men wished to rid the state of 
an unprofitable form of labor and of the presence of an The Eman- 
alien and undeveloped element of the population. But "p^**^'^ 
here was encountered a more serious obstacle than had yet faUsinthe 
appeared. The small proportion of blacks in the North South, 
involved no menace to the civilization there, were they 
slave or free. But the people of Virginia knew not what to do with a 
great mass of freed blacks. To leave them masters of their own actions 
in the white population seemed to invite trouble, and to send them to 
Africa, which many thought the only proper accompaniment of eman- 
cipation, was so expensive that it was out of the question. These 
objections proved fatal to the efforts of the more far-seeing ones ; and 
thus it happened that two plans for abolishing slavery, one announced 
in 1779 and the other in 1796, were found impracticable. At this 
time the invention of the cotton gin had begun to have its effect on 
slavery, making a great demand for slaves in the states to the south- 
ward and raising the prices of them to such a point that masters felt 
a growing unwillingness to part with such an important source of 
wealth. Thus the seaboard states settled down to a free and a slave 
section, a basis of opposition in interest which proved very fruitful 
of later conflict. West of the mountains the same principle was 
followed. By the Northwest Ordinance the Ohio divided slavery 
from freedom between the Mississippi and the Alleghanies. Then 
came the Missouri Compromise line for the Louisiana purchase ; but 
eventually the matter no longer admitted of compromise. 

From the beginning of the national government the South feared 
the North would use her position in the union to restrict slavery. 
There was warm debate when in the first congress petitions 
for restrictions of the slave trade came from abolitionists, congress" 
The result was the adoption of a set of resolutions guaran- 
teeing that slavery should be left to the jurisdiction of the states and 
that the slave trade should be undisturbed before 1808. In 1793 a 
fugitive slave law was passed. It gave the master the right to recover 
an absconding slave by proving ownership before a magistrate without 
jury or ordinary forms of law. The law was hard on the 
slave, but it was necessary from his owners' standpoint, y %, ^" 
To provide otherwise would enable the slave to have the l^^^ ^^g^ 
trial postponed, at heavy expense to the claimant, who 
might at last lose the suit through the sympathy of a Northern jury. 
On the other hand, it left the disposition of the freedom of a human 
being to the irresponsible decision of the lowest rank of courts, a thing 
not ordinarily allowed in the pettiest property suits. Later it was 
charged that unprincipled men, by bribing some magistrates, carried 
away to slavery negroes who were unquestionably free. The reflec- 



352 SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 

tion of the historian on this matter is that slavery at its best was an 
unhappy relation, involving hardship in its primary and secondary rela- 
tions, and supporting itself by destroying the commonest personal rights. 
For some years after 1793 the question was not discussed in congress. 
The Haytian insurrection of 1791 was accompanied by murder and 

outrage, and a spasm of terror shot through the South and 
Revived North at the thought of what might happen in our own 
for°Siaves in ^^^^ ^^ slaves once began to strike for freedom. By gen- 
the South, eral consent it was thought well to let the subject alone. 

But the approach of 1808, when the foreign slave trade 
might be forbidden, reminded the South that it must act at once if 
it recruited its slave supply before the doors were closed to importation. 
In 1803, therefore, South Carolina repealed her law against the slave 
trade. This brought protests from the North, and futile efiforts were 
made to get congress to lay an importation tax of ten dollars a head on 
slaves. In 1806 Jefferson, always an enemy of slavery, took up the 
cause, recommending congress to pass a law to prohibit the foreign 
slave trade after January i, 1808. 

The suggestion was acceptable to congress, but it was hard to agree 
upon details, the greatest difficulty being the disposal of slaves illegally 

brought in. To return them to Africa was impossible, the 
Importa- suggestion that they be liberated in the place of capture 
bidden. was resented by the Southerners, who would not have 

free negroes among them, and the idea that they be sold 
by the government was rejected by Northerners, since it made the 
federal government party to slave selling and but increased the South 's 
number of slaves. After much discussion it was decided that such 
slaves should be turned over to the state in which they were seized, 
to be disposed of as it chose. The captured slave dealer should forfeit 
ship and cargo, be fined from one to ten thousand dollars, and be im- 
prisoned from five to ten years. To prevent irregularities, it was also 
ordered that in the future the coastwise interstate slave trade 
should be limited to vessels of forty or more tons and that the slaves 
thus carried should be registered. The act of 1807 was to go into 
force with the beginning of the following year. It was frequently 

violated. Slave prices now became higher than ever, and 
mugg ng. adventurous slavers took cargoes into the isolated bays 
and rivers of the unwatched coast, where the planters, ever anxious to 
get slaves, were as reticent as the smugglers. 

Religious Development after the Revolution 

The English Church was established by law in Maryland, Virginia, 
and North and South Carolina, although it had a real hold on the 
people only in Virginia and South Carolina. In Massachusetts, 
Connecticut, and New Hampshire the Puritan form of religion was 



THE RELIGION OF THE PEOPLE 353 

established by law. Only Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Rhode 
Island bad no state church. But the war brought a spirit of reli* 
gious liberty, and at its end every establishment except 
those of New England was swept away. The clergy of J^^I^f^u^ 
the English Church in America, bound by strongest ties ushments. 
to the royal prerogative, had been generally loyal to the 
crown. Most of them had left the country with the other tories, and 
the old church, discredited by its opposition to the revolution, was in 
a state of disintegration, a condition which afforded excellent oppor- 
tunity for the dissenting churches to gather up the scattered frag- 
ments. 

The first to take advantage of the situation were the Methodists, 
who appeared in the colonies about 1760. Their preaching was 
popular, and their followers, though formed into "socie- 
ties," were first considered members of the English Church. Me^thodists. 
When that church was prostrate on account of the revolu- 
tion, the "societies" appealed to Wesley, the father of the Methodist 
movement, who in 1784 advised them to unite in one body, with su- 
perintendents, who later were called bishops, and a system of church 
government, called "the discipline." The result was the organization 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Baltimore during the Christmas 
holidays, 1784. The world has rarely seen a more zealous body of 
leaders than the itinerant preachers who now began to penetrate to 
the remotest settlements, kindling the imagination of the masses by 
fervid appeals to the conscience, protraying the effects of irreligion, 
and exalting the power of the spirit. Their most prominent leader 
was Francis Asbury, a man of heroic zeal, aptly compared by his 
followers with that other Francis, who in the thirteenth century filled 
Europe with the echoes of his good deeds. In New England, where 
Congregationalism was firmly rooted, the results were comparatively 
small ; but in the Middle states and the South, and particularly in the 
new communities of the West and Southwest, they had wonderful 
success and made themselves a powerful agency in the lives of the 
people. 

Meanwhile the older non-episcopal churches extended their influence. 
Most numerous, perhaps, were the Baptists, who were especially 
strong in the South Atlantic states. In colonial times ^^^ 
they were generally Calvinists. Their government was Baptists. 
congressional and they were not held together in a general 
organization. But the renewed religious life around them, together 
with the common impulse toward union which came from the forma- 
tion of a national government, led to the organization of a general 
convention in 1814. One of the chief objects of this movement was 
to promote missions, a thing to which those who held to the older forms 
objected so strenuously that they gradually withdrew from the con- 
vention. The seceders called themselves Primitive Baptists, while 



354 SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 

the others, a more numerous group, were called Missionary Baptists, in 
contrast. It was a time of general religious activity, and resulted 
in renewed prosperity of the Presbyterian, Lutheran, Quaker, and 

other organizations, and several newer bodies, the results 
Ch^^'^h ^^ separating impulses, now came into existence. The 

Reman Catholics, at first strong in Maryland, and 
planted in every large seacoast town, also began to increase in 
numbers, chiefly through the accession of immigrants, many of whom 
were from Ireland. In this manner did the leaven of nationality work 
in the creation of a strong native American movement for the estab- 
lishment of the American type of religion. 

All this had its effect on the English Church in America. Threat- 
ened with extermination through the failure of its connection with the 

Church of England, it began soon after the revolution to 
The Prot- reorganize itself on an American basis. Its first need was 
estant Epis- g^ national organization, something it could not have in a 
Church system which had for cardinal doctrine the ecclesiastical 

Organized, supremacy of the English king. All efforts to secure the 

creation of an American episcopate had failed before the 
revolution, but peace was hardly made before they were renewed. 
At last Samuel Seabury, of Connecticut, was in 1784 consecrated 
bishop of Connecticut by three non-juring bishops in Scotland. Then 
the British parliament gave way, and by act allowed the archbishops 
of Canterbury and York to consecrate, in 1786, two American bishops, 
and three years later these, with Seabury, completed in Philadelphia 
the organization of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United 
States. As the survivor of the English establishment, it had much 
dignity in the new nation and embraced in its membership a large pro- 
portion of the men of influence outside of New England, while the 
Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian churches took place as the great 
popular religious bodies. 

Although Puritanism maintained formal hold on New England, it 
was internally at the point of disintegration. Of its three factions, 

these who held to strict Calvinism, and the "Hopkinsans," 
The Con- ^j^q were followers of Jonathan Edwards, and promoted 
aUsts. '°°~ missions and revivals, considered themselves more orthodox 

than the third party, who were soon to be called Uni- 
tarians. This third group was strong in the Boston churches and 
among the wealthier class on the seaboard. They opposed revivals 
and questioned so many of the orthodox principles that men began to 
ask, "Shall we have the Boston religion, or the Christian religion?" 
The controversy became warm in 181 5 when it was known that leaders 
of the party corresponded with the English Unitarians. The result 
was a separation in many of the older churches and the open avowal 
of Unitarian doctrines. The most eminent leader of the movement 
was William EUery Channing, of Boston. In 1825 the American Uni- 



PURITANISM WEAKENING 355 

tarian Association was founded with general oversight of the move- 
ment. In the struggle against the Unitarians the two older factions 
drew closer together, merged their doctrinal differences in a system 
which became known as the New England Theology, and established 
in 1 80S Andover Seminary as the nourishing center of the faith. 
Long before this the New England churches had been called "Con- 
gregational," to distinguish them from other churches. The term 
became of special significance in the West, where the large body of 
New Englanders, planting their own religion, was thrown into con- 
tact with other strong organizations. True to the congregational 
form of government, they had no general law-making authority, but 
their great common undertakings, as home and foreign missions, 
were committed to general boards, which gave cohesion to the com- 
mon movement. 

One other reform needed to be made to modernize the religious life 
of New England : it must accept disestablishment, already existing 
in Rhode Island and in the Middle and Southern states. 
Episcopalians, Baptists, Methodists, and every other in- pisestab- 
dependent church, and eventually the Unitarians, de- ^^^^J^ 
manded a change. Defenders of the "Standing Order," jand. 
as the old system was called, pronounced the demand 
irreligious and asserted that the power of truth against the reign of 
evil would be destroyed if the state, by means of the public taxes, 
ceased to support an orthodox and fearless clergy. As Jefferson was 
the leader of disestablishment in the South, his political party, 
the republicans, became defenders of liberalism in New England. 
Similarly the Standing Order, that is, the town clergy, were stout 
federalists. The battle was hard, but the orthodox party was worsted. 
The first relaxation was a compromise, following a line which had 
appeared in the colonial struggle between Puritans and Episcopalians. 
It was provided that members of a dissenting church might be relieved 
from taxes to support religion if they presented certificates that they 
supported their own organizations. This did not benefit those who 
were members of no church, and it was resented by all who believed 
in the separation of church and state as a principle. So the struggle 
went on until the liberals triumphed in state after state. Vermont 
led the way and adopted complete separation in 1807; Connecticut 
followed in 1818, New Hampshire in 1819, Maine in 1820, the year 
she secured statehood, and Massachusetts after a long struggle in 1834. 

Exploration in the Far West 

Although the Mississippi was our western boundary in 1783, we 
could not but be interested in the vast region beyond it. Owned by 
Spain, as it was, its Indians might be a menace in war or a source of 
profitable trade in peace. For many years our sole information about 



356 SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 

them came from chance travelers and traders, and Jefferson, soon after 
he became president projected an expedition which should secure 

more reliable intelligence and establish, if possible, friendly 
rf^n"*^ relations with the Indians of the plains. Congress con- 
patched, senting. Captain Meriwether Lewis and Lieutenant 

William Clark, with 43 men, soldiers and others, began to 
ascend the Missouri on a voyage which was to make them famous. By 
this time Louisiana had been purchased, and their exploration had thus 
acquired added significance. They went into winter quarters near 
the present town of Bismarck, North Dakota, where they met a squaw, 
the "Bird Woman," formerly captured from the mountain tribes, 
who with her husband agreed to accompany them. 

In the spring they proceeded to the mountains, encountering many 
difficulties of a physical nature. Here the savages avoided them 

until it was discovered that the chief of the tribe was 
Their Dis- brother of the "Bird Woman." Guides were now fur- 
Oregon, nished, with whose aid the explorers reached the tributaries 

of the Columbia. Building canoes in the Indian fashion 
they embarked, and November 7, 1805, reached the mouth of the river, 
the Pacific ocean before them. The neighboring tribes were hardly 
friendly, but the explorers built a fort for the winter, claiming the 
country in behalf of their government. Next spring they returned 
with many difficulties to the East, exploring, after they crossed the 
mountains, the Yellowstone river and other tributaries of the Mis- 
souri. They were men of intelligence, and their narrative of travel, 
though full of the irregular spelling of the day, has come to be con- 
sidered a classic among American books of exploration. Their dis- 
covery furnished the most important basis of our claim to Oregon. 

Another famous explorer of this period was Lieutenant Zebulon 
Pike. In 1805 he explored the headwaters of the Mississippi, seeking 

its source. He encountered many hardships in a winter 
Pike s Two JQ^j-ngy a^nd was forced to accept hospitality from agents 

of the British Northwest Company, who were illegally 
trading within our boundaries. The frozen condition of streams 
rendered his conclusions about the headwaters of the great river un- 
reliable. He was back at St. Louis in April, 1806, and in the following 
August set out to explore the Arkansas and the Southwest. He 
reached the Rocky mountains and penetrated them near the peak 
which bears his name. His object is not definitely known, but it is 
supposed that he intended to reach the Rio Grande and examine the 
country east of it, which we claimed under the Louisiana purchase. 
It was a great task, and he lost his way, suffered much from hunger 
and cold, and at last fell into the hands of Spanish soldiers, who relieved 
his wants, conducted him in a roundabout way through Texas, and 
finally set him at liberty on the Louisiana border. Some of his follow- 
ers were never heard of after they left him in an independent attempt 



POWER OF THE SUPREME COURT 357 

to return home. Pike published an interesting and very popular ac- 
count of his travels. He was a brave man and rapidly rose to dis- 
tinction in the war of 181 2 until he met his death as brigadier general 
at the capture of York, in 1813. His explorations in the Southwest 
and those of Lewis and Clark in the Northwest appealed to the 
American imagination and stimulated powerfully the desire to own 
and settle the Far West. 

Early Constitutional Interpretation 

The makers of the constitution expressed its meaning as clearly as 
the limitation of language and the necessity of compromise per- 
mitted. But however clear its meaning, it was to be ex- 
pected that congress, president, and the states themselves '^^^ Func- 
would construe their rights under the new instrument, supr^j^/ 
each to its own advantage. The arbiter between such con- court, 
tending interpretations was the supreme court, endowed 
with the power to pass on cases arising under the constitution. It 
could thus decide whether or not congress, state, or president im- 
properly read the charter of government, and its decision was final. If 
a question arose of its own power under the constitution, the court 
passed on this also. Since final power must rest somewhere, it was, 
perhaps, best to leave it with a small body of learned and unprejudiced 
men. But many people of the day did not readily accept this view. 
The three great spheres of government, they said, should be mutually 
coordinate, and apparently it was so intended by the fathers. 
Nothing short of a constitutional amendment could settle the dispute 
clearly, and in default of that the court asserted final jurisdiction in 
the matter under consideration. 

At first the supreme court was not inclined to assert its powers, 
partly because the judges were naturally cautious and partly because 
they wished to avoid exciting criticism in the early years 
of the union. But its attitude changed when, in 1801, The In- 
John Marshall, of Virginia, became chief justice. This tq^q*^^ ° 
strong-willed and aggressive man, who believed the union Marshall, 
ought to have the necessary power to execute its will, 
was the controlling personality on the supreme bench from his appoint- 
ment until his death in 1835. By his strong mind and character he 
won to his views the associate justices, even the appointees of the re- 
publican presidents, and laid down a large body of precedent on the 
loose-construction theory of the constitution. "He was born," said 
Pinkney, of Maryland, "to be chief justice of any country in which 
he lived." 

His first important decision of this nature was in the case of Mar- 
bury vs. Madison. February 13, 1801, the federalists, about to relin- 
quish power, created sixteen new federal judges, with the ordinary 



358 SOCI.\L DEVELOPMENT 

complement of marshals and clerks of court. The law was de- 
nounced as unnecessary and as an attempt to fill the courts with 
federalists before the republicans took control, and one 

Madison "^ *~*^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ *^^ ^^^ ^^^ administration was to get the 
j8q^_ ' law repealed. The original bill was passed so hurriedly 

that Adams was not able to appoint and install the new 
officials ere he gave up his power. WTien the new secretary of state 
took office, many of the commissions were found in the office undelivered ; 
and Jefferson, holding that an appointment was not complete until the 
commission was signed, sealed, and delivered, ordered that the commis- 
sions should be withheld. He thought an appointment followed the 
procedure of a deed. Marbury asked the supreme court to issue a 
mandamus for the delivery of one of these commissions, and the matter 
was argued in the supreme court. Marshall, who gave the opinion, held 
that since the supreme court by the constitution did not have original 
jurisdiction in such a case, Marbury had no right to bring suit in that 
tribunal. This ordinarily would have ended the matter, but he went 
on to say, and it was an obiter dictum, that a commission was not anal- 
ogous to a deed, that Madison had no right to withhold one duly signed, 
and that Marbury, if he had brought suit in proper form, would be 
entitled to his office. The republicans denounced this decision as 
partisan. But it had a still wider significance. Congress had pre- 
viously passed a law giving the court the right to issue a mandamus, 
and it was under that act that the suit was brought. In declaring the 
contrary, therefore, the court had annulled a law of congress, and this 
is the chief constitutional import of the decision. 

In Fletcher vs. Peck the act of a state legislature was in question. 
The assembly of Georgia had granted certain lands, and afterwards 

declared the grant null on account of fraud. Peck claimed 
Pe^ck 1810 ^^^^ under this annulled grant and brought suit in the 

federal courts, urging that Georgia had violated the clause 
of the constitution which forbids a state to pass a law "impairing the 
obligation of a contract.'" Georgia put herself on her sovereignty 
and replied that a land grant, made by the state in the disposal of its 
domain, was not a contract. The court held, Marshall giving the 
decision, that a grant is a contract and that the attempt of Georgia to 
repeal the grant was illegal. Here the court declared unconstitutional 
an act of a state legislature. But now appeared a difficulty which has 
since then limited the power of the court. Who was to execute the 
decision of the court against a state ? Ordinarily it would be the presi- 
dent, but if he thought it advisable to decline to act, there was no 
power to compel him. This happened to the decision in Fletcher vs. 
Peck. Georgia thus defied the court, and the only way out of the diffi- 
culty was the compromise, made in 1814, in which congress by pay- 
ing money salved the feelings of the claimants under the Georgia 
grants. 



Mcculloch vs. Maryland 359 

These two decisions, it will be seen, were aimed at two doctrines 
dear to the heart of the republicans. In the first it was held that the 
popular will as expressed in a congressional law must be 
restrained by the constitution: in the second the doc- Political As- 
trine of state sovereignty was shorn of some of its power ; o^Jcisions^. 
for Georgia's claim that the people of a state acting through 
the legislature were sovereign in state affairs was made to yield to the 
supremacy of the federal constitution. The supreme court, under 
Marshall's leadership, was intent on establishing this general view, and 
after the war of 1812 proceeded to do so in several other important 
cases. Two of them are especially significant, and both were decided 
in 1819. 

First came McCuUoch vs. Maryland, relating to the power of con- 
gress under the "implied powers" clause of the constitution, article I, 
section 8. Much popular opposition existed to the bank 
of the United States, and several states passed laws to McCulloch 
tax its notes, one of them being Maryland. The bank re- i*jj^ ^^~ 
sisted the taxes, and the matter came before the supreme 
court. Two questions arose: Has congress power to create a 
bank ? and have the states power to tax a bank, if created ? Mar- 
shall answered the first in the broadest possible manner. The govern- 
ment, he said, has all the power implied in the act of its creation: 
"Let the end be legitimate, let it be within the scope of the constitu- 
tion, and all means which are appropriate, which are plainly adapted 
to that end, which are not prohibited but consistent with the letter 
and spirit of the constitution, are constitutional." If congress 
should pass a law which by the constitution it may not pass, the court 
would declare that law of no effect ; but if the court pretended to annul 
a law of congress made in the field proper to the activity of congress, 
the court would by that action enter the field of law-making, a thing 
it had no right to do. As the creation of a bank was not prohibited 
to congress, and as a bank was a thing useful in the happy and pros- 
perous government of the nation, the court must hold that it was 
within the power of the national legislature to establish it. As for 
the second question, the right of a state to tax the bank, that was also 
opposed ; for if a small tax could be laid, a large one could also be laid, 
and thus the bank, lawful in itself, could be taxed out of existence. 
"The power to tax," said Marshall in words long remembered, "in- 
volves the power to destroy." 

The second great case decided in 1819, and nearly as important as 
the McCulloch case, was Dartmouth College vs. Wood- 
ward. The New Hampshire legislature, in response to '^^^ Dart- 
the political feeling of the day, wished to get control of J^g^ cas?" 
the college and amended its charter with that end in igig. 
view and against the protest of the college authorities. Suit 
was brought, and the case went before the supreme court, Webster, 



36o SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 

a Dartmouth alumnus, appearing among the lawyers for the college. 
Is a charter granted to a corporation inviolate by the legislature ? was 
the question. The court held that a charter is a contract and not to 
be recalled by the legislature provided the grantee observes the con- 
ditions on which it was granted. The decision became a precedent in 
all cases arising under acts of incorporation, a large part of modern 
law. Under it banks, manufacturing, and many other kinds of cor- 
porate companies have insisted that they could not be disturbed in 
their business relations. As Marshall laid down the principle, the com- 
I)anies seem to have had absolute immunity from interference, a posi- 
tion quite contrary to modern ideas that corporations should be under 
state control. This difficulty has been obviated by several subsequent 
decisions by which it is held that a legislature may modify a charter 
under the exercise of the police power, under its right to pass laws for 
good morals, and on other grounds. These later decisions have 
greatly modified the force of Marshall's ruling, but in ordinary cases 
that rule still remains the great principle for the government of 
corporations. It was, when made, a direct blow at the assumed right 
of a state to limit the action of an individual through the exercise of 
its sovereign power over him. 

These decisions were received with indignation by the ultra repub- 
licans. Victorious in the elections, masters of the executive and 

legislative parts of government, they writhed to see the ju- 
Significance diciary annul the will of the people as expressed in the elec- 
"h^'^^^D tions, while in decision after decision it completed a system 
cisions. of centralized power greatly at variance with the principles 

of the party which ruled. But for all their contempt, 
Marshall did not quail. Doffing the neutrality of an ideal judge he 
boldly set himself the task of shaping the constitution in its most 
plastic period. His decisions became precedents in every court in 
the land. They gave strength and steadiness to a government, which 
by the nature of the case, was in the hands of the least competent 
portion of its citizens. They saved popular government from the ef- 
fects of radicalism while the ideals of conservatism struck root in the 
crude but ripening society then spreading itself over the face of a new 
continent. No greater deed of firm leadership has been performed in 
our country than this persistent assertion of the vital will of the federal 
republic. 

Another case, Chisholm v. Georgia, decided that a state might be 
sued by a citizen of another state. It displeased the states and re- 
sulted in the eleventh amendment, 1798. Six years later the twelfth 
amendment was in force, providing that electors should vote sep- 
arately for president and vice-president. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 361 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

On the general social history of the period treated in this chapter the best work 
is McMastcr, History of the People of the United States, 7 vols. (1883-1910), contain- 
ing many chapters of interest ; Adams, History of the United States, vol. I (1889). 
chaps. I-IV contain valuable accounts of social and intellectual conditions; 
See also Bassett, The Federalist System, Chaps. X-XIII (1Q06) ; Hart, American 
History Told by Contemporaries, III (1906); Simons, Social Forces in American 
History, chaps. VIII-XII (191 1) ; Fess, Political Theory and Parly Organization in 
the United States, chaps. I-V (1910) ; and Griswold, The Republican Court (1864). 
On the public lands see Donaldson, The Public Domain (Pub. Land Comssn. Report, 
1881) ; and Treat, The National Land System (19 10). 

Many European travelers visited America immediately after the revolution 
and wrote and published their impressions of the country. A list of them with 
critical discussions is found in Tuckerman, America and her Commentators (1864). 
The most important works of this nature are : Brissot de Warville, New Travels 
[1788] (1791, 1792), enthusiastically biased in favor of republicanism; Due de 
Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, Travels . . . 1795-1797 , 2 vols. (London ed. 1799), has 
many facts, but the author did not understand American life; Weld, Travels . . . 
1795-1797, 2 vol. (1799); Campbell, Travels in the Interior . . . 1791-1792 (1793), 
relates to New York, the Northwest, and Canada ; Dwight, Travels in New Eng- 
land and New York [1796-1S15], 4 vols. (1821-1822) ; Melish, Travels in the United 
States, 1806-1807, 180Q-1811, 2 vols. (181 2); and Bradbury, Travels in the In- 
terior . . . 1809, 1810, 1811 (1817). After the return of peace in Europe and 
America came a revival of interest in immigration, and several foreigners who came 
to the United States to investigate the conditions here wrote books which were 
published for the instruction of those who proposed to emigrate. Among them 
are: Fearon, Narrative of a Journey, etc. (1817); Birkbeck, Notes on a Journey 
in America (1818); Ibid., Letters from Illinois (1818); and Cobbett, A Year's 
Residence in the United States (1819). 

Most of these travelers visited the Northwest and described conditions there 
in frontier days. A general work of great excellence on the settlement of that 
region is Matthews, The Expansion of New Fjigland (1909). See also : Turner, The 
Rise of the New West (1906) ; Boggess, The Selllemcnt of Illinois, 1778-18J0 (Chicago 
Hist. Soc. Collections, 1908) ; and Hinsdale, The Old Northivest, 2 vols. (1888, 1899). 
Conditions in the South and Southwest are described in : Phillips, Georgia and 
State Rights (Amer. Hist. Assn. Report, 1901, vol. II); Schaper, Sectionalism and 
Representation in South Carolina (Ibid., 1900, vol. I) ; and Pickett, History of Ala- 
bama, 2 vols. (1851, 1900). 

On far western explorations see Thwaites, Rocky Mountain Exploration (1904) 
for a good summary. Lewis and Clark prepared full notes of their explorations, 
which were edited by Nicholas Biddle, later president of the second bank of the 
United States. They appeared as History of the Expedition under the Command of 
Captains Lewis and Clark, . . . 1804, 1805, 1806, Prepared for the Press by Paid 
Allen, 2 vols. (1814). The best modern edition is edited by Thwaites in eight 
volumes (1904-1905). It is a verbatim reproduction of all the journals kept by 
the two leaders and other members of the expedition. Pike wrote an account of his 
travels, published under the title, Account of Expeditions to the Sources of the Missis- 
sippi. . . . And a Tour through the Interior Parts of New Spain, 2 vols. (1810). 

The history of American industry has not been adequately written. Bassett, 
Federalist System (1906) has a brief chapter on conditions from 1789 to 1801. A 
longer and more general treatment is in Coman, Industrial History (1905, 1910) ; 
and Bogart, Economic History of the United States (ed. 1907). See also Adams, 
History of the United States, vols. V and VIII (1891) for the influence of manu- 
factures; Seybert, Statistical Annals . . . 1789-1818 (1818) has many valuable 
statistics on commerce. See also : Dewey, Financial History of the United States 
(1903) ; Bishop, History of American Manufactures, 3 vols. (1864-1867) ; Bagnall, 



362 SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 

Textile Industries of the United States, vol. I (1893), oi^'x one volume appeared; 
Ibid., Samuel Slater and the Development of Cotton Manufacture ; Hammond, Cotton 
Industry (Amer. Econ. Assn. Publications, 1897) ; and Swank, History of the Manu- 
facture of Iron (ed. 1892). 

On slavery the following are important: Locke, Anti-Slavery in America . . . 
1619-1S0S (1901) ; Du Bois, Suppression of the Slave Trade (1896) ; Ballagh, 
Slavery in Virginia (1902) ; Brackett, The Negro in Maryland (1889) ; Bassett, 
History of Slavery in North Carolina (Johns Hopkins University Studies, 1899); 
and Hurd, The Law of Freedom and Bondage, 2 vols. (1858-1862). 

No good general history of religion in the United States has been written from 
the secular standpoint, and the student must rely chiefly on the histories of the 
individual churches. Of these, perhaps the most satisfactory is the series known 
as The American Church History Series, edited by Schaff and others. The following 
volumes are especially valuable: Walker, The Congregationalists (1894); New- 
man, The Baptists (1894); Thompson, The Presbyterians (1895); Allen, The Uni- 
tarians (1894) ; Tiffany, The Protestant Episcopalians (1895) ; and Carroll, The 
Religious Forces of the United Stales (1893), a general introduction to the series. 
Other works of importance are: Bacon, History of American Christianity (1897); 
Buckley, History of Methodism, 2 vols. (1898); Cross, The Anglican Episcopate 
and the American Colonies (1902) ; Pond, Sketches of the Theological History of New 
England (1880-) ; Asbury, Journals, 3 vols, (many eds.) ; and Lauer, Church and 
State in New England (Johns Hopkins University Studies, 1892). 

On Marshall's great constitutional decisions the best work, perhaps, is Cotton, 
editor. Constitutional Decisions of John Marshall, 2 vols. (1905), the decisions 
given in extenso, accompanied by explanatory remarks by the editor. See also : 
Thayer, Cases on Constitutional Law, 2 vols. (1895) ; Ibid., John Marshall (1901) ; 
Magruder, John Marshall (ed. 1898) ; Story, Life and Letters of Joseph Story, 2 
vols. (1851); Babcock, Rise of American Nationality, cha.p.X.YIII iigo6); and 
Elliott, Biographical Story of the Constitution, chap. VI (1910). 

For Independent Reading 

Longstreet, Georgia Scenes (1897 and many earlier eds.) ; Irving, Captain Bonne- 
ville (1849); Dana, Two Years before the Mast (1849); Smedes, Memorials of a 
Southern Planter (1887, 1890); and Chittenden, TAe American Fur Trade of the 
Far West, 3 vols. (1902), 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE LAST OF THE VIRGINIA DYNASTY 

Reforms of 1816-1817 

American history comes to a new period in 181 5. Before that year 
our chief concern was foreign affairs. This was not through the desire 
of the men of the day, but partly because the new nation 
must first of all adjust its relation with other powers, and pgi-jg^ 
partly because we could not rid ourselves of a connection 
with the prolonged commotion in Europe. In 181 5 all this was past, 
and the government could give its attention to domestic affairs. 
Another change was in leadership. For many years after the revolu- 
tion the men in power were those who planned and won the struggle 
for independence. They were anxious for the "experiment" of re- 
publican go^'ernment to succeed, and distrustful of federal centraliza- 
tion. In 181 5 a new group was in control. They had grown up dur- 
ing the time when Americans thought more of the glory than of the 
difficulties of the revolution. They had confidence in the future, they 
were not afraid that a strong central government would destroy 
liberty, and they were deeply conscious of the evils of weak government 
as revealed in the experiences of the recent war. They were boldly 
American, and took up the task of legislation with firm hands. 

Their plan of reform contained four measures: i. All were agreed 
that adequate provision should be made for the national defense. 
The army and the navy, which to the old republicans were proposed 
useless and dangerous to liberty, were now placed on a Reforms: 
respectable peace footing, and the military academy was i. National 
remodeled on the plans of Washington as a place to train Defense, 
officers for the army. 

2. Next the second bank of the United States of America was in- 
corporated, 1 816, in order to aid the government in its financial opera- 
tions and to establish a sound paper currency by creating 
a check on the overissue of notes by the state banks, g ^"® 
Its capital was $35,000,000, one-fifth owned by the govern- gank. 
ment, which appointed one-fifth of the directors, and its 
charter was to run for twenty years. The privileges were valuable: 
its notes were receivable for government dues, it kept the deposits 
of the government without paying interest on them, and it was exempt 
from taxes. In return, it paid the treasury a bonus of $1,500,000, an5 

363 



364 THE LAST OF THE VIRGINIA DYNASTY 

agreed to transmit public funds without cost. Five of the members 
of the committee that reported the bank bill were Southerners, and 
its chairman was Calhoun. He was then a young man of great promise, 
popular because he defended the war, and likely to remain so because 
he espoused all the features of the national program then before con- 
gress. Many years later his own state, South Carolina, would not 
support a national policy, and then he became the chief leader of the 
Southerners. The bank opened its doors early in January, 181 7, and 
was able to bring the state banks to resume specie payment on Febru- 
ary 20. It served so well to correct the state of the currency that the 
circulation of the state banks fell from $68,000,000 in 1816 to $40,641,- 
000 in 1820. Its headquarters were in Philadelphia, but within a 
year it had nineteen branches widely distributed. 

3. The tariff of 181 6. The curve of tariff rates in the United States 
has two points of sharp ascension, one beginning in 181 2, and the other 

in 1861. The first tariff ratewasabout fiveper cent,androse 
Tariff gradually until in 181 2 it was twelve and a half per cent. 

To raise funds for the war it was now doubled with proviso 
that it should fall to the former level a year after the return of peace. 
The war being over, the newly established manufacturers were alarmed 
lest the reduction of the duties should bring them into dangerous com- 
petition with British manufacturers, who had accumulated vast stocks 
of merchandise produced at cheap rates and selling so low that they 
could break up the American competitors. The American manufac- 
turers called on congress for protection. The commercial interests, 
who throve on free importation, opposed this request, but the republi- 
cans supported it because they wished to make the nation independ- 
ent of foreign supplies in time of war. They felt that it was for the 
national interest to make our own supplies at home. As the com- 
mercial interests had opposed the war and were mostly federalists, 
they got little favor now. Thus was passed in 181 6 a new tariff bill 
continuing the war tariff with some modifications. It was intended as 
a temporary measure, but when the manufacturers once got a taste of 
protection they continually asked for more until many thought them 
insatiable. 

The tariff of 18 16 was of Southern origin. The bill was reported 
by Lowndes, of South Carolina, and supported by Calhoun and Clay. 

The former war party, thoroughly national, was now 
The South transformed into the new republicans, equally national. 
Tariff of They represented the agricultural parts of the country, 
1816. which had no selfish interest in a tariff, but they felt that 

all might sacrifice something to be independent of Euro- 
pean manufacturers. Later on they concluded that protection had 
gone too far, and opposed it bitterly. In this change of attitude 
the South, as the great non-manufacturing section, was most prom- 
inent. 



INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS 365 

4. Another measure which aroused much interest was public aid in 
constructing roads and canals, known as the policy of internal im- 
provements. The war aroused much interest in the rich 
lands of the Northwest, and peace was hardly established ^' l°t^'"°'^l 
before a great movement of population, partly from Europe ments. 
and partly from the East, set toward that region. Two 
ways of reaching it appeared. One was by water, up the Mississippi 
from New Orleans, a process which the use of steamboats on the great 
river from 181 1 made easier than before. The other was overland 
from Philadelphia and the Potomac or through western New York to 
the lakes. But roads and canals were too expensive for individual 
effort. Moreover, they were of national benefit, and why, it was 
asked, should not the federal government aid in their construction? 
Would they not enhance the value of the public lands, and were they 
not necessary to move troops to defend the frontier, both important na- 
tional enterprises ? Thus originated the demand for internal improve- 
ment, for fifteen years one of the great political questions of the day. 

Against them two objections were found. Did the constitution 
give congress power to raise money for such a purpose ? They could be 
justified only under the generdl welfare clause, and all the objections 
old strict construction school came to life to protest against to internal 
such a wide departure from their tenets. Secondly, they Inprove- 
were really local improvements. If the merchants of the p®°*^" 
East, it was said, wished them as an outlet for their trade, 
let them pay the bills. Pennsylvania and the adjacent states were 
chiefly concerned, and they ought to pay the cost of these very ex- 
pensive works. The second argument appealed very strongly to the 
more remote states, which had constructed their own works and 
hoped for little of such aid from the general government. 

Before 1816, in fact, as early as Jefferson's presidency, appropriations 
for such a purpose had begun on a small scale. But now the demand 
was for larger appropriations, and it was likely to grow with time until 
every community would have its own scheme, pushing it ,. 
so skillfully by log-rolling in congress that it was impossible ^q^^„ " 
to say where the scheming would stop. Most of the rep- 
resentatives from the West and from the Middle states were of the 
internal improvements group, and several of the leading new republi- 
cans gave support. 

Among them the most conspicuous leader was Calhoun, who in 
December, 181 6, as chairman of a committee on internal improve- 
ments, introduced a bill to set aside the $1,500,000 bonus 
from the newly established bank as a perpetual fund for ^^ °°"^ 
constructing roads and canals. He declared that roads 
and canals were needed to bind together the East and West and to 
prevent disunion. Clay also favored the project, and it passed both 
houses by safe majorities. Madison had declared himself for interna) 



366 



THE LAST OF THE VIRGINIA DYNASTY 



improvements, but at last he vetoed the bonus bill because he thought 
the constitution did not authorize such an expenditure. He was 
ever a strict constructionist, and the arguments of the opponents of 
the bill aroused all his fears. In his veto message, however, he sug- 
gested that an amendment to the constitution might well be proposed 
in order to avoid the difificulty he foresaw. In the existing condition 
of parties such an amendment could not be carried, and for a time the 
demand for internal improvements at national expense was checked. 
Roads and canals continued to be built, some by the general govern- 
ment, and many more by the states. Virginia and South Carolina 
authorized large undertakings, and at this very time 
Pennsylvania had spent over $2,000,000 for the same 
purpose. But the great achievement was in New York. 
Much earlier than this her statesmen had realized the need 
of a canal from the Hudson to Lake Erie, Albany to Buffalo, 
across that depression between the Alleghanies and the Adirondacks 
which nature had provided as the easiest way of getting from the sea- 



Internal 
Improve- 
ments by 
the States 




board to the lake system in the heart of the continent. Many plans 
had been made, and something was about to be done when the war be- 
gan and deferred further effort. In 1816 De Witt Clinton was elected 
governor of the state. He was strongly in favor of the canal and won 
the legislature to the undertaking. Ground was broken July 4, 181 7, 
and eight years later the task was completed at a cost of $7,000,000. 
The Erie canal was 363 miles long, and was the greatest engineering 
feat in the country up to that time. It lowered freight to the West, 
brought a rich trade to New York city, and enabled that port to 
wrest from Philadelphia the distinction of being the metropolis of the 
New World. 

1816 was presidential election year, and Monroe was to have his 
reward. Many republicans objected to the bargain. Some 
thought Monroe too theoretical, others distrusted him 
because he deserted old friends to enter the cabinet, some 
of the strait Virginia school could not forgive his early support of 
Randolph, and the Clinton-Smith faction had ends of their own in 



Election of 
1816. 



MONROE AS PRESIDENT 367 

view. This opposition united on William H. Crawford, of Georgia, a 
man of real leadership, a student of Gallatin's financial policy, and an 
astute politician. For a moment it seemed that Crawford would se- 
cure the nomination, but when the caucus met means had been found 
to change the New York members to Monroe, who was chosen by a 
vote of 65 to 54. Tompkins, of New York, was nominated for vice- 
president, thus restoring the New York-Virginia alliance which the 
defection of Clinton in 181 2 disrupted. Later in the year Crawford 
became secretary of the treasury, and whisperers said that it had a 
bearing on the succession. The federalists nominated Rufus King 
for president, but in the election he got only 34 votes to Monroe's 183. 
The Hartford convention and the national program of the new re- 
publicans had proved too much for the federalists. 

Party Cleavage under Monroe 

Monroe's best quality was conciliation. By bringing factions to- 
gether, by calming the feelings of disappointed men, and by avoiding 
the initiation of positive measures, he held together for 
eight years a party which had no opposition and which j^J^^g 
contained many possibilities of disruption. "The tall 
and eel-like Monroe," as a scoffer called him, who had no cure for 
social hypochondria and only wished to solve the difficulties he en- 
countered, gave the country eight years of political peace, which is 
more than one says of any other American president. 

He wished to bring into his cabinet the strongest of the new re- 
publicans. John Quincy Adams was recalled from diplomatic service 
abroad to become secretary of state, an office he filled with 
distinction ; Crawford was retained as secretary of the cabinet 
treasury ; Clay was offered the war department, and when 
he refused it, the office went to Calhoun, while William Wirt, an able 
lawyer, popular with the old republicans, was made attorney-general. 
Clay's refusal was the only discordant note. He would have taken 
first place if it had been offered ; but he thought it advisable to de- 
cline the third place and remain speaker of the house to become leader 
of the opposition sure to develop. 

The opportunity he anticipated came speedily. Since 18 10 the 
Spanish-American colonies had been in revolt. They had overcome 
the weak Spanish garrisons, but were not able to establish 
effective governments in the large and sparsely settled ^^^'j^o^^^J 
areas over which their authority stretched. Much sym- America, 
pathy for them existed in the United States, particularly 
in the Mississippi valley ; and the Gulf ports freely furnished them aid 
until congress in 181 7 passed a more stringent neutrality act. In 
181 7 the question of recognizing the independence of these colonies 
was brought up, but the cautious Monroe, rather than offend their 



368 THE LAST OF THE VIRGINIA DYNASTY 

many sympathizers, sent agents to see if the revolutionists deserved 
recognition. Clay introduced resolutions to accord recognition and 
to repeal the recent neutrality act, supporting them in a beautifully 
ornate speech. The administration men united against him, and his 
resolutions were overwhelmed in the house. But he had done all he 
could expect ; for he had given fair warning to the country that he 
was leading an opposition, and henceforth all who had grievances 
against Monroe gathered under his banner. In the winter of 1818- 

18 19 he repeated his action, when the administration was forced to de- 
fend Jackson's invasion of Florida but again the administration co- 
horts defeated him. 

By such means Monroe resisted attacks and came to the election of 

1820 without a defeat. There was no thought of denying him the 

honor of a reelection, — not even Clay went that far, — and 

The Era of ^^ ^^^ chosen without opposition. However, one elector 

Feeling." ^^'^ favored him had the whim to throw away his vote 

on another man, lest Monroe should share with Washington 
the honor of a unanimous vote. This period of harmony was called 
"The Era of Good Feeling." The thought pleased the president, and 
he tried to promote it by what he called his "amalgamation policy," 
which was to appoint both federalists and republicans to office. His 
party friends resented the policy, and he was too wise to insist upon 
it. Already men were beginning to look to 1824, and although the 
cabinet was officially harmonious, it contained three men who were 
keenly planning to contest the prize of the presidency when the time 
came. 

The Acquisition of Florida 

Jefferson was our first president who tried to buy Florida, but he 
made no progress in his plan. While Napoleon occupied Spain, we 
received no minister from that country, but diplomatic 
Negotia- relations were resumed with the reestablishment of the old 
Spain. monarchy, and our minister at Madrid renewed the offer 

to buy the province. He had a polite refusal, but shortly 
afterwards a political upheaval in Spain brought a new ministry into 
power, and the envoy in August, 18 17, was surprised to receive an 
offer to exchange Florida for Louisiana. The proposition was in- 
admissible, but it indicated that Spain was yielding. Secretary 
Adams now took the matter into his own hands, carrying it on with 
success, until in June, 181 8, diplomacy was rudely interrupted by 
news that Jackson had invaded West Florida, seized its fortified posts, 
and expelled its governor and garrison. The information referred to 
the Seminole war. 

The Seminoles were a Creek tribe, living in Florida. To them in 
1814 fled a large number of Creeks, escaping the vengeance of Jackson 
at Horse-Shoe Bend. When the treaty of Fort Jackson in August of 



THE SEMINOLE WAR 



369 



the same year ceded a great deal of the Creek patrimony to the United 
States, these fugitives protested against its IcgaHty. The reply was 
that they had due notice to attend, and faiUng to do so 
had no right to object. The treaty of Ghent provided ^*"!® °^ 
that the United States should give up all the land taken Discontent, 
from Indians at war when the treaty was signed. The 
fugitives were advised by some officious British subjects that this 
applied to their land and promised that England would support them 




in a demand for its restoration, but the British government repudiated 
the promise at sight. The whites held that they were exempt from 
the clause in question because the Creek war was terminated by 
the treaty of Fort Jackson. They disliked greatly the British subjects 
whose assurances had rendered the Seminoles warlike. One of these 
persons was Alexander Arbuthnot, a Scotch trader, who wrote the 
letters in which the Indians delivered their protests, and the other was 



370 THE LAST OF THE VIRGINIA DYNASTY 

Captain Ambrister, an army officer who for the love of adventure 
drilled an Indian company and led it to war. Hostilities began when 
the savages raided the white settlers on the disputed lands. In 
November, i8i 7, the Americans retaliated by burning Fowltown, killing 
four of its Indian inhabitants, and dispersing the rest, who fled into 
Florida. 

The war department, Calhoun being secretary, now authorized a 
campaign against the Seminoles, and Jackson, commander of the 

southern military division, took command. His orders 
Florida. allowed him to follow the enemy into Spanish territory, 

but forbade him to attack a Spanish post. He considered 
this limitation unwise, and in a letter to Monroe suggested that he pri- 
vately be given permission to attack the forts if the Indians took refuge 
in them. He claimed afterwards that he received the required au- 
thority, but Monroe denied that assertion. On it hinged the question 
of Jackson's responsibility for what was about to happen. He marched 
straight into Florida, took the forts at St. Marks and Pensacola, sent 
their garrisons with the governor of West Florida to Havanna, and 
raised the American flag over the province. At St. Marks he captured 
Arbuthnot and Ambrister, tried them by court martial, and hanged 
them forthwith, spite of their British citizenship. Two prominent 
Indian chiefs, who were also captured, were hanged without the for- 
mality of trial. 

These occurrences caused consternation in Washington, where 
foreign complications were feared. England was at first inclined to 

protest against the execution of her subjects, but as they 
Attitude of y^QYe where they had no business to be, the event was 
England and 1, j <- o^ c • 4. 

Spain. allowed to pass, lo appease Spam was not so easy. 

She demanded the surrender of the province and the 
punishment of Jackson. The first was readily granted, but the action 
of the general pleased the people, and the administration dared not make 
him suffer. The secretary of state was, therefore, intrusted with 
the task of bringing Madrid to reason. In some bold and able dis- 
patches he justified the invasion on the evident ground that Spain had 
not properly preserved the neutrality of her territory. She had un- 
doubtedly given encouragement, if not aid, to our enemies, and she 
could not well complain if at last we did what she herself ought to 
have done. Adams drove this point home with so much energy that 
Spain accepted the situation, and the waters of diplomacy were at 
length unruffled. For a time Jackson resented what he took for a re- 
flection on his conduct, but some skillful touches by Monroe brought 
him to accept in a reasonable spirit the solution of the difficult 
situation. 

At this junction the opposition took up the matter. Resolutions 
were introduced in each house to investigate the violation of neutrality 
obligations. Clay taking a prominent part in their defense. Those 



MISSOURI AND STATEHOOD 371 

before the house occasioned a long debate, at the end of which 

Jackson was acquitted of wrongdoing. The senate referred the 

matter to a committee which made an adverse report, 

but by this time popular opinion ran so strongly for the P'^'^ ^*' 

hero of the invasion that the opposition did not press jackson. 

the report to a vote. The upshot was that Jackson, 

already mentioned as a presidential possibility, gained rather than 

lost in the public esteem. 

Before this phase of the Seminole affair was complete, the negotia- 
tions for the purchase of Florida were resumed. Recent events 
served to promote them by showing Spain by what a 
slender hold she possessed the province, and she now came purchased 
to a decision to cede. February 22, 1819, the senate re- 
ceived a treaty to that effect and passed it with little hesitation. It 
provided that we should pay claims against Spain amounting to not 
more than $5,000,000, and take all Florida. It fixed the western 
boundary of Louisiana at the Sabine river. The latter point had 
been in dispute since the purchase of Louisiana. By that bargain our 
claim to the Rio Grande was good, but the president thought we 
might safely relinquish it in view of the advantage of having an un- 
broken coast line from the Atlantic to the Sabine. Congress took the 
same view, but when the Texas boundary question came up more 
than twenty years later Monroe received much criticism because he 
had thrown away our claim to the rich region between that river and the 
Sabine. The treaty of 1819 was not ratified by Spain until late in 
1820. July 17, 1 82 1, the province was formally handed over to the 
United States and Jackson became its first American governor. It was 
made a territory, and in 1845 was admitted into the union as a state. 

The Missouri Compromise 

In 181 2 Missouri became a territory, with a legislature of its own, 
and a population of something more than 20,000. St. Louis, at the 
junction of the Missouri and Mississippi, was the center of 
activity, its chief industry being the rich fur trade of the Develop- 
Missouri valley. Three-fourths of its 2 500 inhabitants were ^^ggouri 
French, proud of their origin and resentful of the aggres- before 1820. 
sive Americans who established the laws of the English and 
offended the common taste by paving the streets and introducing 
rattling, iron-wheeled vehicles. The clash between the two civiliza- 
tions was of short duration. The French were contented with their 
state, fond of amusements, in every house a fiddle and on every night 
a dance, and they accepted with satisfaction a paternal form of society 
which embraced a benevolent ruling class and a large number of care- 
free dependents. The Americans were ambitious, eager for wealth, 
forever busy and boastful of their patriotism, and bent on establishing 



372 THE LAST OF THE VIRGINIA DYNASTY 

self-government for the bustling white immigrants who felt their 
responsibilities as builders of a new commonwealth. The tide of 
immigration was strong after the war of 1 812; for stories of fertile 
lands in what from its position must certainly be a great state attracted 
many settlers from the East. They came chiefly from the South, 
passing through Kentucky and Tennessee in long wagon trains ac- 
companied by their slaves and cattle. By 1820 the population was 
66,586. It was the first, and for many years the farthest, advance of 
the white man's civilization into the great mid-continental plain be- 
yond the Mississippi. 

We have seen that by 1800 the states north of Maryland, i.e. north 
of the Mason and Dixon's line, had restricted slavery, and those to the 

southward continued slave states. By the ordinance of 
Division of jygy t^g Ohio was made the dividing line between freedom 
^nR^^ect ^^'^ slavery for the region beyond the mountains; and 
to Slavery, thus the country between the Atlantic and the Mississippi 

was amicably divided between the two great interests. 
Nothing was done about a similar division when Louisiana was ac- 
quired or when territories were first created within its bounds. In the 
absence of restrictions the slaveholders felt they had equal rights 
there with other Americans, and they were a large part of the popula- 
tion of Missouri when in March, 1818, congress was asked to make the 

territory a state. No action was taken at that time, al- 
Missoun though under the rule that a territory could expect state- 
Statehood, hood when it had 60,000 inhabitants there should have 

been no objection to the request. The petition was re- 
newed in the next session, and in February, 1819, the house was con- 
sidering a state bill when Tallmadge, of New York, offered an amend- 
ment to exclude further introduction of slaves into Missouri and grad- 
ually to emancipate those already there. After a short and angry 
debate, the amendment was carried in the house, but lost in the senate. 
This discussion lasted but two weeks. It was unexpected, and pro- 
duced violent commotions. Whenever slavery had been discussed 

before that in congress, hot words had been used ; for some 
Significance q£ j^.^ opponents would denounce it as a crime and some of 
Debate. ^^^ defenders would reply bitterly. The quieter men. 

North and South, had usually agreed to avoid occasions 
for excitement, and the number of free and slave states was equal. 
With the admission of Alabama, then imminent, there would be eleven 
free and eleven slave states. It was to the interest of the new repub- 
licans and of every man who had hope of being president in 1824 to 
keep in abeyance a question which would surely realign political 
groups and make impossible the enactment of such national measures 
as tariffs and bills for internal improvements. Jefferson said the 
debate was "like a fire-bell in the night." The leaders of the party, 
therefore, regarded with apprehension the hot discussion and the 



THE COMPROMISE CARRIED 373 

voting of warm resolutions by public meetings and legislatures North 
and South through the summer of 18 19. 

The question was intimately related to that sectional jealousy which 
to this time had not been entirely absent from most of the deliberations 
of congress. The rule of Virginia was distasteful to New 
England, and even the New York republicans, though Sectional- 
partners in that rule, were restless under it. Tallmadge, i^™ *^® 
who introduced the resolution, was a close friend of Clinton, Northern 
and Rufus King, leading defender of it, was an old federalist Side, 
of New York. To the men of the North it seemed that 
Southerners, by extending their peculiar institution into the great 
Northwest, would establish their power in the Missouri valley and 
eventually lay hands on all the region west of it. If such a thing was 
to be prevented, it must be prevented now. If this advance was 
allowed, there would be a union of the South and the great Northwest, 
slavery being the common bond which would dominate the future as 
relentlessly as the Virginia combination ruled the present. Besides 
this feeling, there was in the North a growing conviction that slavery 
was a blot on our civilization, and ought to be restricted in area. A 
small number of Northern people even declared that slavery was a 
crime and slaveholders criminals. Thus the Southern supremacy in 
the government was attacked by a powerful combination which 
threatened to take from it all its support in New York, Pennsylvania, 
and other Northern states. 

Several combined interests existed in the South. Its leaders desired 
to perpetuate Southern control, in order to ward off unfavorable 
legislation ; they also felt that the growing immigration into the free 
North would enable that section to people quickly the vast West 
and establish control in congress. Such a result achieved, it was 
not doubted that an attempt would be made to amend the constitu- 
tion with regard to the three-fifths representation of 
slaves, and perhaps efforts would be made to abolish slavery ei-n^gide 
itself. Besides these considerations, many Southerners were 
irritated when told that slaveholding was a crime. Their best people 
owned slaves, and everywhere were seen efforts to make the lot of the 
blacks as happy as the necessities of bondage permitted. Thus it was 
that sentiment North and South through the summer of 1819 hardened, 
and practical leaders became convinced that only a compromise could 
prevent a general disarrangement of existing party alignments. 

January 3, 1820, four weeks after the new congress met, the house 
passed a bill to admit Maine. Massachusetts, which formerly had 
authority over Maine, had consented to this action pro- 
vided congress approved before March 4, 1820. EarKer The Mis- 
in the session Alabama was admitted, so that the admission promise, 
of Maine would give the free states a majority. The 
situation suggested a compromise, and when the Maine bill reached 



374 THE LAST OF THE VIRGINIA DYNASTY 

the senate, it was combined with a bill then before that house to admit 
Missouri without restriction. This step was approved by the senate 
by a vote of 23 to 21. Then Thomas, of Illinois, moved to amend by 
admitting Missouri with slavery and by prohibiting slavery north of 
36° 30', north latitude, in the rest of the Louisiana purchase. Here 
was the compromise that conservative men wished. It was much 
like that by which the Northwest was reserved to freedom in 1787 
while the Southwest was left to slavery. It would remove the many 
dangers for persons and measures, and it passed the senate by a vote 
of 34 to 10. The house had a safe majority for restriction, and was 
disposed to throw away every thought of other ends to place slavery 
in a way of extinction, and voted to reject the senate compromise. 
It seemed that a complete deadlock was reached, when a conference 
committee was at last appointed. Then came further relenting, until 
enough members yielded to carry the compromise by a majority of 
three. Of the 87 who made the minority 33 were from New England, 
46 were from the Middle states, and 8 were the solid Northwestern 
delegation. No Southern or Southwestern representative voted foi 
restriction in Missouri, and 7 New Englanders and 8 Middle states 
men voted against it. The Missouri Compromise was the work of 
moderate men, chiefly those who lived in the Middle states and in 
the northern tier of Southern states. Many years later the South 
attacked the compromise, and pointed to the fact that it was not 
accepted by those Southerners who, as it was then put, were true 
to the rights of the South in 1820. 

This debate aroused the Missourians, thoroughly under the control 
of the slaveholders ; and the constitution they framed reflected their 
determination to hold the state. It guaranteed the existence of 
slavery in the new state and forbade the immigration of free negroes. 
When in the succeeding autumn it came before congress 
The Mis- f^j. approval, it was opposed by the Northern members of 
stitution. the house, who declared that it violated the federal consti- 
tution. There was a hot debate over the right of con- 
gress to shackle a sovereign state, and the result was deadlock. Clay 
took a prominent part in the first compromise, and he now came for- 
ward with another. He induced the legislature of Missouri, then in 
session, to agree that the objectionable clause should never be con- 
strued to lessen in Missouri the rights of citizens of other states, and 
with that the constitution was approved. 

One other difficulty appeared. Missouri, assuming that statehood 
was complete, chose presidential electors in 1820 favorable to Monroe, 
and the returns were sent to the senate. The Southerners 
^Pa^'fi* favored their reception on the ground that Missouri be- 
tor." came a state by the first compromise act, March, 1820. 

If this was allowed, the restriction on her constitution was 
illegal, and the North accordingly insisted that the returns be rejected. 



THE SOUTH AMERICAN STATES 375 

Here was the possibility of an angry dispute, but Clay again smoothed 
the difficulty, proposing that the result be announced in words like 
these: If the vote of Missouri be counted, Monroe had 231 votes; if 
not, he had 228 votes, and in either case he was elected president. 
For his work in these compromises Clay was called the "Pacificator," 
a title which pleased his friends. It was considered a great thing to 
bring jarring factions together and to avert the threatened dangers 
of disunion. 

The Monroe Doctrine 

Monroe's unwillingness to recognize the independence of the South 
American states in 181 7 was based on his conviction, shared by Secre- 
tary Adams, that the revolutionists had not established a 
settled government, and on the feeling that rash action in |°"*|^. 
this respect would imperil the plans of purchasing Florida. Recognized. 
By 1822 these two reasons were not operative. Florida 
was secured, and continued successes by the South Americans had made 
it certain that Spain, unassisted by other European powers, would not 
be able to reconquer what she had lost. Meanwhile, Clay continued 
to agitate for recognition, and aroused such enthusiasm that congress 
early in 182 1 resolved that it would support the president whenever he 
thought fit to extend recognition. Monroe delayed a year and then 
yielded, notifying congress on March 18, 1822, that he would send 
ministers to the new states when money was provided for the expenses. 
Immediate action on the question was retarded by a far more com- 
plicated aspect of the matter in the field of general diplomacy. 

England had watched the South American revolutions with great 
interest. Having lost the North American colonies as an outlet of 
trade, she wished new markets in the new republics of the 
south. All the efforts of the revolutionists had been made ^"^ms. ^ 
with her assistance, sometimes covert, but often open. 
Her fleet gave important aid on the Pacific, and her citizens sold sup- 
plies to the insurrectionary armies. When the European wars were 
over, the nations of the Old World united in the Holy Alliance to re- 
store the conditions existing before the European upheaval, and began 
to think of helping Spain to regain her colonies. This would upset 
the commercial plans of England, and she gave notice that she would 
not cooperate in the matter. But the other powers were disposed to 
act of themselves, and England, not wishing to oppose them alone, 
thought of uniting with the United States to prevent such action. 
George Canning, the minister whose rude attitude did so much to 
bring on the war of 181 2, was now head of the British foreign office. 
He turned to Monroe, who was keenly alive to what was going on, and 
suggested, August 16, 1823, that he unite with England in declaring 
that Europe should not extend her possessions in the western hem- 
isphere. At that time France was subduing a liberal revolution in 



376 THE LAST OF THE VIRGINIA DYNASTY 

Spain, and it was believed that the Spanish monarch, too weak to pay 
for the service in money, would allow France to indemnify herself 
by seizing the South American states. 

Adams only half approved Canning's suggestion. He did not like, 
as he said, the idea that his country should "come in as a cock-boat 
in the wake of the British man-of-war." If we undertook 
of AdamT ^^ ^^^^ ^^^ South American states, it was, he thought, 
more in keeping with our dignity that we act on broad 
principles announced on our own initiative. The knowledge that 
England at that time had designs on Cuba and that Russia was seeking 
to get recognition of a very shadowy claim to the Pacific coast south 
to the fifty-first degree of latitude convinced him that it was time to 
take a positive stand. Clay's continual appeals in behalf of a repub- 
lican system in America with an eye to the recognition of the South 
American states had prepared the country to support such a policy as 
the secretary had in mind. It was out of such conditions that the 
Monroe Doctrine had its origin. 

Adams's determination was reached after many months of negotia- 
tions. Monroe must have been cognizant of what was done, and he 
. , gave it his approval. His cabinet were freely consulted, 
Shwe°^ ^ ^^^ ^^^ members also accepted the ideas of the strong- 
willed secretary of state, who was at his best in asserting 
the dignity of his country. And Canning himself could not object; 
for it was the United States, and not England, which was most con- 
cerned in the step about to be taken. His boast some years later 
that he "called a New World into existence to redress the balance 
of Old" was not entirely true. His suggestion was doubtless of great 
importance, and the cooperation of England was essential, but the 
MonroeDoctrine was an American doctrine and was designed to operate 
as much against English as continental aggression. He had little 
confidence in the ability of the United States to enforce their policy 
to the exclusion of England, and seems to have thought that in future 
emergencies England would manage to plant herself firmly in South 
America, a hope which the strong spirit of our government was to 
make ineffective. 

The policy of the United States being formed, it only remained to 
place it before the wc-ld, and the annual message of 1823 was selected 
as a fitting means. It reached congress December 2 and 
^e Doc- asserted in clear and simple language two interrelated 
nounced. purposes, one referring to the New World and the other 
to the Old. The language of the message is worthy of 
perusal by all Americans. "In the wars of the European powers, in 
matters relating to themselves," it runs, "we have never taken any 
part, nor does it comport with our policy so to do. It is only when 
our rights are invaded or seriously menaced that we resent injuries 
or make preparation for our defense. With the movements in this 



PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES 377 

hemisphere we are of necessity more intimately connected, and by 
causes which must be obvious to all enlightened and impartial ob- 
servers. The political system of the allied powers is essentially differ- 
ent in this respect from that of America. . . . We owe it, therefore, 
to candor and to the amicable relations existing between the United 
States and those powers to declare that we should consider any attempt 
on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere 
as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the existing colonies or 
dependencies of any European power we have not interfered, and shall 
not interfere. But with the Governments who have declared their 
independence and maintained it, and whose independence we have, 
on great consideration and on just principles, acknowledged, we could 
not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them, or 
controlling in any other manner their destiny, by any European 
power in any other light than as a manifestation of an unfriendly 
disposition toward the United States." 

The Election of 1824 

December 3, 1822, an observer in Washington described the politi- 
cal situation there in these words : "While he who now fills the halls 
of the White House is slowly closing his eyes upon the rich 
trifles of the world, like an old father he stands surrounded ^msionm 
by three full-grown sons, each seeking the inheritance cabinet, 
on his departure. John Q., from the favors bestowed by 
the old man in his lifetime, has been deemed a favorite always : J. C, 
however, from being possessed of a sanguine temper, sets up also pre- 
tensions to the inheritance. William and the old gentleman, you 
know, it has been reported, are constantly disagreeing in opinion and 
are hence not quite so friendly as father and son should be ; be this 
as it may, it seems pretty well settled that the Virginia estate, if not 
already done, will be apportioned to the Latter." These words well 
describe the opening of the campaign of 1824, but they do not mention 
two other candidates. Clay and General Jackson. 

Of the five aspirants Adams had the support of New England and 
some strength outside of it in sections where the federalists had been 
strong. Crawford was the heir of the old organization 
which directed the Virginia-New York alliance, now sadly ^"''p°'^ °^ 
shorn of its power. Every other candidate made inroads candidates, 
on it. Calhoun took South Carolina, and Pennsylvania 
seemed his through his support of internal improvements. Clay had 
Kentucky and was accorded the new states north of the Ohio with 
Missouri and Louisiana. Jackson had Tennessee, and was making 
hard efforts to shame North Carolina out of her old practice of following 
Virginia blindly. Thus, in getting the old organization, Crawford 
got little more than his own state, with Virginia, and the support of the 



378 THE LAST OF THE VIRGINIA DYNASTY 

anti-Clintonian faction of New York republicans. In so confused a 
state of party no one expected any candidate to have a majority of the 
electoral votes, and an election by the house of representatives seemed 
likely. 

Before the campaign closed, Calhoun was eliminated as a contestant 
for first place. He had counted on Pennsylvania because the politi- 
cians there were for him. But Jackson, whose candidacy 
Calhoun -^y^g announced late, gathered strength with the people 
Second °^ ^^^ State, and the politicians early in 1824 came to 

Place. realize that they could not carry Calhoun to vic- 

tory. They quickly took up Jackson, and Calhoun, 
anxiously waiting to hear that this great state had declared for 
him, was astonished to learn that it had been swept over to 
Jackson. It was fatal to his hopes, but he calmly acquiesced in 
a plan to make him vice-president, and in that field he had little 
opposition. His decline in position implied the improvement of 
Jackson's chances. 

Crawford was generally esteemed the leading candidate until a 
stroke of paralysis laid him low in September, 1S23. His friends de- 
clared it was slight, his enemies said he was at death's 
lUness"^ ^ door. Neither assertion was correct, but he was an in- 
valid all through the year 1824, and was, in fact, not physi- 
cally strong enough to come back into active national politics. The 
organization which had adopted him strove hard to hold its grip on its 
following, and was so successful that in the election he had the third 
place among the candidates. 

As the organization candidate he would naturally have the strongest 
following in the republican caucus, hitherto a strong recommendation. 
To overcome this advantage his opponent united to break 
theVaucus 'iown the caucus. This piece of party machinery was un- 
democratic, and tended to make the presidency subservient 
to a congressional ring. It had been tolerated only because it was 
the sole attainable means of securing concentration of purpose in a 
largely disorganized party group. To oppose it, nomination by state 
legislatures was now resorted to. Various states recommended their 
favorites to the people and issued severe criticisms of the caucus 
system. So unpopular became the institution that none but the Craw- 
ford men would attend, and when in February, 1824, the last republican 
caucus that was to meet was called to order, only 66 of the 216 re- 
publicans in congress were present. Of these, all but four voted for 
Crawford. In the attack on the caucus, the friends of Jackson, who 
was hailed as the people's candidate, were most active. 

The campaign of 1824, like its two predecessors, was conducted on 
personal grounds. This does not mean that principles were then un- 
known, but that on the leading principles under discussion, tariff and 
internal improvements, the candidates were practically of the same 



CLAY AS PRESIDENT-MAKER 379 

opinion. Clay was the peculiar champion of the tariff, but neither 
of the others opposed it. Calhoun was preeminently for internal im- 
provements, but all the others mildly favored them. Crawford's 
friends in the South talked about his devotion to the 
" principles of 1798," the doctrines of strict reconstruction ; campaign 
but national measures were so popular that they dare not 
press the point. Some Southerners wished to raise the question of 
Adams's attitude on the Missouri question, but he replied that he was 
for conciliation. In fact, no one dared bring up this point, since it 
would injure a Southern candidate in the North as much as a North- 
ern candidate in the South. As the only Northern candidate, Adams 
got the vote of that large portion of the inhabitants of his section who 
resented the Virginia domination. He was not personally popular 
there, spite of his many excellent qualities. 

No one awaited the election returns more impatiently than Clay. 
In 1823 he was triumphantly reelected speaker, and if the election 
went to the house and he were one of the three highest, 
his popularity in that body would give him excellent pros- ^^^y * 
pects. His fate hung on the action of Louisiana and New candidate. 
York. In the former state he had a majority of the 
legislature, which chose the electors, but a vote was taken when three 
of his friends were absent, and the Jackson and Adams 
men combined and carried the day. In New York the ^f^^j^g^^"^* 
legislature also had the choice, and by skillful manipula- voting, 
tion three of the men chosen as Clay men voted at last 
for his opponents. A loser at these two points, he got only 37 
votes, while Crawford got 41, Adams 84, and Jackson 99. His nar- 
row failure to fall among the lucky three was partly atoned for by the 
knowledge that in the field into which the contest was now com- 
mitted he would be the arbiter between his rivals. 

The Presidential Election of 1825 

Both judgment and interest showed Clay the way he should lean. 
Crawford, incapacitated through health, was out of the question, and 
the choice was between the other two. Adams was an 
educated man, Jackson's training was chiefly obtained from ^^ /dams, 
frontier conditions. Adams was experienced in pubhc 
affairs at home and abroad, Jackson was a good fighter and a passable 
head of a military district, but his temper was violent, he could not 
make a speech, and in his only administrative ofiice, governorship of 
Florida, he had, through lack of ordinary tact, allowed affairs to get 
into a most unnecessary muddle. Between two such men, who could 
hesitate who had the interest of the country at heart? Moreover, 
Clay's future interests pointed to Adams, who was really unpopular 
in the North and would hardly be able to perpetuate his leadership 



38o THE LAST OF THE VIRGINIA DYNASTY 

more than four years. In the readjustment of parties, which was 
inevitable, it was more likely that the older states of the North would 
unite with Clay, popular in the Northwest, than with Jackson, popular 
in the Southwest. Clay was now the most outspoken champion of 
the tariff. Was it not more natural for him to expect support in the 
North, where the manufactures were rapidly increasing, than in the 
South, where they could not hope to succeed ? All these arguments 
were urged upon him by the friends of Adams, from the time congress 
met early in December. He seems to have made up his mind from that 
time, but he said nothing. Meanwhile the friends of Jackson besought 
him to favor their candidate as a Western man and as the candidate 
who had the highest number of votes in the recent election. To all 
their appeals he gave good-humored attention, but was careful to 
promise nothing. 

The number of states was then twenty-four, and the successful candi- 
date must have a majority, or thirteen. Crawford had four states 
without dispute, Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina, and Delaware, 
Th G ^^^ heart of the old Virginia group. Adams had seven, 

in Confess. ^^^ England and Maryland, the old federahst strong- 
hold. Jackson had Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi, 
representing the new Southwest, South Carolina, a result of his coopera- 
tion with Calhoun, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey, which he and 
Calhoun had wrung from the ancient combination. This group 
was rather incongruous, and had no other common bond than its 
opposition to the Virginia school, from which its component parts 
had formerly received little recognition. Jackson also had Indiana, 
for local reasons, which gave him a total of seven. Of the other six 
Clay was able to control four, — Kentucky, Ohio, Missouri, and Louisi- 
ana. Illinois, with only one representative, hung for a time in the 
balance, and then came over to Adams, who, with Clay's four, now had 
twelve states, and lacked only one of a majority ; and that one was 
New York, whose delegation in the house was badly divided. 

Half of New York's delegation were for Adams, the rest for Jackson 
and Crawford. The leader of the Crawford men was Van Buren, 
then a senator. He hoped the state's vote would remain 
Dedd^ruie ^'^^^^'^ *^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ballot. Thus there would be no choice 
Election. ^n that ballot, which would give him opportunity at a later 
time to cast the New York vote for Adams and secure 
for himself the honor of president-maker. It was a shrewd scheme, 
and if successful, would have lessened Clay's prestige. But at the 
last moment one of Crawford's New York supporters. General Van 
Rensselaer, changed to Adams, which gave that state to the New 
Englander and made him president on the first ballot. Much seems 
to have depended on this action ; for if Van Buren could have delivered 
the Crawford group to Adams, they must have supported his admin- 
istration for a while, possibly for a long time. As it was, they 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 381 

remained unattached for a year, and then joined the opposition. In 
1828 they were, under Van Buren's leadership, an important element 
of the party which followed Jackson. 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

The general works on the period covered in this chapter are the Histories by 
McMaster, Schouler, and Wilson (see page 312) ; Babcock, Rise of American Nation- 
ality (1Q06); Turner, Rise of the New West (igo6), the chapters on social develop- 
ment are especially good; Burgess, The Middle Period (1897), the outline is good; 
Stanwood, History of the Presidency (1898) ; Hart, American History told by Con- 
temporaries, vol. Ill (1906) ; and T/te Cambridge Modern History, vol. VII (1903), 
Perkins, Historical Sketches of the United States, iSi 5-1830 (1830), is a reliable con- 
temporary work, but it is scarce. Besides the biographies and writings of Jefferson, 
Madison, Monroe, and King (see page 275), and those of John Quincy Adams, Clay, 
and Wirt (see page 312), much assistance can be had from Bassett, Life of Andrew 
Jackson, 2 vols. (1911); Parton, Life of Andrew Jackson, 3 vols, (i860); Meigs, 
Life of Benton (1904) ; Hunt, Life of Calhoun (1907) ; Works of Calhoun, 6 vols. 
(1853-1855) ; Letters of Calhoun (Jameson, ed., 1899) ; and Shipp, Life of W. H. 
Crawford (1909). The legislative and executive sources are the same as for the 
preceding chapter. Niles' Weekly Register (1811-1849) and The North American 
Review (1815-) are the important periodicals for the period. 

The Bank of the United States. Catterall, The Second Bank of the United Stales 
(1903), contains a good bibliography; Clark and Hall, Legislative and Documentary 
History of tlie Bank of the United States (1832) ; Sumner, History of Banking in all 
Nations, 4 vols. (1896), volume I deals with banks in the United States; Mac- 
Donald, Select Documents (1907), No. Tf^, presents the charter of the bank. 

The Missouri Compromise. Woodburn, Historical Significance of the Missouri 
Compromise (American Hist. Association Report, 1893), is the best narrative treat- 
ment. The debates are in Annals of Congress for 1819, 1820, and 1821. The bill 
with the important amendments is in MacDonald, Select Documents (1907). 
The background of the incident is in Carr, Missouri (1888), but the treatment leaves 
much to be desired. An interesting view of the life in early Missouri can be had 
from Flint, Condensed History and Geography of the Western States, 2 vols. (1828), and 
History and Geography of the Mississippi Valley, 2 vols. (1832). 

The Monroe Doctrine. Reddaway, The Monroe Doctrine (1898 and 1906), very 
good; Ford, John Quincy Adams, his Connection with the Monroe Doctrine (Mass. 
Hist. Soc. Proceedings, 1902) ; Rush, Memoranda of a Residence at the Court of 
London from iSig to 1S25 (1845). For the British side see Stapleton, Political Life 
of George Canning, 3 vols. (1831); Official Correspondence of George Canning, 2 
vols. (1887). For the Spanish American revolt and its relations to the United States 
see: Paxson, The htdependence of the South American Republics (1903); Latane, 
Diplomatic Relations of the United States and South America (1900) ; Callahan, Cuba 
and International Relations (1899). For a less detailed treatment see Hart, Foun- 
dations of American Foreign Policy (1901) ; and Moore, Digest of International Law, 
5 vols. (1906). The Official Correspondence is in American State Papers, Foreign 
Afairs, vol. V. Oilman, Life of James Monroe (1883), has a bibliography by J. 
Franklin Jameson. 

For Independent Reading 

Mrs. Smith, The First Forty Years of Washington Society (1906) ; Chittenden, 
The American Fur Trade of the Far West, 3 vols. (1902) ; Drake, Making of the Great 
West (1884) ; Schurz, Life of Henry Clay, 2 vols. (1887) ; Quincy, Figures of the 
Past (1883) ; Cobbett. A Year's Residence in the United States (1818-1819). 



CHAPTER XVIII 

THE ADMINISTRATION OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 

Party Formation under John Quincy Adams 

Adams's first action was to make Clay secretary of state ; notice 
that henceforth the two men would act together. The Jackson- 
Calhoun group, resenting the coalition which had defeated 
Clay and their leader, began a violent opposition. They voted 
Unite. against the confirmation of Clay, and returned to their 

homes full of scorn at what they proclaimed a corrupt 
bargain to obtain the presidency. The mass of people, to whom Jack- 
son was a hero, believed the charge and began to look to the day of 
vindication. Meanwhile, it was evident that Crawford's health 
would not be reestablished, and there was much anxiety about the 

future conduct of his followers. Van Buren was their 
Crawford- leader, and was in close relation with the Virginians and the 
Off. Georgian, who spoke for the Southern half of the group. 

Had they divided, he might have gone for Adams, but it 
was decided that both sections should act together. 

For leadership the group now looked to Van Buren, and for a year 
he gave no intimation of what he would do. Then came Adams's 

first annual message, a strongly national document. It 

Adams's advocated internal improvements and a generally paternal 

'" j^°" attitude of the government in many measures to promote 

sage. the common welfare. It was as gall to the old republicans, 

who, strong in the Virginia faith, had gone with Crawford. 
Until that time Van Buren had coquetted with the Adams party : 

if he had continued that course, he would have had no 
Cra^^ord- following outside his own state. He now shifted position, 
Jackson! ^^^ before the winter of 182 5- 1826 was over was aiding 

the Jackson men in their onslaught on the president. 
Van Buren's accession to the Jackson party was welcome, for dis- 
sension was already beginning between the Tennesseeans and the 

South Carolinians. Calhoun was an experienced public 
^*d Cad'*° man, Jackson was inexperienced. It angered the followers 
houn. ' ^^ th^ latter to hear it said that Calhoun's wisdom would 

have to save the party. It seemed to them that the 
junior partner was seeking to assume the functions of the senior. 
Now Van Buren was as skillful a leader as Calhoun, and not so self- 

382 



BREAKING DOWN ADAMS 383 

assertive. From the time he became a Jackson man he was in close 
association with the pecuHarly Jackson group, and thenceforth the 
party contained a factional conflict which only the necessity of meeting 
a common danger kept within bounds. 

Until 1829 all factions acted together in the bitterest warfare on 
Adams. He was an honest and able president, but he and his secre- 
tary must be broken down. The first occasion was the 
annual message, in which Adams gave forth his national ^»**®'' ^" 
program. JefTerson had thought the government's func- Adam^s 
tions should be few, and much should be left to individual 
initiative. Adams frankly announced another policy. Government, 
he said, should seek to improve the condition of the citizens. Roads 
and canals should be built, a national university should be founded, 
scientific discoveries should be promoted, distant seas should be 
explored, and observatories, "light-houses of the skies," should be 
established. All this was recommended in an academic sense. There 
was also high praise for internal improvements and for a nationally 
organized militia. On these features of the message the opposition 
fell furiously. Did they not show, it was said, that Adams was mad 
for concentration ? The echoes of the attack were heard in every 
part of the country, the state rights men leading the van. 

Immediately came a specific measure on which the opposition could 
rally. Bolivar, leader of the South American revolutionists, had 
conceived a plan for a congress of delegates from the new 
states north and south of the Isthmus of Panama, and in V^^ 
the spring of 1825 Clay was asked if the United States congress, 
would accept an invitation to attend. The object of the 
meeting was not clearly stated, but Clay saw in it an opportunity 
to extend American influence, and favored an acceptance. Adams 
was more cautious, and it was decided to ask for more definite informa- 
tion about the objects of the meeting. In the autumn came formal 
invitations to attend a congress at Panama. They came from 
Mexico, Guatemala, and Colombia, and named as objects of considera- 
tion resistance to the attempts of European powers to interfere in 
America, the recognition of Hayti, the regulation of the slave trade, 
and the formation of an American league to offset the continental 
alliance in the Old World. This announcement seems hardly candid ; 
for the Colombian official press declared that the object of the congress 
was to form a league to oppose Spain, to liberate Cuba and Porto Rico, 
and to execute the Monroe Doctrine. Clay's imagination was warm 
and his diplomacy was aggressive. He welcomed the opportunity to 
extend the commercial and political interests of his country, and he 
carried the more cautious Adams with him. Accordingly, a special 
message went from the president to congress, December 26, announcing 
the nomination of delegates and asking that appropriations be made 
to pay their expenses. It disclaimed an intention to incur obligations 



384 THE ADMINISTRATION OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 

of a belligerent kind or to enter into a league of defense with the 
states represented at the congress, but it left badly defined the 
objects proposed for consideration. 

Then came an excited debate. The Jackson group questioned 
the constitutionality of the president's action, said he made too much 

of Monroe's recently announced Doctrine, and pointed 
Attitude of ^^^ ^^la,^ dire disaster awaited the slave states if the nation 
Men. participated in a congress in which sat representatives of 

the black republic of Hayti and at which plans would be 
made to free Cuba and Porto Rico from Spain and from the regime of 
slavery. The last argument was far-fetched, but it appealed to the 
South. It amounted to saying that if the government gave its coun- 
tenance to the movement for emancipation in the Spanish American 
communities, it would thereby weaken the cause of slavery in the 
South, and that this was an interference with local institutions. Such 
reasoning could only have been intended to arouse the Southerners 
against the administration. It had little effect in congress. The 
senate confirmed the nominations and the house after a hot debate 
voted the money for expenses. At last the representatives set out for 
the isthmus, but the debates in congress had so delayed them that it 
was summer, 1826, before they departed. One of them died on the 
way, and the other arrived to find that the congress, after a fruitless 
session, had adjourned, to meet again at Tacubaya. He lingered until 
the appointed day, but when it arrived internal commotions reigned, 
and the congress did not assemble. 

As to political significance the Panama incident was important. 
It furnished a rall3dng point for the "friends of Jackson," and their 

strength is shown by the votes of 24 to 19 in the senate and 
^f^}f^T*°*^^ 134 to 60 in the house. Van Buren is said to have re- 
cident. °" marked: "If they had only taken the other side and 

refused the mission, we should have had them." The 
debate, through the use made by the Jackson men of the slavery 
argument, tended to bring all the old Virginia following in the South 
into one alliance with the Tennesseean at the head. 

The Tariff and the Development of Sectionalism 

In 18 16 the South accepted the protective tariff, but it soon had 
reason to regret it. The westward migration injured all the old 

Atlantic states, north and south ; but in New England the 
Effects of loss was balanced by the growth of manufactures. In 
N ^ 3""^ ' t.he South was no such compensatory process, and land 
South! and values fell steadily. The steady fall in the price of cotton 
West.' through the rapid extension of its area of cultivation in the 

Gulf region increased the suffering. Then arose a Southern 
cry that it was all due to the evident inequality of the tariff, which 



PROGRESS OF THE TARIFF 385 

built up the North at the expense of the parts in which the people had 
no manufactures, but paid ever higher prices for their supplies. The 
West was in the same position logically, but it did not feel the burden 
in the same way. In the first place the continued improvement in 
transportation tended to lower prices of supplies, while land values 
naturally rose with the increase of population, and thus the burden 
was not apparent. Besides this, the prevalent idea in the West was 
confidence in the future of America. Imagination was keen on the 
subject, and the people readily adopted the theory of the home market. 
Let us have manufactures to develop our own cities, which will 
purchase our own raw product, said Clay, in announcing his famous 
"American System," and the idea found ready popular response. 
Add to this the fact that the protectionists wove into their system 
protective rates for raw wool and hemp, articles produced by the 
Western farmers, and we shall see why the Western farmers tolerated 
a system which their Southern brethren thought unjust. 

In 1S19 occurred a severe panic. A period of prosperity and 
feverish speculation followed the war of 181 2, credit was 
expanded, and the inevitable collapse came surely. Now Growing 
arose a cry of hard times. Banks were embarrassed, protection- 
agricultural products sold at lower prices, labor was ists. 
unemployed, and manufacturers suffered from competition 
with foreign goods produced at stagnation prices. Then arose a 
demand for further tariff legislation, and the result was the tariff bill 
of 1820. It provided for an increase in most of the schedules, espe- 
cially in those on woollens, cotton goods, iron, and hemp. It passed 
the house, but failed in the senate by one vote. In the former body 
it received all the votes from the Northwest, and all but one from 
the Middle states. All but five of the votes from the older South were 
against it and all but four of those from the Southwest, including 
Kentucky. The parts of New England which represented the older 
commercial and farming interests were against it, while those which 
favored the manufacturers were for it. Thus, the agricultural South 
and Southwest and the commercial and agricultural parts of the 
Northeast were opposed to protection, and the manufacturing and 
agricultural Middle states and the Northwest were for it. Defeated 
by so close a vote, it was inevitable that the measure should come up 
again. 

Several attempts to take up the tariff followed the bill of 1820, but 
none succeeded until 1824, when an act was carried through the house 
by a vote of 107 to 105 and through the senate by a vote -. .^ y 
of 25 to 21. It did not provide as high duties as those of ^j 1824.*^ 
the defeated bill of 1820. By raising the rates on hemp it 
got the entire vote of Kentucky, and it had the solid support of the 
Northwest, whose growth in population gave the protectionists a con- 
siderable advantage as compared with the former vote. It also raised 



386 THE ADMINISTRATION OF JOHN QUINCY AD-\MS 

the duty on raw wool, which was largely produced in the Northwest. 
Here again was seen a strong opposition in the South and Southwest, 
and New England was again divided, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, 
and Maine casting in opposition 22 of their 25 votes in the house. In 
these states the commercial interests were in political control, and 
Webster, voicing their wishes, made an excellent speech against the 
bill. Every vote of the Northwest and of Kentucky was in the affirm- 
ative and every vote of the South and the Southwest, except three 
from Maryland, one from Virginia, and two from Tennessee, was in 
the negative. Save for New England, the tariff had become a sec- 
tional issue. 

The bill of 1824 was a compromise, and the protectionists were 
resolved to make another effort. In 1827 a woollens bill was intro- 
duced, raising the rates on both the manufactured article 
Attempted ^j^^ ^^le raw product. It passed the house, but was 
1827. defeated in the senate by the casting vote of Calhoun, the 

vice-president. But the manufacturers did not lose heart. 
In the summer of the same year they held at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 
a great convention, at which it was agreed to frame a bill in which all 
interests were represented and to try to induce congress to pass it. 
Meanwhile, the press teemed with arguments for and against protec- 
tion, and feeling became high. 

Such was the situation when congress met in December, 1827, the 
Jackson party in control in the house. Divided nearly equally 
between friends and opponents of the tariff, they must 
of^i828^^ suffer severely did not some astute politician devise a 
plan of escape. Keeping their leader in the background, 
they prepared in committee a bill which should be objectionable to 
New England but satisfactory to the Middle states. It lowered the 
rates on the medium priced woollens and raised them on molasses and 
articles used in ship building, all of which injured New England 
interests ; and if Adams approved, as he must do or lose the support 
of the Middle states, he would suffer in his own section. It was ex- 
pected that efforts would be made to amend, and all the Jackson men. 
Northern and Southern, agreed to reject amendments and force the 
bill to a vote as it came from committee. They kept their agreement, 
spite of the bitter jibes of the New Englanders. But at last the 
unexpected happened: enough New Englanders voted "aye" to 
pass the bill with the support of the Jackson men of the North and 
the high tariff men of the North and Northwest. The result left Jack- 
son untouched by unpopularity. His Northern friends could point 
to their votes to show that they favored the tariff, and his Southern , 
friends could point to their solid vote against it to show that they had 
fought ably to defeat it. John Randqlph pointedly said that the bill 
"referred to manufactures of no sort or kind, but the manufacture of a 
President of the United States." But it was an unfair measure, and 



THE TARIFF AND NULLIFICATION 387 

was popularly called "the tariff of abominations." In the senate the 
woollen schedule was increased, and this secured better recognition 
from New England. Webster, now a senator from Massachusetts, 
voted for the bill, announcing that manufactures had progressed so 
far in his section that protection was henceforth its chief interest. 
It was a correct assertion. The long opposition between commerce 
and manufactures in New England was at an end, and the latter had 
triumphed. This last stronghold of antitariff sentiment in the North 
had surrendered. The tariff was now wholly a sectional policy. 

This meant that the South had lost. Every one expected that the 
fight would soon be renewed, and her leaders were actively engaged 
in formulating an opposition which would stay the victors 
in what was then considered a selfish and unequal policy. South 
In this process Virginia took an attitude of inactivity. Carolina 
Not herself a cotton-raising state, and lacking very able southern 
leaders, she allowed the more positive South Carolinians Leadership, 
to take the initiative. From that time the cotton states 
dominated the Southern policy, and Calhoun, who was soon to be at 
odds with Jackson, became its spokesman. 

The weapon with which South Carolina proposed to secure success 
was nullification, as the event showed, too extreme a measure to com- 
m^and the support even of the South. Its inception goes 
back to the Crawford faction in the state, committed to 2",f!? °' 
state rights and hostile to the national policy of Calhoun. ^QJ^ 
They became outspoken with the enactment of the tariff 
of 1824 and held many vehement meetings of protest. They gave 
their cause a constitutional bias, declaring that neither protection nor 
internal improvements were justified by the fundamental law. Cal- 
houn saw the growing feeling with alarm. He must join, or fight it. 
He did not hesitate long. By defeating the woollens bill of 1827 he 
indicated his preference for the support of his own state, while he lost 
that of the North. In this year appeared "The Crisis," a series of 
letters by Turnbull, an extreme state rights man, counselling that 
South Carolina should "resist oppression." He did not say how this 
should be done, but the inference is that he wished her to use force. 
In the same spirit were many of his fellow citizens, but they objected 
to using force. A more pacific way was suggested by Calhoun, who 
in 1828 wrote a paper which came to be known as "The South Carolina 
Exposition." It was prepared at the request of the state rights party 
and was submitted to the legislature as the report of a committee on 
relations with the federal government. Calhoun's authorship was 
not revealed at the time, but it was suspected. 

"The Exposition" harked back to the Virginia and Kentucky 
Resolutions, 1798. It declared: (i) that the union was a compact of 
equal states ; (2) that the federal government, created by the states, 
was their agent to carry out what it had been commissioned to do; 



388 THE ADMINISTRATION OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 

(3) that the constitution was its body of instructions ; (4) that the 
action of the agent was null when it violated the instruction ; and 
(5) that it was for the state to determine when the in- 
N^n°fi^ structions were violated. Applying this doctrine, it was 

tion. ^^^"^ ^^^t ^^^ protective tariff was not authorized in the con- 

stitution, and that South Carolina, a sovereign state, might 
lawfully and without incurring any serious penalty resist its execution 
within her borders. This declaration was not adopted by the legis- 
lature, but it was widely published, and found ready acceptance by a 
people exasperated by the steady increase of a species of taxation which 
awarded to South Carolina none of its advantages and all of its 
burdens. To put it into practice was to reduce the national authority 
to a nullity. Calhoun well knew this, but he thought that the prin- 
ciple once granted, congress would never make laws which would 
furnish the opportunity to put the theory into force. If it was said 
that the states could not be trusted to exercise nullification moderately, 
the reply was that supreme authority was with the state and that it 
was as reasonable to trust the state to use it moderately as the federal 
government, which the nationalists wished to make supreme. 

Having formulated this doctrine, the South Carolinians rested on 
their oars, for the necessity for putting it into operation was not 
immediately apparent. They looked to the approaching 
No Inter- election with much confidence ; for was not Jackson, the 
tem'^at " Probable victor, a Southern man and a cotton planter? 
Execution, and was not Calhoun, ranking second in his party, the 
highest defender of nulUfication ? And if the election were 
favorable, might not all come right without an open contest ? 

The Election of 1828 

In 1825 many men thought that the candidacy of Jackson was a 
bit of enthusiasm which would subside with his defeat. The union 
of his own and Calhoun's followers with those of Crawford 
"^*L^^d° *^ ^°^^ showed they were mistaken. It was a strong com- 
bination, and kept a united front to its enemy, spite of the 
slumbering internal feud. Jackson proved a good leader. He was 
impetuous by temperament, his career was filled with quarrels, and 
his foes hoped and his friends feared he would commit some deed 
of anger which would overwhelm him in disgrace. But Jackson in 
the pursuit of his own affairs and Jackson as a national figure were 
distinct personalities. Though he chafed inwardly at the attacks 
showered on him, he was outwardly calm and dignified. In their hope 
of arousing him, the enemy went so far as to charge that his marriage 
was contracted at the expense of the happiness of another home. In 
other times this would have brought from him the fiercest denuncia- 
tion, but he realized the tactics behind the charge and left the task 



CHARGES AGAINST ADAMS 389 

of dispelling the calumny to his friends. He had married a divorced 
wife, but was in no sense the cause of her separation from her husband. 
Thus he came to the end of his campaign without misadventure of the 
kind expected. To his supporters he was an abused man, a great and 
good defender of his country, an upright citizen, and the champion of 
the people against an aristocracy indifferent to the welfare of the 
people. 

Besides his own popularity, the voters were influenced by three 
kinds of arguments directed to them by the vigorous Jackson leaders: 
I. The first was the bargain and corruption cry. No 
dispassionate man objected to whatever understanding ^: ^^ .^^ 
may have been made between Adams and Clay in the 
winter of 1824-1825, but to the people at large it had enough support 
in fact to make it appear that very wicked things were going on at 
Washington, where, as they thought, politicians sold the offices for 
their own advantage. 2. It was urged that the rights of the states 
were jeopardized by the centralizing policy of a New Eng- 
land president, an argument which appealed strongly to i". jA^*® 
the old Jeffersonian school. To support it was Adams's 
first annual message, as well as the demand for internal improvements 
and for a high tariff. Was it not time, said the objectors, to check a 
process which, if continued, would eventually place the national 
government in the hands of a selfish majority to tyrannize over the 
minority ? 

3. Another plan of attack was to accuse Adams of abusing the 
patronage. The charge was unfounded, for no president had been 
less inclined to appoint men for his own advantage. He 
was rigidly honest, and lost support by refusing to appoint p ® 
men because they worked for his reelection. One of them 
expressed his disgust by telling him to his face that he might be right 
but he would not be reelected. Yet Adams persisted, even retaining 
in his confidence McLean, a Calhoun supporter, who as postmaster- 
general used his large patronage in the interest of the opposition. In 
truth, the opinion of the country ran strongly for political appoint- 
ments. Political leaders would not work in the election if they did 
not have assurance of reward. Edward Everett expressed the feel- 
ing of every shrewd observer when he said in 182S : "For an Admin- 
istration then to bestow its patronage, without distinction of party, is 
to court its own destruction." Thus, while Adams lost the support 
of his own friends, he was charged with abusing the patronage, and 
the country came to believe that the cause of good government de- 
manded that a party be placed in power which, as one Jackson man 
expressed it, would "cleanse the Augean stables." 

Arguments like these pleased the mass of citizens. The government 
had long been based on the idea that the best men should be chosen 
to represent the people. The Jackson leaders declared that the 



390 THE ADMINISTRATION OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 

representatives had ceased to act as upright agents. They declared 
that the remedy ■was to replace the old leaders by others closely 
responsive to the popular will. So far as they utilized the Crawford 
and Calhoun organizations they had trained leaders ; but here, as in 
the formation of all new parties, they had many others who had little 
experience in politics, men of vehement prejudices and radical ideas. 
Such was the earliest composition of the Jacksonian democracy. 

On the other side were ranged the forces of conservatism. The 
commercial classes, the manufacturers generally in the Middle states, 

the city people, and the larger landowners, had little sym- 
T e dams p^j^j^y -^vith the cause of a Western military hero in whose 

name class was set against class. With them worked the 
followers of Clay, strongest in the Northwest, and the Adams men, 
strongest in New England, whose instincts likewise were for conserva- 
tive policies. Adams was their logical candidate for the presidency, 
and Richard Rush, of Pennsylvania, ran with him for the vice-presi- 
dency. For the second place the Jackson men supported Calhoun. 

As the campaign progressed, it was evident that Jackson's prospects 
were good. Adams had New England, but hardly anything else. Not 

even Clay's influence could carry the West for him against 
^j . such a popular hero as Jackson. The South stood together, 

and with it went Pennsylvania, destined for many years to 
be a democratic stronghold. In New York the commercial class 
favored Adams, but the farmers of the interior, marshaled by the 
skillful Van Buren, were for Jackson. They were rent in twain, how- 
ever, by the antimasonic movement, and not even Van Buren could 
promise a solid Jackson vote from the state. Of its 36 votes, as it fell 
out, 16 went for Adams and the rest for Jackson. Thus was revived 
under the leadership of Jackson that old combination of the South 
and the great Central states under which the Virginia regime was long 
in power. The total vote was 178 for Jackson and 83 for Adams. 
The latter got every New England vote but one in Maine, with 6 in 
Maryland, 8 in New Jersey, 3 in Delaware, and 16 in New York. He 
had none from the region south of the Potomac and west of the 
Alleghanies. The result was the defeat of one of the most conscien- 
tious of presidents because he could not withstand the tide of popular 
government then running strong, a movement much like that which 
carried his father and the federalist party to destruction in 1800. 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

The general works and sources continue as for chapter XVII ; and the same is true 
of biographies of leading men, to which add Jervey, Life of Robert Y. Hayne (1909). 
The political history of Adams's administration is treated in Turner, Rise of the 
New West (1906) ; McMaster, History of the People of the United Stales, vol. V 
(1900) ; and Bassett, Life of Andrew Jackson, vol. II (191 1). 

On the growth of the state rights feeling see Hunt, Life of Calhoun (1907); 
V\n\V['is,Georgia and Slate Rights {km. Hist. Assn. Report, i90i,voI. II) ; Ames,State 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 391 

Documents on Federal Relations, Nos. 3-5 (1900-1905) ; Houston, Nullification in 
South Carolina (Harvard Hist. Studies, 1893) ; Brown, The Lower South in Americatt 
History (1902), a most suggestive essay; Calhoun, The South Carolina Exposi- 
tion {Works, vol. VI, 1854) ; and Jervey, Life of Robert Y. Hayne (1909). 

On the tariff a work favorable to the protectionists is Stanwood, American 
TariJJ Controversies, 2 vols. (1^03) ; and on the opposite side Taussig, Tarijf History 
of the United States (1893, new ed. 1900). The memorials from the manufactures 
and others are in American State Papers, Finance, vols. HI-V. See also Niles, 
Weekly Register for the years involved. 

For Independent Reading 

Morse, John Quincy Adams (1882) ; McMaster, Daniel Webster (1902) ; Bassett, 
Life of Andrew Jackson, 2 vols. (191 1); Brown, The Lower South in American 
History (1902); and Shepard, Van Buren (1892). 



CHAPTER XIX 

PROBLEMS OF JACKSON'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 

The New President in Charge 

March 4, 1829, Washington was filled with visitors come to see the 
" people's champion " take the oath of office. They covered the slopes 
of Capitol Hill from where the peace monument now 
Inaugura- stands to the crest, where a picket fence inclosed the open 
Jackson. square which now separates the capitol from the library 
of congress. Within this yard another great crowd 
awaited the inaugural ceremony from the east portico. Just before 
noon the watchers on the slope saw a knot of gentlemen issue from a 
hotel on the avenue and move slowly up the hill. In the midst walked 
Jackson, bareheaded, tall and erect, his white hair conspicuous above 
the shoulders of his companions. A few minutes later he had entered 
the building, and in a short time stood before the great crowd in the 
inclosure and took the oath which John Marshall administered. 
Then came an inaugural address, safely scanned beforehand by his 
advisers, lest it say something which would give the carping opposi- 
tion an opportunity to upbraid him. All went well. The spectacle 
was so impressive that Francis Scott Key, who stood at a gate of the 
picket fence, exclaimed: "It is beautiful, it is sublime !" The oath 
taken, the president mounted his horse and rode to the White House, 
where a reception was tendered to any one who chose to come. 

Now followed a saturnalia. Statesmen and stable-boys, fine ladies 
and washerwomen, white people and blacks, all pushed into the 
mansion, grasped the hand of the president, if they could 
tion ^^^^' reach him, and rushed upon the waiters serving refresh- 
ments. From the rabble he was glad to escape by a side 
door, but the jostling crowd surged through the rooms, upsetting the 
trays in the hands of the servants, breaking the dishes, and leaping on 
the furniture in their eagerness to be served, until at last they were 
turned aside by some thoughtful person who had tubs of punch carried 
to the lawns, whither the mob quickly followed. Thus was inaugu- 
rated the rule of the democracy. 

The cabinet was already announced. At the head was 

Cabinet ^^^ Buren, secretary of state, whom most persons thought 

an excellent selection. The others were nearly evenly 

divided between his own followers and the friends of Calhoun. They 

had all been selected after much conference between the two factions, 

392 



DEMOCRACY AT THE HELM 393 

and it seems that Jackson had been forced to submit to such a 
choice. The fact shows how far the party had come to be a defi- 
nite organization, of which the president was only the leader. 
There was much disappointment, especially among the Virginians, 
whose state, save for a short time in Madison's presidency, had 
always had a seat in the cabinet since the beginning of the govern- 
ment. Not another Virginian was to sit there until the ill-starred 
administration of Tyler, himself a Virginian. The disappointed ones 
made the best they could of the situation, and some of them were 
later consoled with high diplomatic appointments. 

This cabinet was not to be a body of political advisers. The 
members who supported Calhoun had not the president's confidence 
to the same extent as Van Buren, Eaton, and Barry, the 
inefficient postmaster-general. These men, with W. B. J^. 
Lewis, F. P. Blair, J. A. Hamilton, A. J. Donelson, cabinet." 
and some others, established such superior influence 
that they were dubbed the "Kitchen Cabinet." They consti- 
tuted a private cabal in the interest of Van Buren. Flatterers 
and others who sought favors secured its influence. It was the 
real council of the anti-Calhoun faction until the reorganiza- 
tion of the cabinet in 1831 enabled the president to have a cab- 
inet in which no Calhounite had place. With that change he 
consulted his regular advisers more freely, and the "Kitchen 
Cabinet" lost its importance. 

Among the inauguration visitors were a vast number of office 
seekers. The impression that Adams officials would be removed was 
general, and every Jackson man who could do so was 
present with petitions for reward for party service. Jack- pp°/° " 
son was little inclined to resent the pressure brought to 
bear upon him. He announced frankly his belief in rotation in office, 
saying that one honest citizen was as capable as another of serving 
the public. He believed the campaign charges that the old officials 
were largely incompetent or touched with partisanship. It must be 
remembered that the old method of selecting officials was by personal 
recommendation, that many old men were in office who were no longer 
able to do the duty assigned to them, which facts gave some basis for 
the desire to adopt a new system. The treasury, we are told, was 
popularly called by residents of Washington "the octogenarian depart- 
ment." The removals which followed the inauguration were many 
more than had occurred before that time, but not so many as were 
made by later presidents. Most of Jackson's appointees were inex- 
perienced men, many of them were incompetent, and a few proved 
dishonest. The system he inaugurated had previously grown up in 
several states, notably in New York. It was characterized by Marcy, 
of New York, in the phrase, later generally adopted, " To the victors 
belong the spoils! " 



394 JACKSON'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 

The selection of one member of the cabinet brought out an unex- 
pected protest. Senator John H. Eaton, of Tennessee, a staunch 

friend of Jackson's, was made secretary of war. January i, 
g "' 1829, he was married to Mrs. Timberlake, daughter of a 

Washington tavern-keeper, who was reported to have had 
many adventures, a woman whom the society of the city would not 
receive. Remonstrances were made to Jackson against bringing into 
his oflEicial family one who would undoubtedly be rejected socially. 
He believed her innocent, and refused to discriminate against her, 
saying he came to Washington to make a cabinet in the interest of 
the country and not to please the ladies of the capital. Trouble began 
immediately, but as official entertainments were not held until society 
returned to Washington after the summer season was past, an open 
break was deferred until the fall. Then Jackson gave a dinner, to 
which all the invited ones came. But their restrained looks showed 
their feelings toward Mrs. Eaton. When other cabinet officers 
gave dinners, some members refused to attend. At other places Mrs. 
Eaton was treated so coolly that before the end of the winter she ceased 
to accept invitations. Jackson was deeply offended. He took the 
conduct of society as an affront to himself. He thought a combina- 
tion was made to discredit his administration. 

So far, this was only a social affair, but it soon assumed a political 
aspect. Van Buren was a widower. He had no family to object 

to Mrs. Eaton, and won the regard of the president by 
Political conspicuous attentions to her on every possible occasion, 
of^e '^^^'^^ Of those who took the opposite course, Mrs. Calhoun was 
Matter. the leader, and she was supported by the wives of several 

other cabinet members. Thus Jackson came to associate 
the vice-president with what he called the conspiracy, and he drew 
nearer to the friends of Van Buren. He called the protesting cabinet 
members before him and told them he expected them to induce their 
wives to treat more courteously the wife of his friend. The only 
reply they made was that they could not interfere with the social 
affairs of their families. There was no improvement in the situation of 
the unhappy woman, and the breach in the administration party grew 
steadily wider. 

Internal Improvements Checked 

While this affair progressed, Van Buren was able to give his rival 
another deadly thrust by bringing the president over to the opposi- 
tion to internal improvements, whose champion Calhoun 
Calhoun \y^^ jQj^g been. The vice-president was the author of the 
Improve-"^ bonus bill, 181 7 (see page 365), which Madison vetoed 
ments. on constitutional grounds. But the friends of improve- 

ments persisted, and in 1819 passed resolutions calling 
on the secretary of war, Calhoun, to report on the roads necessary for 



THE MAYSVILLE VETO 395 

military defense. The secretary complied, but his comprehensive 
scheme was not acted upon. However, so many appropriations were 
made for single works that Monroe, himself a strict constructionist, 
decided to give the country another warning like that of Madison. 
Accordingly he vetoed, in 1822, a bill to establish toll-gates on, and 
otherwise to regulate, the Cumberland road, a great national highway 
designed to run from the Potomac to the capital of Missouri, then the 
westernmost state. Jackson was at that time in private life, but he 
wrote to Monroe, congratulating him on the veto. In 1824 a bill was 
passed directing the secretary of war to have made surveys of such 
roads and canals as were needed for national development. Next 
year Calhoun reported a system of roads and canals, the chief features 
of which were: (i) a canal from the Potomac to the Ohio, to be 
extended finally to Lake Erie, (2) an inland waterway along the coast 
from the Potomac to Boston harbor, and (3) a national highway from 
New Orleans to Washington. Besides these works he pointed out 
others which ought to be undertaken, some in the South, and some in 
the West. To the opponents of improvements it seemed a bid for the 
support of all the parts of the country which would be affected. 
Nothing was done to carry out this scheme while Adams was president, 
but it was still in the minds of men at the accession of Jackson. The 
large group who favored it, strong especially in the Middle and North- 
western states, looked to Calhoun, second in the party and probable 
successor in 1S32, to carry it out. If the weight of Jackson's opposi- 
tion could be aroused, it would weaken the scheme and at the same 
time deal a hard blow to the hopes of Calhoun. 

Van Buren was the daily companion of the president. He was not 
a great statesman, but he had tact and common sense, and Jackson, 
who knew little about practical administration, asked 
his advice continually. The two men talked freely about '^^^f' ^Y^" 
the dangers they believed to exist in the growing tendency ^^^^ ' 
to get congress to vote money for roads and canals which 
were purely local, and it was decided that at the first good opportu- 
nity a veto should be given which would again call attention to the evils 
in the practice. Soon afterwards a bill was introduced to authorize 
the government to take stock in a road from Maysville, Kentucky, 
to Lexington, in the same state. The road was purely local, and a 
veto of it could be easily defended. Its passage through the two 
houses was carefully watched from the White House, and the veto 
was duly sent May 27, 1830. Many of the president's best friends 
feared the consequences, saying that it would alienate Pennsylvania 
and the West. He replied that it was only the contractors and land- 
boomers, with the politicians who feared them, that opposed the veto, 
and that the people at large would approve the measure. The news 
from the people confirmed this foresight. The Maysville veto proved 
one of the popular measures of Jackson's career. In delivering it he 



396 JACKSON'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 

showed one of his most characteristic traits, his ability to divine what 
the people wished and his willingness to appeal to them over the heads 
of the politicians. 

After rejecting the Maysville bill Jackson objected to many similar 
measures. He effectively checked appropriations for roads in the 

states, although many were built in the territories. He 
Later His- (^[^ j^ot make the same objection to appropriations for 
terna° im- improving rivers and harbors, destined to be for many 
provements. years the congressman's means of getting benefits for his 

district. The veto came just when railroads were coming 
into use, the burden of constructing them was transferred to the 
states, which made, in the next generation, lavish gifts to such enter- 
prises. The rage for railroad construction at state expense led to much 
extravagance in the West and was a vital cause of the panic of 1837. 
After 1850 the Jackson policy was reversed, when great land grants 
began to be made for the construction of railroads, the most important 
being the grants in aid of the transcontinental roads during the civil 
war and immediately afterwards. 

Division in the Jacksonian Party 

In 1830 Calhoun was committed to state rights, the program of his 
friends in South Carolina, and he could not seriously object to the 

checking of internal improvements. In fact, the South 
^*d*D^'^^*^ supported the Maysville veto nearly unanimously. It 
Men. was more concerned in impeding the progress of protection ; 

and the doctrine of nullification, announced for that pur- 
pose, was in danger of becoming the general slogan of that section. 
Many Northern men felt that the doctrine ought to be opposed, and 
the great Hayne-Webster debate, which occurred at this time, gave 
them a feeling of relief, since it afforded the greatest champion of the 
union, Daniel Webster, an opportunity to place before the country 
the arguments for a stronger federal government. 

The occasion of this celebrated debate was some resolutions offered 
December 29, 1829, by Senator Foote, of Connecticut, looking to the 

restriction of land sales. The Western senators objected 
Resolution immediately, thinking that Foote merely wished to check 

the drain of Eastern population to the West. Benton, of 
Missouri, a forceful but bitter debater, took up the cause of the West 
in one of his characteristic speeches, and much feeling was aroused in 
the senate. Then the advocates of states rights thought they saw 
an opportunity to draw the West to their side. They wished to show 
that it was not strictly constitutional for the federal government to 
pass laws which bore hardly on any section, and that an attempt to 
do so was but in keeping with the policy of building up one section 
at the expense of another, a policy which must lead to hostility of 



HAYNE AND WEBSTER 397 

section against section with a resulting weakening of the bond of 
union. 

It was impossible to ignore the bearing of this argument on the 
Southern protest against the protective tariff. It was set forth with 
much skillf ulness by Hayne, of South Carolina, a ready and 
able debater, the equal, in the opinion of the Southerners, ^tf'^**'^ 
of any debater in the senate. Then Webster, senator from porth. 
Massachusetts, came to the defense of the North. He 
denied that his section wished to sacrifice to its own interest any other 
section, and resented with special force the charge that it was hostile 
to the West. Hayne had hinted that there was a constitutional way by 
which a state could undo an unauthorized act of oppression at the hands 
of the federal congress ; and Webster now boldly challenged the theory, 
his purpose being to force Hayne to a more specific declaration of his 
meaning. By this time the debate had ceased to be concerned with the 
sale of Western lands and had become a discussion of the fundamental 
principles of the constitution. The point at issue was : Can a State 
legally defy the laws of congress, however much it may think them 
unwarranted by the constitution ? 

Hayne could not well avoid Webster's challenge, and to do him jus- 
tice he had no desire to do so. All the state rights group were with 
him and waited confidently for his reply. Many times in debate their 
theory had been appealed to, but never had it been set forth in all its 
completeness by a master of the art of presentation. Their 
expectation was well known in the city and the chamber a^I^I^ ^ 
and galleries were crowded when on January 21, 1830, the 
Southern champion rose to make his great speech. He was a man of 
fine appearance and spoke with much grace, although he could utter 
the sharpest criticisms on an adversary. He was given to making his 
arguments personal, and resorted to the practice in this speech. In 
this respect his utterances were neither dignified nor able. But he 
soon passed on to the constitutional phase, where he spoke with better 
effect. He accepted the "South Carolina Exposition" of 1828 as 
sound doctrine, showed that it was in line with the Virginia and 
Kentucky resolutions of 1798, and affirmed that it was the doctrine 
that New England espoused when in Madison's administration she 
found herself, like the South in 1830, suffering from laws enacted by 
the majority in control of the national government. And then he took 
up the cause of the South with great earnestness. Is the federal gov- 
ernment, he asked, the judge of its own power? To assert the 
affirmative, whether the power be exercised by congress or by the 
supreme court, is to make the central government "a government with- 
out limitation of powers" ! It is to reduce the states to the level of 
mere corporations. He would speak a word for South Carolina. She 
was but seeking to preserve herself from measures which had pros- 
trated her industry and would soon impoverish the whole South ; she 



398 JACKSON'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 

sought to preserve the union of states as it was founded, and to save 
the states from usurpations which would leave them nothing they 
could call their own. 

Webster's reply was made on the 26th, the senate chamber being 
crowded to its utmost capacity. Tall, dignified, with a striking 
leonine face, a rich baritone voice, and a deliberate manner, 
Reply ^^ ^^^ easily the best orator in the senate. He met the 

personal thrusts of Hayne with a satirical courtesy which 
left nothing to be desired by the friends of the speaker, watching 
anxiously to see if their champion would meet the demands of the 
occasion. In this respect neither speaker was calm nor properly self- 
restrained, but even here Webster showed his mental superiority. 

It was in his presentation of constitutional argument that we find 
our chief satisfaction with the Northern champion. Frankly accept- 
ing the consolidation theory, he proceeded to combat the 
His Con- doctrine that a state may declare null a law of congress 
Argument, without an appeal to revolution. This doctrine, he said, 
rested on the false assumption that the federal government 
was the creature of twenty-four states, each with a will of its own, 
wills which were apt to be at variance with one another, the exercise 
of which would reduce the central government to an absurdity. But 
where lies true sovereignty but in the people for whom both the fed- 
eral and state governments are agents? Each government derives 
authority from the same source, each is supreme in its own sphere, and 
the constitution in all that it pretends to regulate is, by the authority of 
the sovereign people, the supreme law of the land. So far as the 
constitution restrains the states, in so far is the authority of the states 
not supreme. The constitution is a fact. Gentlemen may wish it had 
been made otherwise than it was made : with that we have nothing to 
do. It must be obeyed until it is changed. In one state, we may say, 
the tariff is declared an act of usurpation, in another it is declared con- 
stitutional ; how shall we reconcile the two points of view if we accept 
the theory that a state may pass on the matter ? If the general gov- 
ernment has no power to pass on the contending assertions, is it not 
"a rope of sand" ? It is not claimed that the federal government has 
unrestricted power. It has all the power given it in the constitution 
made by the people, all this and no more. Among the specified powers 
is the creation of a supreme judiciary to pass upon all questions arising 
under the constitution, and it is to this court and not to any state 
that we ought to refer the question of the power of congress to make 
any law it assumes to make. Suppose South Carolina should declare 
the tariff law null : must her agents not try to enforce the declaration ? 
But the federal government declares it legal, and must its agent not 
seek to enforce it? What would the result be but civil war? To 
oppose the execution of the law is treason. Can a state be allowed 
to commit treason with impunity? If the constitution is imperfect 



JACKSON AND NULLIFICATION 399 

it can be amended by the people who made it, but as long as it is law 
it should be obeyed. 

From this splendid debate each side withdrew with complacent feel- 
ings. The Southerners were pleased that their champion had set forth 
their views of state sovereignty, the Northerners took 
courage in seeing Webster support the glory and power of ^g^y^^^g 
the union by such masterly reasoning. But the debate, 
final as it was as a statement of theory, went beyond the practical 
situation. The country was not yet ready to follow the controversy to 
the end which Webster so clearly foresaw, to civil war. Each side 
treasured its own argument in memory for a more strenuous day, while 
the practical politician took up the tasks actually before him. Of 
this class were Jackson and Van Buren, generally supposed to lean 
to state rights, but in their inner hearts willing to see Calhoun 
and the South Carolinians discredited by the powerful forensics of 
Webster. 

By this time we may freely speak of the South Carolina theory as 
nullification. Would it be generally adopted in the South ? The 
insistence of its defenders that it was but the doctrine of 1798 shows 
their anxiety to draw the Virginians to its support. It proved a 
futile hope ; for Virginia, slighted in the make-up of the new admin- 
istration, would not adopt the leadership of South Caro- 
lina. More important was the attitude of Jackson, on Nullification 
whose action the nullifiers waited uneasily. They sup- checked, 
ported him in 1828, their leader, Calhoun, was high in party 
councils, and they well knew that if the president, a Southerner him- 
self, came over to their side, they would unite the South and be able 
to force the North into a relinquishment of its high tariff policy. 
Constitutional arguments are but the theoretical basis of a political 
movement, and if practical ends could be attained, Webster's reasoning 
might be ignored. 

April 13, 1830, was Jefferson's birthday, generally celebrated by his 
followers with speeches and toasts. This year the South Carolinians 
controlled the arrangements of the celebration in Wash- 
ington and planned to have the speeches express their 1^.^^^°°'^, 
peculiar views of state rights. The president was invited joast, 
and was expected to give a toast. He was fully conscious 
of all that was going on and consulted with Van Buren in regard to 
his toast. Now at this time Jackson was in sympathy with the Van 
Buren faction, as were, in fact, all of his "Kitchen Cabinet," and 
it was decided that he should give such a toast as would show his 
disapproval of Calhoun's theories. He arose at the feast with this 
sentiment, "Our federal union, it must be preserved! " The nullifiers 
could only gasp. Calhoun, who was next called on, tried to retrieve 
the situation by giving as his toast, "The union, next to our liberty, 
most dear ! May we all remember that it can only be preserved by 



400 JACKSON'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 

respecting the rights of the states and distributing equally the benefits 
and burthen of the union ! " But the words of the president were most 
significant. They indicated that he would not be brought into the 
general Southern movement which the nuilifiers planned. 

In another respect Jackson thwarted the plans of the South Caro- 
linians. In 1802 the United States, approving the cession of Georgia's 

claim to Alabama and Mississippi, agreed to remove the 
th^°Ch* ^^^ Creek and Cherokee Indians from the limits of Georgia 
kees. proper "as early as the same can be peaceably obtained 

on reasonable terms." By several treaties all but 9,000,000 
acres of the Indian lands were purchased before 1825 and opened to 
settlement. But at this time the Indians decided in a council that 
they would sell no more land. They had their separate form of 
government, and their land, much of it very fertile, was desired for 
white settlement. Georgia naturally thought it intolerable that there 
should be a civil power within her borders which defied her authority, 
and she called on the federal government to execute the agreement of 
1802. Adams hesitated to do anything decisive. Then the state 
announced that if the Indians were not removed she would exercise 
her right as a sovereign state, by dividing the Indian lands into 
counties, opening them to settlement, and establishing a white man's 
government over them. By the constitution, congress had authority 
over trade with the Indians and made treaties with them. It was also 
provided that treaties should be the supreme law of the land. As 
the Indians pleaded that they were protected by treaties, would not 
the proposed action of Georgia violate the constitution ? The state 
urged her own sovereignty over the territory within her limits, but 
the Indians took the matter to the courts. Two important decisions 
of the federal supreme court were the result. In one, the Cherokee 

Nation vs. Georgia, it was held that an Indian tribe, while 
Status of an ^^^ ^^^ independent nation, was, nevertheless, a state, and 
-Pjijjg^ under the protection of congress. In the other, Worcester 

vs. Georgia, it was held by the court. Chief Justice Mar- 
shall giving the decision, that the attempt of Georgia to extend her 
jurisdiction over the lands formerly held by the Indians was 
illegal. 

These matters ran past the period to which our story has come, 
for they extend from the beginning of Jackson's term to 1833; but 

the sharp controversy they produced was in its critical 
Georgia and phase in 1 830. They were related to the general attempt 
cioiinl^ of South Carolina to draw all the South to her support 
Con- because they involved the theory of state sovereignty. 

troversy. If Georgia leant so decidedly on the theory in her Indian 

controversy, would she not make common cause with her 
sister state in the fight to lower the tariff ? The nuilifiers undoubtedly 
expected as much, but they were disappointed. In the first place the 



THE INTRIGUE AGAINST CALHOUN 401 

men of Georgia were devoted to Crawford, who was bitterly opposed to 
Calhoun. They supported Jackson in 1828, but adhered to the Van 
Buren, rather than the Calhoun, faction. In the second place, Jack- 
son gave them continual support in the Indian matter, informing the 
Indians soon after his inauguration that there was nothing for them 
but to submit and remove beyond the Mississippi. As the contro- 
versy was still unsettled in 1830 Georgia dared not move against the 
declared opposition of Jackson, who let it be known to the Georgians 
that he expected their support in the defense of the cause of union. 
Thus it happened that South Carolina saw her hopes of uniting all 
the south in a common cause of nullification fall to the ground ; and 
the turn of events augured no good for the Calhoun faction, whom the 
Van Buren faction were bent on reducing, with Jackson's help, to a 
position of inferiority. It was a sad blow to the ambition of the great 
South Carolinian. Face to face with the loss of his own state in 1828, 
he had been compelled to turn a somersault from nationalism to a 
state rights position, and while he was in mid-air the artful Van Buren 
struck him a blow which made his landing precarious. 

In the autumn of 1829, when Jackson was deeply touched by what 
he considered the combination to discredit Eaton through the exclusion 
of Mrs. Eaton from society, the "Kitchen Cabinet" re- 
vealed to him that Calhoun, formerly secretary of war, Jackson 
wished in 181 8 to discipline him for the invasion of Flor- ^^a^st 
ida. Jackson knew that such a purpose was entertained Calhoun. 
in the cabinet at the time, but he supposed that Crawford 
was its author. Calhoun should have removed this suspicion, but 
fearing Jackson's wrath, had allowed him to go on thinking that 
Crawford was the author of the suggestion. When the truth at last 
came out, Jackson, suspicious and of violent temper, would believe 
nothing but that the South Carolinian had acted traitorously. He 
said nothing openly until the Jefferson birthday dinner brought him 
to the point of declared opposition ; for Calhoun had a powerful 
following, and a false move would cause the public to think that party 
harmony was jeopardized by personal intrigue. But now Calhoun 
was identified with disunion and might be attacked with greater 
safety. 

The day after the birthday dinner a friend of Van Buren at the side 
of the president wrote to Crawford for verification of the story that 
had been privately revealed. The reply of Crawford, who 
still hated Calhoun, was all that was expected. Then ^j.^^"^^ 
began a bitter correspondence between president and vice- spondence. 
president, the highest man and next highest in the ad- 
ministration party, in which neither convinced the other of his wrong- 
doing. It ended with a curt note in which Jackson told his corre- 
spondent that future friendship between them was impossible. Van 
Buren was too shrewd to take open part in the aflfair. He was careful 



402 JACKSON'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 

not to talk with Jackson about it, but it is impossible to suppose that 
he was ignorant of a matter so full of weight for his future. The breach 
it produced was accentuated by the selection of a new party or- 
gan, which up to this time had been the Daily Telegraph, edited by 
Duff Green, a devoted Calhoun man. Frank P. Blair, destined to 
become one of the most influential party editors of the day, was 
_. brought to Washington, and in December, 1830, he 

founded the Globe, whose influence was soon widespread. 
Blair was a firm friend of Jackson and gave all his energy to promot- 
ing the cause of Van Buren. 

Since the president did not publish this correspondence, Calhoun 
concluded that he feared to do so. Friends, to whom it was freely 

shown, held the same view and thought that its publica- 
^ronounced ^^°^ would crush the crafty New Yorker. Then Calhoun 
Traitor. ^o*^^ ^^^ initiative, laying his case before the public in a 

pamphlet which saw the light of day in February, 1831. 
The Globe immediately charged Calhoun with an attempt to sow dis- 
sension in the party, the administrative press and politicians, fearing 
the wrath of Jackson, took up the cry, and by the end of spring Cal- 
houn was fiercely denounced as a party traitor. 

By the spring of 1831 the anti-Calhoun men were so strong that 
they were prepared to thrust their opponents out of the cabinet. 

But even here the proceedings were marked by consum- 
CaWnet mate skill. Fearing that a bald dismissal would plant 

irreconcilable hatred within the party, it was arranged 
that Van Buren and Eaton should resign voluntarily. They gave as 
their reason the desire to relieve Jackson from the embarrassment of 
their presence, but before resigning they had been promised other 
positions. Van Buren was to be minister to England, and it was 
thought that Eaton could be elected senator from Tennessee. When 
this faction had withdrawn, the president, with every outward appear- 
ance of impartiality, called for the withdrawal of the others, so that 
neither should have the advantage in the cabinet. He thus got rid 
of the Calhounites, but he did not on that account fail to fill the new 
cabinet with men opposed to Calhoun. He thus remade the govern- 
ment on a Van Buren basis. 

The next feature of the party program was to look out for the 
nomination for the presidency in 1832. Jackson had formerly de- 
clared that he would accept only one term. But his 
nominated^' friends knew that if he now withdrew, it would be difficult 

to secure the nomination for Van Buren, openly charged 
with the intrigue against Calhoun. They had good reason to 
fear that the South Carolinian, the next most popular democrat 
to Jackson, would be indorsed by the party. Jackson himself under- 
stood the situation, and in the autumn of 1831 let it be known that he 
would again be a candidate. He planned to have Van Buren remain 



INTRIGUE TRIUMPHANT 403 

in London until the excitement of the recent quarrel subsided, and to 
return in time to be made candidate in 1836. But in January, 1832, 
the senate rejected Van Buren's nomination as minister by the casting 
vote of Calhoun, the vice-president ; and such an outburst of feeling 
came from the Jackson following that it was decided that the only 
way to vindicate the rejected man was to make him Jackson's running- 
mate. Thus was taken the last step in the identification of the fav- 
ored New Yorker with the head of the party. In 1829 the party was 
threatened with disintegration through the fierce rivalry within it. 
By the most skillful management, the Calhoun faction had been re- 
duced to a harmless minimum, and led through its own blundering into 
open revolt at a time when its secession was not a serious danger. At 
the same time, Jackson had grown in strength with the masses and was 
at the head of a mighty host which looked to him as the chosen leader 
against forces of corruption. Jacksonian democracy was completely 
organized and confident of the future. 

The Election of 1832 

Meanwhile, an opposition was forming under Clay's leadership. 
All who criticized Jackson's appointments, or rejected his policy of 
internal improvements, or opposed his attitude toward the 
bank, — already announced but not pressed to its con- J"^ ^ ^ 
elusion (see page 411), — and many others whose chief publicans, 
impulse was dislike for a leader of the Jackson type, all 
these now came together under the name of national republicans. In 
calling themselves by this title they seem to have had in mind the 
division of the party which prevailed in the years immediately after 
the war of 181 2. They also proclaimed themselves faithful tariff men, 
but on this issue Jackson was not openly against them. 

Besides these, a third party was in the field. In 1826 William 
Morgan, of Batavia, New York, who had published a book purporting 
to expose the secrets of freemasonry, mysteriously dis- 
appeared, and many people believed he had been destroyed ^® ^^^^~ 
by the masons. A frantic movement spread through the pa^^y^r- 
adjoining counties for the outlawry of the order, which ganized. 
was denounced as a secret political society. The anti- 
masonic party was thus organized. As Clinton was a mason, it op- 
posed him, and as Jackson was also a mason and had the support of 
Chnton, it supported Adams in 1828. The party was organized in 
several other states in this election, and generally opposed Jackson. 
They were able to hold the balance of power in some states and elected 
several members of congress. 

As the election of 1832 approached, attempts were made to get them 
to support Clay ; but he would not declare for their principles, and 
they decided to act alone. In September, 1830, they held a national 



404 JACKSON'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 

convention in Philadelphia, in which it was decided to organize a 
national party. This assembly made an appeal to the people and 
called a convention at Baltimore, September 26, 1831, to select a 
candidate for the presidency, the first national nominating conven- 
tion in our history. It met in due time and selected William Wirt, 

of Virginia, as its candidate for the presidency and Amos 
First Na- Ellmaker, of Pennsylvania, for the vice-presidency. The 

Ta°^- .,«♦,• example of the antimasons was followed by the national 

Convention, republicans, whom December, 183 1, assembled m Baltimore 

and nominated Clay for president, and Sergeant, of Pennsyl- 
vania, for vice-president. In the following May a convention of young 
men who supported Clay met in Washington, accepted the Baltimore 
nominations, and issued the first " platform" of a political party in 
America. It indorsed protection and internal improvements, and 
arraigned Jackson's administration for its policy in appointments to 
ofl&ce, and its attitude toward the Indians in Georgia. In May, 1832, 
the democrats followed the example of their opponents and met in 
a convention at Baltimore. They nominated Jackson unanimously, 
and Van Buren by a vote of 208 to 75. This convention ordered that a 
two-thirds vote should be necessary to a nomination, a rule followed 
in every succeeding convention of the party. 

The convention system, thus introduced, has proved a permanent 
feature of American political life. After the caucus was repudiated 

in 1824 candidates were nominated by state legislature. 
Convention j^ jgjS the Candidates were so well designated by the trend 
De eloD- °^ events that this system was satisfactory. It would 
ment. probably have been satisfactory, so far as Jackson was 

concerned, in 1832 ; for his party had no thought of re- 
jecting him as a candidate. Indeed, as the election year approached, 
he was nominated by many legislatures and. local or state conventions. 
But the other parties were not so fortunate. The antimasons were at 
sea until the convention assembled, and the national republicans, 
though united in Clay's favor, needed the effect of a great display of 
their strength to impress themselves on the minds of voters. In the 
democratic party a convention was necessary to secure the acceptance 
of Van Buren, in whose behalf Jackson exerted all his power over his 
followers. It was, probably, only the fear of offending Jackson which 
made Van Buren the candidate. 

The adoption of nomination by convention shows how democratic 
parties had now become. The delegates, at first chosen in varying 

manners, represented the party in the localities from which 
Democratic |.j^g came. Their selection was the best utterance of 

C3ii9.r&.cT6r or t-.-. 

the Party. ^^^ party's voice then possible. The earliest method was 
generally to allot to each state as many votes in con- 
vention as it had in the electoral college. Later practice has given 
each state twice as many votes as it has presidential electors. 



THE ELECTION OF 1832 405 

The campaign which followed these nominations was vehement. 
The democrats relied on the popular confidence in Jackson. He was, 
they said, the people's candidate, he would pay the national ^^^ ^^^ 
debt, he would deprive the bank of its privileges, and he y^^^^ * 
protected the treasury from the wiles of the people who 
wished to have roads and canals at the expense of the national revenues. 
Clay's support was of a complex character. In one section herehed 
on the friendship of the business classes for the bank, in others he 
appealed to the protectionists, and in still others he talked about the 
radicalism of Jackson. In July, while the canvass progressed, the 
president vetoed the bill to recharter the bank. Clay's friends had 
urged the bill, thinking that a veto would array against Jackson the 
state of Pennsylvania as well as the powerful financial class. The 
national republicans received the veto message with undisguised 
pleasure and pressed the battle more 'vdgorously. They were soon 
undeceived. The farmers of Pennsylvania cared nothing for the 
bank, and they rallied to the support of its arch foe in proportion as 
the capitalists proclaimed their hostility to him. The result of the 
election was 219 electoral votes for Jackson, 49 for Clay, 
and 7 for Wirt, while South Carolina, piqued over the Ei^cte^d! 
treatment of Calhoun, threw away her 1 1 votes on Floyd 
of Virginia. Van Buren carried all of the Jackson votes but the 
thirty from Pennsylvania, which were given to Wilkins, of that state. 
Wirt's vote came from Vermont, the only state the antimasons could 
carry. This poor showing was the death knell of that party. Jackson 
very naturally took his overwhelming victory as an indorsement of 
his policies, and prepared to put them into complete execution. 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

The period embraced in this chapter is treated in the general Histories _ of Mc- 
Master, Schouler, and Wilson. The best single volume on the period is Mac- 
Donald's Jacksonian Democracy (iqo6). With the inauguration of Jackson, Von 
Hoist, Constitutional History oj_ the United States, 8 vols. (Mason, trans. 1876-1892), 
becomes valuable on the constitutional and political side, although it leans strongly 
toward the party of concentration. An excellent short summary is Wilson, Divi- 
sion and Reunion (revised ed., 1909), and nearly as useful is Burgess, The Middle 
Period (1897). 

Besides the biographies and writings of Jackson, Calhoun, Clay, Webster, J. Q. 
Adams, Benton, and Wirt already mentioned (see page 380), the following are 
valuable : Sumner, Life of Jackson (ed. 1897) ; Shepard, Life of Martin Van Burcn, 
(revised, ed., 1899) ; Stickney, editor. Autobiography of Amos Kendall (1872) ; J. A. 
Hamilton, Reminiscences (1869); Curtis, Life of James Buchanan, 2 vols. (1883); 
Works of James Buchanan, 12 vols. (Moore, ed., 1908-1911); Tyler, Letters 
and Times of the Tylers, 3 vols. (1884-1896); Bradley, Lsaac Hill (1835); Story, 
Life and Letters of Joseph Story, 2 vols. (1851) ; Hunt, Life of Edward Livingston 
(1864); Hammond, Life of Silas Wright (1848); and Jervey, Robert V. Hayne 

(1909). 

The sources are chiefly in the public documents, the most important bemg : 
Executive, in the series known as State Papers, 38 vols., extending to the first years 



4o6 JACKSON'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 

of Van Buren's administration. The most significant for the present chapter are 
Finance, s vols., and Indian Affairs, 2 vols. See also Richardson, Messages and 
Papers oj the Presidents, i78g-igo2, 10 vols. (1897-1902). Legislative, the debates 
in the Register of Debates, 1825-1837, 29 vols., with valuable appendices containing 
manyreportsof committees, etc., and Benton, ^6r^(/gW(?K/ of Debates, 16 vols. (1857- 
1861). Judiciary, the reports of the decisions of the supreme court, published in 
series bearing the names of the reporter until 1882, and from that time they are 
numbered continuously. Those extending over the years 1828 to 1842 are cited 
as Peters, 16 vols. Bowker, State Publications, 2 vols. (1899-1902), is a useful index 
to pubUshed government documents. The laws are in Peters, Statutes at Large, 
8 vols. (1845-1846), volumes 7 and 8 contain treaties. Treaties and Conventions 
(ed. of 1889) is also very useful. Other important sources are : J. Q. Adams, 
Memoirs, 12 vols. (1874-1877) ; Ibid., Writings, W. C. Ford, ed. (1913-) ; Benton, 
Thirty Years' View, 2 vols. (1854-1857) ; Mayo, Political Sketches (i839)_; Wise, 
Seven Decades of the Union (1881) ; and Niles, Register, a weekly newspaper in which 
appear many documents. 

The controversy over the interpretation of the constitution gave rise to many 
works. The most important on the national side are : Von Hoist, Constitutional 
History of the United States, 8 vols. (Mason trans., 1876-1892), is the most compre- 
hensive narrative from the national point of view. Of the same nature is Lodge, 
Life of Webster (1897); and Greeley, The American Conflict, 2 vols. (1864-1867). 
On the state rights side see : Jefferson Davis, Rise and Fall of the Confederate Gov- 
ernment, 2 vols. (1881); Wise, Seven Decades of the Union (1881) ; and Tucker, 
History of the United States, 4 vols. (1856-1858). For references on nulhfication see 
below, page 426. 

For Independent Reading 

Harvey, Reminiscences and Anecdotes of Daniel Webster (1877) ; Lyman Beecher, 
Autobiography, 2 vols. (1863-1865) ; Poore, Perky s Reminiscences, 2 vols. (1886) ; 
Wentworth, Congressional Reminiscences (1882); Charles A. Davis, Letters of 
Major Jack Downing (1833), — humorous and widely read by contemporaries, but 
misleading in regard to Jackson's character; and Sullivan, Familiar Letters on 
Public Characters (1834). 



CHAPTER XX 

JACKSON'S PRESIDENCY COMPLETED 

The End of Nullification 

It was natural for Jackson to think his triumphant reelection an 
evidence of popular approval for all his important policies. Thus 
reassured, ana supported by a united party, he could take 
up the incomplete work of his first administration with j^^^^ ° ® 
the assurance of success. He might secure the removal of 
the Georgia Indians, bring to an end the negotiations with France, 
and break down the power of the bank of the United States, which 
he considered a menace to democratic institutions. But the first 
serious problem after the election was to deal with nullification. It 
was a problem he did not invite and could not avoid ; for the South 
Carolinians, having lost hope of placing their great leader in the 
White House, were now determined to put their theory to the ultimate 
test. 

It will be remembered that Calhoun came to open breach with 
Jackson with the publication of his pamphlet in February, 1831, 
which he at first hoped would destroy Van Buren and not 
provoke the opposition of Jackson (see page 401). By N"ll»fiers 
the middle of May he realized that this expectation was gressive. 
futile and became the public, as for three years he had been 
the secret, leader of the nullifiers. July 26 he issued his famous "Ad- 
dress to the People of South Carolina," in which were restated the 
arguments in the "Exposition" of 1828. It was the avowed plat- 
form of his followers, and was widely read, North and South. All 
through the autumn, winter, and following spring it was widely dis- 
cussed in South Carolina. The union party there was of respectable 
size, though not in a majority, and they naturally sought to 
lessen the weight of his doctrine. In the discussion various Calhoun's 
explanations were given of its meaning, for it was not papg^g ^^^ 
clear in all its points. At last the nullifiers themselves Nullification, 
called on him for a simpler statement, and August 28, 
1832, he published such a summary in what became known as his 
"Fort Hill Letter," addressed to Governor James Hamilton, Jr. The 
result of this agitation was that the nullifiers carried the legislature by 
a large majority. 

407 



4o8 JACKSON'S PRESIDENCY COMPLETED 

To this body soon after it met in October came a message from the 
governor urging that, inasmuch as the federal government was com- 
mitted to the tariff which was believed to be unconstitu- 
The South tional, it was the duty of the state to look out for the in- 
Convention. terests of the people. Since the constitution, it said, was 
authorized by the people of the state, it was for them now 
to call a convention to inquire if the federal compact had been violated. 
The legislature accepted the suggestion, and by a large majority called 
a convention to meet November 19, 1832. 

No one could doubt what that body would do. By a vote of 136 to 
26 it passed on the 24th the South Carolina Ordinance of Nullification, 
declaring the tariff acts of 1828 and 1832 not binding on the 
The Ordi- people of the state, forbidding appeals to the federal courts 
nance o ^^ cases for the enforcement of the said laws, and requiring 

fication. State officials to take oath to uphold the ordinance. Feb- 
ruary I, 1833, was fixed as the day on which nullification 
should go into effect, and the legislature was directed to pass such 
laws as should be necessary to put the ordinance into effect. 

November 27 the legislature reassembled. It was foreseen that if a 
citizen refused to pay duties on goods, the articles in question would 
be seized by federal officers, and to enable him to recover 
plevin Act them the replevin act was now passed. It provided that 
the owners of goods seized might recover twice their value 
from the official holding them. As this was a state law, and as the 
state officials were all nullifiers, it was likely that the replevin act 
would be executed with liberality toward the persons who refused to 
pay duties. On the other hand, it seemed certain that the federal 
government would not tamely give up its power to seize goods for 
failure to pay duties, and if war came it would come at this point in the 
controversy. The legislature did not overlook the fact, and it author- 
ized the governor to call out the militia to enforce the laws of the state. 
There was a great deal of excitement in the state, unionists and nulli- 
fiers held nightly meetings, and threats of war and secession were 
heard on every hand. 

While affairs progressed to this state President Jackson kept his eye 
on the situation. Knowing that the nullifiers only threatened in the 
hope that they could force congress to modify the tariff, 
Precautions ^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ they would hesitate to go as far as war. But 
he took occasion in several ways to drop quiet hints that 
the laws must be obeyed. It was not until the autumn that he came 
to believe that nullification would actually be attempted. Then he 
ordered the secretary of the navy to be ready to send a force to Charles- 
ton, if necessary. He also directed the commanding officers of the 
forts in the harbor to be vigilant in detecting resistance, sent a special 
messenger to report on sentiment in the state, gave constant encourage- 
ment to the union party there, and deposited arms in convenient 



JACKSON'S PROCLAMATION 409 

places in North Carolina to be ready for an emergency. Seven revenue 
cutters and the Natchez, a ship of war, appeared in Charleston 
harbor and cast anchor where they could rake the fashionable "Bat- 
tery," on which were the residences of the leading citizens. For many 
weeks the tension was extreme. Nullifiers and unionists, equally 
desirous of delaying bloodshed, strove to restrain the feelings of their 
followers, lest some accident should precipitate war before the last 
efforts for peace were exhausted. 

In Washington two groups of men were seeking to meet the situa- 
tion. One, under the lead of the president, planned to meet force 
with force and to assert the authority of the government. 
From this source came Jackson's nullification proclamation, "^^f Nuihfi- 

cs-Lion JrroC" 

December 10, 1832. It was a firm argument against the lamation. 
theory of nullification, and closed by warning the people of 
South Carolina against the advocates of nullification. "The laws of 
the United States must be executed," said Jackson in words like those 
of Lincoln twenty-nine years later; "I have no discretionary power on 
the subject ; my duty is emphatically pronounced in the constitution. 
Those who told you that you might peaceably prevent their execution, 
deceived you ; they could not have been deceived themselves. They 
know that a forcible opposition could alone prevent the execution of 
the laws, and they know that such opposition must be repelled. Their 
object is disunion. But be not deceived by names. Disunion by 
armed force is treason." Many of Jackson's followers were state 
rights men, and they were not pleased with his open es- 
pousal of consolidation doctrines. But all the unionists of 
the country, of whatever party, took fresh courage when they read the 
proclamation. For once New England and the great cities of the 
northern coast, following the lead of Webster and John Quincy Adams, 
were in hearty support of Jackson. 

The second group wished to solve the difficult problem before the 
nation by enacting a bill for a lower tariff. That done, nulli- 
fication as a practical measure would vanish. They were 
lead by the particular friends of Van Buren, who could not ^^^^ ^^^' 
hope to have the democratic support in 1836 if the north- Tariff Bill, 
ern and southern portions of the party fell into conflict 
over state rights. They brought in the Verplanck bill, proposing to 
lower duties to a basis of 20 per cent in two years, hoping that with 
the support of the South and as many votes as Van Buren could rally 
in the North the measure would pass. If the project succeeded. 
Van Buren would be applauded as "Pacificator." Jackson counte- 
nanced the plan, but gave most of his attention to his own plans for 
preserving the authority of the federal government. 

Meanwhile, the attitude of the other Southern states became very 
important, both to South Carolina and to the president. Georgia 
wavered for a while, but the fear that she would lose Jackson's sym- 



4IO JACKSON'S PRESIDENCY COMPLETED 

pathy in regard to her Indian question held her in check. If she had 
gone over to the nullifiers, it is probable that the other Gulf states 

would have followed her lead. Much anxiety was also 
What would £g|^ j^j. Virginia, and the nullifiers tried hard to convince 
j)o? her that they but stood for the Virginia resolutions of 

1798. Agents were sent to Richmond to labor with the 
legislature there. Their best effort could not accomplish their purposes. 
Although there was strong sentiment in that state for state rights, the 
most the legislature would do was to send an agent to South Carolina 
to try to make peace between the state and the federal authorities. 
North Carolina took an even more conservative stand, declaring that 
she would defend the cause of union. The nullifiers were thus made 
to see that if war came, they must proceed alone. But many people 
feared that if fighting once began, it would be impossible to restrain 
all the South from rallying to the support of South Carolina in her 
struggle against the tariff. 

Jackson was now thoroughly aroused, and thought only of using 
force. Offers of troop came from many states, and Washington was 

full of war talk. January 16, 1833, he sent congress a 
B'U " '^^ special message on the situation, and on the *2ist one of 

his friends introduced the "force bill," called by the Cal- 
hounites the "bloody bill." It gave the president the authority to 
call out the army and navy to enforce the laws of congress. Jackson 
used all his influence to have it passed. Calhoun proclaimed it a 
tyrannical measure, and the states rights men generally considered it 
an invasion of the rights of the states. This bill and the Verplanck 
tariff bill were urged contemporaneously, one by the unionists, the 
other by the democrats generally. 

As January neared an end, it became evident that the tariff bill 
could not pass. In fact, only one man could get enough Northern 

votes to pass a bill lowering the tariff, and that man was 
Clay's Com- q^^^^ j-j^g father of the "American System." Many 
Tar^.^^ people urged him to exert himself for peace and save the 

union from civil war. For a long time he hesitated, but 
so much was gained for compromise that on February i the leading 
nullifiers met and decided to suspend the execution of the ordinance 
of nullification until they could see what congress would do. Then 
Clay at last yielded. February 12 he introduced in the senate a bill 
to reduce the tariff gradually during the next ten years, until in 1842 
it should be at 20 per cent. The nullifiers and the South supported 
it, and enough of Clay's friends followed him to make it a law in the 
last days of the short session. To secure this result Calhoun agreed 
not to oppose the "force bill," which also became law as the session 
was about to adjourn. Thus ended the controversy. South Carolina, 
having secured the reduction of the tariff, repealed her nullification 
ordinance, and peace returned to the troubled face of national affairs. 
Clay, and not Van Buren, was hailed "Pacificator !" 



THE QUESTION OF RECHARTER 411 



Jackson's "War" against the Bank 

Jackson was pleased to have nullification off the stage, because he 
thought the time was come to finish his long struggle against the Bank 
of the United States. Early in his career he concluded 
that a bank controlled by one group of capitalists was . Begin- 
dangerous to the welfare of the country and of doubtful 
constitutionality. Most of the bank's officers, at its headquarters in 
Philadelphia, as well as in the branches, were anti- Jackson men, and 
this gave rise to the charge that the institution worked for Jackson's 
defeat. The new party believed the allegation, although it was not 
very clearly proved, and they came into office disposed to use their 
power against the bank. They at once preferred charges 
against the Portsmouth, New Hampshire, branch. Nicho- '^^^ u°t*i^" 
las Biddle, president of the "mother bank," as it was H°"nc'ident. 
called, defended the branch in some warm words which 
only provoked further the party in power. After a while, he became 
more moderate, and an investigation showed that the Portsmouth 
branch was not guilty of the charges made. The incident was later 
pronounced the origin of the attack on the bank, the argument being 
that all the opposition that followed was because in this affair the ad- 
ministration was thwarted in a plan to get political control of the 
bank. The statement is not true. Jackson's attitude dates back at 
least twelve years, and he had nothing to do with the Portsmouth 
incident. On the other hand, in the autumn of 1829 
Biddle had allowed the Jackson men to get control of Biddle's 
several of the Western branches and was trying through ^'''^* ^"2- 
friends in Washington to induce the president to agree Ne^°"° 
that a recharter should be granted. Several members of charter, 
the " Kitchen Cabinet," and the majority of the regular 
cabinet, favored his scheme, and he was confident of success. 

But Jackson's mind was made up. Rash in the outburst of his 
feeling, he could be as prudent as any one when policy demanded. He 
left Biddle in the dark for a month, and gave him a sad 
disappointment in the first annual message, December 8, Jackson 
1829. The bank's charter, he said, would expire in 1836, Biddfe°'° ^ 
and it was not too soon for congress and the people to 
begin to consider the wisdom of a recharter. He added that there 
were grave doubts about the constitutionality of the bank, and that 
it certainly had failed to establish "a uniform and sound currency." 
He suggested a bank founded upon the credit and revenues of the 
government, having in view chiefly the note-issuing and deposit func- 
tions. From all that came after, it is clear that he wished to take from 
private hands the large power and profit the bank then had. Prob- 
ably he did not realize how severe a shock such a change would give 



412 JACKSON'S PRESIDENCY COMPLETED 

to business. His party was more prudent, and it shrank from a battle 
with the powerful bank. On every hand his foes decried the sugges- 
tion in the message, and many of his friends held back. But the 
believers in state rights and the mass of people, whose instincts were 
against monopoly, were more favorable. In congress two committees 
reported that the bank was in a good condition, and thus the matter 
rested for a time. 

But in his second annual message, December 6, 1830, Jackson re- 
turned to the charge, now unfolding a detailed plan for such a bank as 

he thought advisable. It was to be connected with the 
Jackson's treasury department and managed by public officials. 
Idea of a The scheme was at once attacked on the ground that it 
d b would vastly increase the patronage of the administration ; 
the Gov- 3-1^^ the point was a good one ; for Jackson's appoint- 
ernment. ments were bad and it did not seem safe to enlarge them 

in the way he now suggested. Nothing was done in the 
matter, and congress adjourned in March. The net result accom- 
plished was that the question had been placed fairly before the country 
and opinion was forming on the inevitable problem, which must be met 
in one way or another before 1836. 

When congress met again, the country was on the eve of a presidential 
election. Jackson's friends knew they would be embarrassed if the 

bank were an issue, and he yielded to them so far as 
Biddle merely to restate his position in his message, not asking 

Carries a ^^j. pQgjtive legislation. Biddle, watching the situation 
through keenly, took this for a sign of weakness. If the attack 
Congress. were made, might it not come better now, when Jackson's 

cause was before the people, than later, when he was tri- 
umphantly reelected ? The national republicans. Clay at their head, 
thought the bank very popular in the country ; they wished to force a 
new charter through congress, believing that if it were vetoed the presi- 
dent would lose Pennsylvania and other strong commercial states in 
the East, without which he could not be reelected. This view ap- 
pealed strongly to many of Jackson's friends, among them the secre- 
tary of the treasury, McLane. During the first weeks of the session 
there was much conferring in order to prepare a bill which both Biddle 
and Jackson would accept; but the upshot was that the president 
would yield nothing, and in January, 1832, Biddle, deciding to 
proceed without Jackson's approval, formally asked congress for a 
charter. He was warned that if his bill passed it would be vetoed. 
Indeed, after all Jackson had said against the bank he could hardly do 
otherwise. But recharter was pressed, the bank employing an able 

lobby in its behalf, and Biddle himself, a man of great abil- 
Sustained ^^y^ ^^^"8 ^° Washington to lead the fight. In July the 

charter passed by safe majorities and was immediately ve- 
toed. The veto message was a shrewd campaign document. It declared 



REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS 413 

the bank unconstitutional, pronounced it a monopoly, and appealed to 
the people's hostility toward great capitalistic institutions. To the 
friends of the bank these reasons seemed very flimsy ; but the veto 
appealed to the people, and supported by Jackson's prestige it proved 
unassailable. His election by a vote of 219 to 49 for Clay and 7 for 
Wirt was received as evidence that the country indorsed the veto. 

In the next session of congress nullification and the tariff played a 
leading part, and the bank question was not brought forward. But 
Jackson had his plan made, and as soon as the South 
Carolina crisis was safely passed he began to put it into j^^^ j^^^^ 
execution. It was evident that Biddle did not accept the 
election as a final verdict. To close up the business of the bank in 
1836 would mean calling in a great mass of loans and the withdrawal 
from circulation of much bank money. From both processes business 
must suffer. Many men foresaw this, foes as well as friends of the 
bank. Would the country at the last willingly undergo the calamity ? 
Biddle thought that when the crisis came he might be able to carry a 
charter over a veto ; Jackson believed the same, but he put 
it another way. He said that the bank would wait until To be 
the last and use its power of calling in loans to produce a the^emoifal 
panic and thus wring a charter out of congress in spite of a ^f ^he 
veto. He was thoroughly angry with Biddle, and believed Deposits, 
him capable of any wickedness. He therefore proposed 
to meet the emergency by breaking the power of the bank in 1833, so 
that in 1836 it should not be able to produce a panic ; and his means of 
breaking it was to withdraw the public deposits, place them with the 
leading state banks, and gradually strengthen those institutions, so 
that in 1836 they would be able to take over the duties of the great 
institution and lessen the shock of the country from its destruction. 

The charter provided that the deposits might be removed by the sec- 
retary of the treasury while congress was not in session, provided he gave 
his reasons for the removal to congress when it assembled. 
As congress would not meet until December, there was ^^i^t^gu^of 
ample time for the proposed action ; but Secretary McLane ouane. 
was unwilling to order removal, and Jackson, wishing to 
avoid another explosion in his cabinet, hesitated to dismiss him. 
After some conference it was agreed to send Livingston, secretary of 
state, to France as minister, to promote McLane to the vacant place, 
and to get a new secretary of the treasury. The man hit upon was 
William J. Duane, son of that former editor of the Aurora, who was 
long the tribune of the people in the important state of Pennsylvania. 
If the order for removal were given by such a man, it would go far to 
relieve the act from the expected criticisms of the enemy in the home 
state of the "mother bank." The offer flattered Duane, who 
was hitherto little known, and he entered upon his new duties 
late in May. 



414 JACKSON'S PRESIDENCY COMPLETED 

But now appeared many difficulties. The new secretary said he 
was not sure the deposits were in danger, and he was told to take time 
to consider. At the end of a month he thought the matter 
Duane a could be left until congress met. Then there were many 
me^nt'^^''^ " Conferences, at the end of which he assured the president 
that he would examine the question again and would 
resign if he did not give the desired order. At the middle of September 
he was again interviewed, and declared finally that he would neither re- 
move the deposits nor resign. Jackson was very angry, and dismissed 
Duane summarily. The bank men said much about the sacrifice of a 
faithful secretary, but posterity has little sympathy for him. He 
must have known for what purpose he was appointed, and he should 
have refused in advance or withdrawn as soon as he knew the attitude 
of the president. On the other hand, there is no reason to believe that 
the deposits in the bank were unsafe, as Jackson claimed. 

Roger B. Taney was now appointed secretary of the treasury, and an 
order issued at once designating certain great state banks at which all 
government funds should be deposited from October i, 1833. 
RSi^o^vaT*^ July, 1833, the public deposits were $6,512,000, and it 
would have been disastrous to withdraw so large an amount 
at once. Jackson, therefore, was satisfied to cease to deposit with the 
bank and to draw out the money very gradually. January i, 1836, it 
still had $627,000 of government funds. Nevertheless, the action 
of the president caused serious financial distress. The bank must call 
in loans, and making ready to close its business it could not increase 
its circulation. The winter, spring, and summer following 
The Effect removal brought severe business depression to the country, 
ness"^'" Jackson's friends declared that the distress was artificial, 
and due to Biddle's malice ; and they declared that it was 
only a speculator's panic and did not injure the mass of merchants 
and producers. It is hard to say how much truth was in this opinion. 
Certainly Biddle was in an ugly frame of mind, and did little to soften 
the blow his adversary had given to business. By refusing to lend 
money in the darkest days of necessity he brought the country to 
think the charges against him were true. His own friends began to 
leave him, and at last he was forced to resume lending. This hap- 
pened in March, 1834, and by the middle of summer business was re- 
turning to normal conditions. 

Meanwhile, the matter was in the hands of the politicians. Taney 
sent to congress, as required by the charter, his reasons for trans- 
ferring the deposits. Clay made them the occasion for two 
Censured resolutions, one of which declared that Jackson acted il- 
legally in regard to the deposits, and the other that Taney's 
reasons for his action were not sufficient. After an angry debate Clay 
carried his resolutions through the senate. Jackson made a dignified 
protest against the resolutions censuring him, and when they passed, 



JACKSON'S VIGOROUS DIPLOMACY 415 

his friend, Benton, of Missouri, gave notice that he would in the future 
move to expunge them. This he did in successive sessions, until at last 
there was a majority of democrats in the senate, and January 16, 
1837, an order was passed to write across the original entry in the 
journal the statement that the resolutions of censure were directed to 
be expunged. Clay in 1834 was also able to get the senate to reject 
Taney's nomination as secretary of the treasury, but in 1836, through 
support of Jackson, Taney became chief justice, in succession to John 
Marshall. 

Thus ended in complete triumph Jackson's attack on the bank, the 
severest political conflict in our national history. It was the occasion 
of many angry and false charges. The bank was well 
managed and rendered valuable service to the government Significance 
and people, and the allegations to the contrary were the ?. g^^ 
outgrowth of ignorance and prejudice. On the other war." 
hand, it was a private monopoly, which reaped rich re- 
ward for the service it rendered, and it was destroyed because the 
people, in support of the president, felt that no corporation should 
have so much advantage. Jackson represented the popular will. He 
went into the conflict with a divided party, but he fought so wisely and 
boldly that he united his party and made his word its law. His success 
was the despair of his enemies. 



Foreign Affairs 

Jackson displayed in foreign affairs the same energy and directness 
that characterized his conduct of domestic relations. Three important 
problems of this nature came before him, and they were all disposed of 
in such a manner as to satisfy the American people and to increase our 
prestige with other nations. Two of them were old disputes which had 
dragged on without prospect of fair settlement under his predecessors, 
and one was a new problem. 

The first concerned the trade with the West Indies, before the revolu- 
tion a source of great prosperity. This branch of our commerce was of 
great importance to New England and the Middle states, 
and many efforts to secure it on an equal footing with Eng- jncfj^^rade 
land were made while the federalists controlled the national 
government. The same eagerness was not manifested by the republicans 
under Jefferson and Madison, and the development of manufactures, 
absorbing much of the business energy of the country, lessened the 
demand for commerce. But all the time there was a feeling that the 
lost trade should be recovered if England could be induced to yield it. 
The matter was under consideration in making the treaty of Ghent, 
but it offered so much difficulty that it was postponed for a separate 
convention, which met in 181 5, but effected no results. It was taken 



4i6 JACKSON'S PRESIDENCY COMPLETED 

up again by Secretary Adams in 1818, and was a constant subject of 
negotiation during his secretaryship, but nothing was accomplished. 
Indeed, the net result was that each side became irritated, the United 
States undertook to retaliate, and England became firmer than ever 
in her refusal. Adams was ever an outspoken man, zealous for 
national interests, and apt to be assertive in his diplomacy. To force 
concessions from the self-sufficient and rather overbearing Briton re- 
quired more tact than he possessed. 

The real obstacle to success was the navigation laws. From 
their enactment it had been the policy of England to consider her 
colonies the proper field for the profit of her merchants 
TheNaviga- ^^^ ^ler shipowners. Our ministers might try as they 
Receding. could to show her the advantage of open trade, but they 
were not able to convince her. Preferential duties 
continued to be charged in the West Indies against all comers, and the 
United States fared as the rest of the world. But just at this time 
English opinion was changing in regard to the navigation laws. The 
loss of the American market through the development of manufac- 
tures here and the raising of the tariff bars had put the British mer- 
chants to thinking. On the other hand, a wide demand for British 
goods in South America and elsewhere had produced a great wave 
of prosperity, which tended to make the merchants think their remnant 
of colonial trade of less importance than their commerce with the 
outside world. At the same time, a group of liberals under the leader- 
ship of Huskisson and Robinson were striving to bring the British 
public to see that the existing acts did not suit the needs of a nation 
dependent on happy trade relations with the whole world. In 1825 
they induced parliament to make a first step in concession. Foreign 
nations were now offered in the colonies such commercial 
TheConces- privileges, both as regards tariffs and tonnage duties, 
jg25, as they themselves conceded to Great Britain ; and 

one year was allowed during which the offer might be 
accepted. The concession was open to any government, but it most 
concerned the United States, by their position and industrial enter- 
prise the strongest competitor of the mother country in these colonies. 
Many nations accepted the offer, but our rising sentiment in favor 
of protection and a willingness of the opposition to impede any action 
suggested by the administration prevented concessions by congress 
within a year. At the end of that time English prosperity had been 
checked, parliament abandoned its liberal attitude, and although 
a special American envoy went to England to make a treaty, nothing 
could be gained in that quarter. 

This was the situation when Jackson became president, with the 
tactful Van Buren secretary of state. To win a victory where others 
had failed appealed to both men, and McLane, the minister to London, 
departed in full hope of doing something. He was allowed to 



THE CLAIMS AGAINST FRANCE 417 

write his own instructions, and he incorporated in them the sentiment 
that our former position was wrong and had been repudiated by 
the people in a natioixal election. For this Van Buren was 
severely criticized by his enemies, and it was urged The Nego- 
as a main reason for his rejection as minister in ti^t'o^re- 
1832. It was certainly not dignified for a secretary under 
in a communication to a foreign power to take cogni- Jackson, 
zance of a domestic party difference. 

But the advance pleased Great Britain, and the negotiations 
then resumed soon led to success. Acting on a hint from McLane, 
congress gave the president power to remove the discrimi- 
nating tonnage duties as soon as England did the same. eirSuc- 
This condition was easily met, and October 5, 1830, 
Jackson by proclamation opened the trade with the British West 
Indies. The arrangement did not involve a remission of custom 
duties, but we could hardly expect another nation to give up her 
tariff against us as long as we maintained our tariff against her. 
The best result of the agreement was to remove a source of irritation 
between the two nations. The democrats declared it a great victory 
and were disposed to think it might have been secured sooner if 
Adams had used more tact and patience. 

The second diplomatic success concerned claims we had long urged 
against France for property seized by Napoleon. Other nations 
had formerly had such claims, but they were paid after 
the fall of the Corsican. The United States had no ^^^^j^gf"^ 
friend at the congress of Vienna and were left to deal France, 
with the French government as they could. To their 
protests the Bourbon kings replied that France could not undertake 
to pay for all the depredations of Napoleon, the usurper. Our 
rejoinder that she had already paid for those committed by him against 
other powers met this position effectively ; but the monarchy was 
continually in need of money, and the claims were left unsettled. 
Rives, our first minister under Jackson, went out with instructions 
to press vigorously for settlement. He proceeded so well that in 
less than a year he got the French ministry to propose to pay a definite 
sum to cover all losses. Then France advanced a counterclaim for 
damages alleged under a clause of the Louisiana purchase treaty 
guaranteeing certain commercial privileges to France. This checked 
the negotiations until it was finally proposed to offset it by lowering 
the American duties on certain French wines. Rives now hoped 
for success, but all came to naught when in July, 1830, 
the king, Charles X, was driven from his throne and ^'^^^'^ 
Louis Philippe took his place. After some delay nego- 1831.^' 
tiations were resumed, and July 4, 1831, the persistent 
and cautious Rives was gratified by signing a treaty by which we 
were to receive 25,000,000 francs for all our claims, to make the re- 

2E 



4i8 JACKSON'S PRESIDENCY COMPLETED 

ductions desired in wine duties, and to pay 1,500,000 francs for claims 
made by France. The amount promised was to be handed over in six 
annual installments, the first to be paid a year after ratification, 
which, as it turned out, was consummated February 2, 1832. In 
this, as in the arrangement with England, we gave up some of our 
demands, taking what we could get, and removing a long-standing 
source of ill-feeling between the two powers. 

But the matter was not entirely ended ; for the French chambers 
must appropriate the money for actual payment, and as the country's 

revenues were much embarrassed, the money was not voted. 
The Money xhe treaty was unpopular in France, spite of the advantage 
Pr* m tl ^^ gave the wine growers ; and so it happened that when 
Paid. the first installment was due, no provisions had been made 

to meet it. Jackson was himself scrupulously honest 
in money matters, and considered the course of the French govern- 
ment essentially dishonorable. He met it in a characteristic manner. 
He ordered the secretary of the treasury to draw a draft on the 
French treasury, placed it with the bank of the United States, which 
sent it to Paris, where it was duly protested. Then came a sharp 
conflict with Biddle, already at odds with the administration, who 
demanded protest charges at the ordinary rate, amounting to nearly 
$170,000. The demand from a bank having in hand many millions 
of the public money was indignantly refused. Biddle replied by 
holding back the disputed sum out of the dividends due the govern- 
ment on its stock in the bank. 

This controversy diverted attention for only a short time from the 
issue between the president and France. Jackson was convinced 

that nothing but a firm stand would bring the chambers 
Stern ^0 execute the treaty, and in his annual message of 1833 

Measures ^ recommended that congress authorize the seizure of 

fl.QVOC3.L6Q 

by Jackson, enough French property in our borders to satisfy our 

claims. Such a course, if carried out, would mean war. 

Probably it was only a threat ; but the suggestion of it created a 

storm of indignation in Paris. The French minister in Washington 

was recalled, and Livingston, now in Paris, was informed that his 

passports were at his disposal. A bill to vote the money was then 

before the French legislature. After a long and angry debate it was 

passed with the pro\dso that the money should not be paid until 

Jackson's offending language was explained. At this 

Intercourse Livingston withdrew from his post, lea\dng the office in 

the hands of a charge d'affaires, who, when the ministry 

still further refused to pay, closed his office and withdrew also. 

This was November 8, 1835, and for a year we had no representative 

in Paris. 

For a while the American public expected war, but time brought 
reflection. The point at issue was too trivial to justify hostilities, 



THE DESIRE FOR TEXAS 419 

for it was now only a question of words. Clay, leading as caustic 
an opposition as that which embarrassed Adams in 1825-1829, carried 
unanimously through the senate resolutions opposing 
war. The campaign of 1836 was approaching, and that ^dfusted^'^ 
also tended to moderate the attitude of the administration. 
A further step was taken when in the annual message of 1835 the 
president expressed the hope that France would pay the money and 
so remove the obstacle to harmony between the two powers. Then 
England offered her good services to bring the two states together. 
Her advances were acceptable to both sides, and by the next spring 
France had declared herself satisfied with the amicable words of the 
message of 1835 and four of the promised installments were paid. 
Jackson's course had undoubtedly been abrupt, as was his nature ; 
but it showed Europe that the American government could act en- 
ergetically, and it thus strengthened our influence in many a court. 
The third diplomatic problem arose in connection with Mexico. 
The region now embraced generally in the states of Texas, New 
Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and California, and 
a part of Colorado was in 1829 in the hands of the newly Mexico and 
created federal republic of Mexico, which ruled its in- ^.5, °f®®^" 

• /-\ r ^ sion or 

habited parts as states and provmces. One of these Texas, 
states was known as Coahuila and Texas, di\dded into 
four departments, one of which was Texas. The state had a constitu- 
tion of its own and exercised its functions under the authority of the 
federal republic. 

The department of Texas, vast and in\dting, lay between the 
Sabine and Nueces rivers. Under Spanish rule it contained a large 
number of Indians and about 4000 white men, chiefly 
in the region of San Antonio. Its fine lands early attracted ^^^^^ ^*^" 
the adventurous land hunters of the East, and from 1821 xexas. 
to 1827 there was a continuous stream of settlers from the 
United States. Among them Stephen F. Austin, who led the first 
colony, was the leading man. In 1832 arrived Samuel Houston, a 
friend of Jackson, a distinguished soldier in the Creek war, formerly 
a congressman and governor of Tennessee, who for personal reasons 
wished to begin Hfe in a new country. These two men played an 
important role in the early history of Anglo-American Texas. 

At first the Mexican authorities encouraged the immigration of men 
from the East, giving them large grants of land ; but the community 
showed much vigor, and the authorities began to fear Mexico 
a movement for a separate state. It was probably this fears the 
apprehension that caused them to attach Texas to the Growth of 
distinctly Mexican state of Coahuila, gi'V'ing it only one- '^®^^^- 
sixth of the representation in the state's legislature. But immigration 
was steady, and the new arrivals numbered 15,000 by 1827 and about 
30,000 in 1836. Then came efforts to restrict immigration. In 



420 JACKSON'S PRESIDENCY COMPLETED 

1829 the Mexican president, of his own unauthorized power, issued 
an order abolishing slavery in the republic. As this institution 
then existed only among the Anglo-American settlers of Texas, 
the manifesto was construed as a blow at that community. Austin, 
however, protested, and was able to secure a second order exempting 
Texas from the operation of the first order. In 1830 came a Mexican 
law forbidding further colonization from abroad and prohibiting the 
subsequent introduction of slaves. The Texans saw in this a deliberate 
attempt to check their growing power. They were not disposed to 
abide by its purpose, and colonists and slaves were secretly received 
in defiance of the weak central authority. From that time the Texans 
began to dream of revolution with ultimate annexation to the United 
States. 

Meanwhile, the American government made an effort to purchase 
Texas. Adams authorized our minister to Mexico to open negotia- 
tions to that end, but the minister discovered so much 
Futile At- sensitiveness on the part of Mexico on the subject that he 
buy Texas, ^i*^ ^^^ press the matter. The southern republic was in 
dire straights, one president after another overthrew his 
predecessor only to be driven out by a more formidable rival, and each 
had such an insecure hold on power that he dared not risk the dis- 
pleasure of his country by consenting to a division of the republic's 
domain. When Jackson became president, he took up the matter, 
but met the same difficulties. His representative in Mexico, Colonel 
Anthony Butler, was a shifty adventurer, suspected by the Mexicans, 
and when he could accomplish nothing by direct diplomacy, he under- 
took to gain his ends by corrupting some of the men nearest to the 
Mexican president. His intrigues became known, and the only results 
were to discredit Butler, who was duly recalled, and to create on the 
part of the Mexicans a disgust for our diplomacy. It is fair to say 
that Jackson was not a party to the trickery of his agent. 

The story now returns to the Texans, who had come to believe 
that they could escape the annihilation of their political rights only 
through a revolution. The outbreak came in 1835, 
The Texan ^.j^g people rising to a man and driving the Mexican forces 
1835-1836.' beyond the Rio Grande within the space of two and a 
half months. Then came a convention to form a civil 
government, while arrangements went on to meet the counters troke 
which Mexico was sure to attempt. Never did the American stock 
fight better than the Texans in the next three months. For a time 
bravery seemed useless. The Texans were assembled in small bands 
which fell singly before the army of several thousand with which 
Santa Anna crossed the Rio Grande to crush the revolution. In 
the early days of March, 1836, post after post was lost and the revolu- 
tionists began to lose heart. But one small band of 183 under W. B. 
Travis gave an evidence of courage and devotion which restored the 



THE TEXAS REVOLUTION 421 

spirits of the whole community and enabled it to make the united 
stand which insured final success. They held the old fort of The 
Alamo, at San Antonio, and refused to retreat, although more than 
a thousand Mexicans under Santa Anna closed in around 
them. After a thirteen-day siege all the defenders but 
six fell at their posts before the place was taken by storm. The 
remnant of survivors was shot by Santa Anna, spite of the protest 
of some of his officers. This created great horror among the Texans, 
and after that their battle cry was "Remember the Alamo !" 

News that the Texans were struggling for liberty aroused great 
sympathy in the United States. The Mississippi valley and the 
Gulf states were most outspoken, but mass meetings 
and contributions indicated the warm interest of the sea- Sympathy 
board region as far north as Boston. Many boatloads Texans. 
of sympathizers sailed from New Orleans for Galveston. 
In response to protests from Mexico, orders were given to stop all 
volunteers for Texas, but the intercepted ones declared they were 
colonists seeking homes in Texas and were allowed to pass freely. 
Arrived at their destination, they at once joined the ranks of the 
revolutionists, whose power of resistance thus increased daily. 

After the first disastrous efforts to hold various disconnected 
positions in the South, the Texan forces were united under General 
Sam Houston, who, ever faUing back, drew Santa Anna 
far northward. For a time it seemed that all was lost, ^*"'® °^ 
but Houston only waited his opportunity. April 21 cinto, 1836. 
he turned on Santa Anna, who was overconfident and 
unprepared, and crushed him in the battle of San Jacinto. The 
Texans charged irresistibly, breaking the enemy's lines, shooting down 
those who ran, and finally capturing all but fifty of the survivors 
of the 1600 men who faced them in the beginning of the engagement. 
Santa Anna himself was taken, and 630 of his followers were slain. 
Two months later he secured his release by signing treaties in which 
he and the other Mexican generals in Texas agreed to remove all their 
troops and to endeavor to secure the independence of the country 
with the bounds no farther south than the Rio Grande. This agree- 
ment proved the actual achievement of Texan independence; for 
although Mexico repudiated it and meant to reinvade the rebellious 
region, she was so beset by internal struggles that Texas was left 
undisturbed. 

But the 30,000 inhabitants of the wide area between the Sabine 
and the Nueces could not support the burden of its defense, and 
appeals were made to the United States for annexation. 
Jackson acted cautiously. Texas had made the preserva- ^*^*" ^® 
tion of slavery one of the grounds of revolution, and if xexas? 
annexed it would be slave territory. The question imme- 
diately became a sectional one. Calhoun and the South urged that 



422 JACKSON'S PRESIDENCY COMPLETED 

this vast region be acquired without delay. John Quincy Adams 
and Webster both made speeches on the other side. Jackson was 
bending all his efforts to carry the election of Van Buren and so 
perpetuate his policy against the bank ; and he was unwilling to 
jeopardize party harmony by introducing the Texan question into 
the campaign. Then it was urged that we recognize the republic 
as independent. He disposed of this by sending a special agent 

to Texas, who reported that the new republic could not 
The Recog- sustain itself against its enemies. On this basis Jackson 
Texas. advised congress that recognition should be deferred. 

But in February, 1837, when it seemed that England 
was about to grant recognition, he changed his attitude, and resolu- 
tions favorable to Texas passed in each house, and the president sent 
a minister. Annexation, however, must wait until another day. 

The End of Jackson's Presidency 

Jackson and his party were now supreme in national politics. A 
man of little education and not broadly informed in statecraft, he 
nevertheless was trusted by the people, whose champion 
sions ^"" ^^ ^^^" ^^ ^^^ ^^ average man's view of good govern- 
ment and extraordinary ability to organize and rule a 
party. The hopes of Clay, Webster, and Calhoun were reduced to 
nullity by his success. The first and second, each a little suspicious 
of the other, were holding together the Northern minority, which, 
dropping the name national republican, now began to be known as 
the whig party. It embraced avowedly the conservative and property- 
holding class, and was in plain contrast with the democrats, who 
declared themselves champions of the people. Many of the older 
states retained a property qualification for voting and allowed the 
legislature to select governors and judges. Such practices were 
approved by the whigs, but the democrats considered them unequal 
privileges, and demanded a wide popular participation of the people 
in the government. Rotation in office, strict economy in expenditures, 
and the least possible federal concentration were also 
r^^rn'ht fundamental principles of the democrats. In 1835 the 
Paid. ^'^^t ^^ th^ national debt was paid, much to the gratification 

of Jackson, who, however, warned the country that this 
ought not to be made the excuse for future extravagance. 

Meanwhile, the position of Calhoun was singular. Committed 
to state rights, and dependent upon South Carolina, he could not 
find a place in the party of Webster and Clay ; nor could 
Position^ he return to the democrats while Jackson's influence 
predominated. He was a democrat, but he led a small 
faction at war with Jackson. In 1832 he had hopes of defeating 
the nomination of Van Buren for vice-president, but failed signally. 



BANKS OF DEPOSIT 423 

Then he sought to embarrass the administration in its bank and other 
policies, but he failed in this also. In some minor matters he played 
a similar role with varying results. But his opportunity came with 
the reviving importance of the slavery issue. By the most vigorous 
appeals to the South he stimulated sectionalism, made a Southern 
faction in the democratic party, and laid the train that led to seces- 
sion. Jackson understood this purpose and foresaw its results long 
before the country could see them. With characteristic warmth 
he pronounced Calhoun a traitor, bent on disrupting the democratic 
party, whose integrity, said Jackson, was the best guaranty against 
disunion. 

While the democrats saw the opposing factions thus arrayed, they 
had to give strict attention to domestic finances. The twenty-three 
"pet banks," as they were dubbed, which received the 
pubHc money after October i, 1833, were selected with all ganks^^"^* 
possible care, but it was impossible to keep political 
motives entirely in the background. They were denounced by the 
whigs as unsafe, and their notes, with which the government paid 
some of its bills, frequently were less than par. This led to a new 
act in 1836, imposing stricter conditions for the selection of such 
banks of deposits, requiring them to furnish security, and to redeem 
their notes in specie. The payment of the national debt, and the 
steady increase of the revenues, resulted in a surplus of government 
funds, and it was so profitable for a bank to have the deposits that 
pressure was brought on the treasury to include other banks in the 
list. Thus it happened that in 1S36 the number of "pet banks" 
was 89, with total deposits of nearly $50,000,000. 

Along with this development went a wide expansion in the volume 
of bank notes. Thoughtful people foresaw that in an emergency 
these notes could not be redeemed in specie, and a demand 
arose for laws which would force more gold and silver Attempt to 
into circulation. The demand came most loudly from force Specie 
Senator Benton, of Missouri, who for his part in this into Cir- 
movement got the nickname of "Old Bullion." The <:"latio°- 
result of the agitation was laws to make foreign gold and 
silver coins legal tender and a law to change the ratio of gold and silver 
so as to allow free coinage of the former, which at the old ratio was 
more valuable than silver. Under the last law $1,500,000 in gold 
was coined by the mint. Democratic orators pro\dded themselves 
with green silken mesh purses through which shining yellow coins, 
popularly called "Benton's mint drops" could be seen, and these 
were ostentatiously displayed in taverns and on the stump in illustra- 
tion of the politicians' arguments for what they called the "currency 
of the constitution." Attempts were made to make bills of less 
value than five dollars no longer legal tender, in the hope that the 
vacuum thus created in the currency would force the ingress of specie 



424 JACKSON'S PRESIDENCY COMPLETED 

from abroad. At tliat time we mined little of either precious metal 
and were dependent on importations. ^\11 these well-meant attempts 
to establish a hard-money currency accomplished little. Loca^ 
banks, protected by state law, existed everywhere, and the country 
was full of their bills. The whigs cast derision on all that was done. 
They wished to prolong the existing confusion in the hope that it 
would make necessary the recharter of the bank of the United States, 
which they asserted was the only way out of the country's financial 
bewilderment. 

Another evil of the day was the accumulation of a government 
surplus of many millions after the payment of the debt of the nation. 

It could not be reduced by lowering the taritf, since the 
The Prob- compromise tariff of 1S33 was to run through ten years, 
nlusRev^' ^^^^^^^ 1S42. No better method of disposing of it was 
enue. suggested than to deposit it with the states. Jackson 

in the beginning of his presidency favored the suggestion, 
but soon changed his mind. He came to believe that the consti- 
tution did not authorize such a use of public money. On the other 
hand, the measure was favored by Clay, who was not embarrassed 
by similar constitutional views. He thought the principle might 
be applied to the proceeds of the land sales, since the land belonged 
to all the states. In 1S32 he carried through both houses a bill for 
such a distribution, but it was given a "pocket veto" by Jackson, 
who thought a better way would be to sell the lands more cheaply, a 
plan which pleased the West greatly. In fact, it was a perilous thing to 
lead the states to look to the federal government as a source of largesses. 
But the surplus continued to grow, and in 1835 Clay carried another 
distribution bill through the senate. So strong was opinion for it 

that the administration became alarmed and introduced 
butio^A^" "^^^^ ^'^^' ^^^^^^^^ ''^ slightly different bill, which, it was said, 
of 1836. would be accepted by Jackson. It was carried through 

both houses with a rush, and was approved by the president 
June 2}, 1836. It did not give, but loaned, the surplus to the states 
and provided that all the surplus in the treasury on January i, 1837, 
above §5,000,000 should be deposited with the states in four equal 
quarterly installments according to federal population. The money 
thus deposited might formally be demanded for repa^Tiient at the 
discretion of congress, but it was understood that no such demand 
would ever be made. Jackson accepted the bill with great reluctance, 
and he said plainl}- it should not be a precedent. He yielded, undoubt- 
edly, because the measure was very popular, and because he feared 
a veto would imperil the election of \'an Buren, whose success he 
believed of supreme importance. As it turned out, $36,000,000 
was on hand to be distributed, and the first and second installments 
were paid and half of the third; but the panic of 1837 then inter- 
vened, and there was no money in the treasury to pay the rest. 



ELECTION OF 1836 425 

The last notable incident of his administration was the specie 
circular, issued July 11, 1836. The West was carried away with 
land speculation. Here, too, were a large number of 
insecure banks, whose notes were being received in pay- The Specie 
ment for lands. It was evident that the bubble must ^3,5^ ' 
soon burst ; for the lands could not go on increasing 
in value, speculators in them would fail, and the banks from which 
they had borrowed would be embarrassed and cease to pay their 
notes in specie. The result would be that the government in such 
a contingency would find its hands full of worthless paper money 
and the loss would be immense. Jackson, therefore, ordered land 
offices to take no money but specie. For a time there was a 
feverish movement of gold and silver to the West, but soon that failed. 
Then creditors of the Western banks began to demand specie 
of them. Thus came the panic of 1837. The specie circular 
did not produce this crisis, as the whigs charged, but it hastened its 
coming. 

While these 'things happened, the country came to the election 
of 1836. Jackson was supreme in his party and was able to dominate 
it, though he did so by the most wanton exercise of his 
personal will. May 20, 1835, more than a year before ^o^^*.'°ii.^^ 
the election was to come, a convention, half of it office- Democrats, 
holders, met in Baltimore and nominated Van Buren 
for president and R. M. Johnson, of Kentucky, for vice-president. 
Outside the convention was much party dissatisfaction with the 
nomination, but no one dared oppose the will of Jackson. Van 
Buren, accepting the proffered honor, said he would " tread generally 
in the footsteps of General Jackson," a sentiment which received 
much ridicule from his opponents. 

The whigs were not strong enough tc carry one man through 
triumphantly, but they hoped to take advantage of the dissatis- 
faction among their opponents and throw the election 
into the house, where they expected to defeat the demo- ^^' 

cratic candidate. They, therefore, held no convention, united with 
all the malcontents, and sought to win a total majority for three men. 
In the Northeast they supported Webster, whom the Massachusetts 
whigs nominated. In the Northwest they united on General W. H. 
Harrison, and in the Southwest on Senator White, of Tennessee, 
nominated by the legislature of his own state. Ohio had her own 
candidate, Judge John McLean, who was popular with the remnant 
of the antimasonic i)arty. South Carolina would support none of 
the candidates ; and she was especially opposed to Van Buren, whose 
intrigue had prostrated her champion, Calhoun. 

The result was a surprise to the whigs. Van Buren received 1 70 elec- 
toral votes against 124 for all his opponents and was declared elected. 
Johnson had only 147 against a combined opposition of 147 and 



426 JACKSON'S PRESIDENCY COMPLETED 

was, therefore, not elected. For the only time in our history the 
senate was to choose a vice-president, the choice being Johnson 

by a vote of 33 to 16. Of the defeated candidates 
ReTiUt" Harrison had 73 votes, White had 26, among them the 

votes of Tennessee, Webster had the 14 votes of Massa- 
chusetts, and the 1 1 votes of South Carolina were thrown away on Willie 
P. Mangum, of North Carolina. As the democrats maintained their 
control of each branch of congress, Jackson retired from office, assured 
that the bank would not be rechartered and the great democratic 
principles for which he had striven would be perpetuated. He closed 
his labors with a " Farewell Address," in which he summed up the chief 
features of his political faith. He retired to his home at the "Her- 
mitage," near Nashville, saying: "When I review the arduous 
administration through which I have passed, the formidable opposi- 
tion, to its very close, of the combined talents, wealth, and power of 
the whole aristocracy of the United States, aided as it is by the monied 
monopolies of the whole country with their corrupting influence, 
with which we had to contend, I am truly thankful to my God for 
this happy result." 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

The general works, biographies, works of leading men, and legislative and exec- 
utive sources are the same as for the preceding chapter (see page 405). The special 
topics treated in this chapter and the leading works on them are as follows : 

On Nullification : Houston, Nullification in South Carolina {Harvard Historical 
Studies, 1896) ; Phillips, Georgia and State Rights (Am. Hist. Assn. Reports, 1901, 
vol. II) ; Ames, State Documents on Federal Relations, vol. IV (1902) ; Jervey, 
Robert Y. Hayne and His Time (1909) ; Stille, Life and Services of Joel R. Poinsett 
(1888) ; Powell, Nullification and Secession (1897) ; Bassett, Life of Andrew Jacli- 
son, vol. II (191 1); Sumner, Life of Andrew Jackson (ed. of 1897); Calhoun, 
Works, 6 vols. (1853-1855) ; Jameson, ed., Correspondence of Calhoun (Am. Hist. 
Assn. Report, vol. II, 1899). 

On Jackson's attack on the bank of the United States : Catterall, The Secotid 
Bank of the United States (1903) ; Dewey, The Second United States Bank (National 
Monetary Commission Report, 1910) ; Ibid., Financial History of the United States 
(1903) ; Sumner, History of Banking in the United States (vol. I of History of Bank- 
ing in All the Leading Nations, 1896) ; White, Money and Banking (2d ed., 1902) ; 
Bassett, Life of An-drcw Jackson, vol. II (191 1) ; Sumner, Andrew Jackson (revised 
ed., 1897) ; Clark and Hall, Legislative and Documentary History of the Bank of 
the United States (1832) ; Gallatin, Considerations on the Currency (1831), and other 
references in Catterall, Second Bank, pages 513-526. 

On the tariff controversy see : Taussig, Tarijf History of the United States (ed. 
of 1898), opposes protection; Stanwood, American Tariff Controversies, 2 vols. 
(1903), favors protection; Curtiss, Protection and Prosperity (1896), favors protec- 
tion and contains list of tariff measures; Bishop, History of American Manufac- 
tures, 3 vols. (1867) ; Michael and Pulsifer, compilers, Tariff Acts Passed by the 
Congress of the United States, ijSq-iSqs (1896). 

On foreign affairs see American State Papers, Foreign for the important docu- 
ments ; Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, vols. II and III (1902), 
contains papers on the relations with France; Bassett, Life of Andrew Jackson, 
vol.11 (191 1), summarizes foreign affairs; ^uvcvatr, Andrew Jackson {i?,t&d.,\?>?>6), 
contains summary of relations with Great Britain; and Schuyler, American Di- 
plomacy (1886), good for commercial negotiations. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 427 

On Texas, its early history and relations with the United States, see Garrison, 
Texas, a Contest of Civilizations (1903), the best short history; Ibid., ed., Texan 
Diplomatic Correspondence, 2 vols. (Am. Hist. Assn. Reports, 1907 and 1908) ; 
Rather, The Annexation oj Texas (Texas Hist. Assn. Quarterly, 1910) ; and Reeves, 
Diplomacy under Tyler and Polk (1907). 

For Independent Reading 

Mrs. Trollope, Domestic Manners of the Americans (1832); Dickens, American 
Notes (many editions); Fanny Kemble [Butler], Journal, 2 vols. (1832-1833); and 
Dodd, Statesmen of the Old South (1911), treats of Jefferson, Calhoun, and Jefiferson 
Davis. 



CHAPTER XXI 

EARLY PERIOD OF THE SLAVERY CONTROVERSY, 1831-1850 

The Antislavery Agitation 

Two phases of antislavery agitation occurred in the United States 
during the nineteenth century, one pacific and intended to persuade 

the South that slavery should be given up, the other 
The Two seeking to induce the North to use her influence in congress 
ments. ^^ wipe out what was considered a blot on American 

civilization. Of the first movement Benjamin Lundy, 
a New Jersey Quaker, was the leading spirit. He was persistent 
and patient, and wished to secure the cooperation of slaveholders, 
who generally feared that antislavery agitation would suggest insur- 
rection to the minds of the slaves. He traveled extensively in the 
South, organized emancipation societies, and published a paper, 

The Genius of Universal Emancipation, as a means of 
L^ndT"° promoting his ideas. He met no opposition from South- 
erners, but succeeded only in the sections in which there 
were few slaveholders, and chiefly with his fellow Quakers. His 
period of activity extended from about 181 5 to 1831. 

In 1816, while his movement was still in its hopeful stage, the 
American Colonization Society was founded. Its first president 

was Bushrod Washington, a justice of the supreme court, 
American ^^^ Clay and many other prominent men gave it support. 
Society. "^^^ object was to promote emancipation by sending the 

f reedmen to Africa ; for it was believed that slaveholders 
would emancipate more readily if the emancipated ones were returned 
to their original homes. To aid its operations the government in 
1822 established the colony of Liberia, on the west coast of Africa, 
and branch colonization societies north and south collected money 
to sustain it. By 1830 the society had sent 1162 negroes to Liberia, 
most of whom fell victims to the pestilential fevers of the place. 

At that time it was evident that colonization, like emancipation 
by persuasion of the masters, was a failure. The truth is that the 

expansion of cotton farming and the consequent rise 
tud^ ^/th ^^ ^^^ prices of slaves were increasing the hold of slavery 
South. ^^ the South. A new generation of Southerners had 

grown up since 1800. They had not the zeal for human 
rights so prevalent in revolutionary days and they were eager to 
develop their immense regions of fertile lands. To such men the 

428 



THE WORK OF GARRISON 429 

negro, who accepted bondage easily, seemed happier in slavery than 
out of it; and so it came about that most conscientious men in the 
South, while recognizing the harshness of slavery, eventually came 
to consider it fixed in Southern life. The efforts of Northern men to 
remove it seemed to them mischievous interference with Southern 
affairs, a course likely to lead to insurrection and massacre. 

The second movement originated in 1831 when William Lloyd Garri- 
son began to publish the Liberator in Boston. He was young, poor, 
and friendless, but a passionate hatred of slavery filled 
his heart. He had been imprisoned in Baltimore for an Tf^'f™ 
artitle in Lundy's paper, and the remembrance of it oan-ison. 
whetted his purpose. "I shall contend for the immediate 
enfranchisement of our slave population," he said; "I will be as 
harsh as truth and as uncompromising as justice on this subject — I 
do not wish to think, or speak, or write with moderation — I am 
in earnest — I will not equivocate — I will not retreat a single inch, 
and / will be heard / " Drawing to himself the more earnest opponents 
of slavery in New England he was soon a power in the land. Local 
societies were founded, money was raised by contributions, fairs, 
and other means, and then he proceeded to unite the local societies 
into a common organization. In 1832 was formed the New England 
Antislavery Society, and in 1833 the American Antislavery Society. 
The object was to oppose slavery in every possible manner. In 
1840 there were 2000 local organizations, with a total membership 
of nearly 200,000. Soon after its origin this phase of the antislavery 
movement began to be called "abolitionism." 

While Boston remained the center of abolitionism in the East, 
Oberlin, Ohio, became the center in the West. This village was 
founded around a coeducational school in 1833. In 
1835 it received an accession of three professors and Oberlin and 
thirty students from Lane Theological Seminary, Cincin- ^^^ Abo^U- 
nati, all abolitionists who had left Lane Seminary because tionists. 
it frowned on their opinions. Oberlin college was incor- 
porated, and negro students were admitted to its courses. The 
village became an important point for Western abolitionists. A 
leading Ohio abolitionist was James G. Birney, who had left Kentucky 
because he was opposed for teaching the doctrine of freedom. 

About this time appeared the "underground railway," conducted 
by abolitionists to help slaves to escape from the South. "Stations" 
were formed at regular distances at the homes of trusted 
persons, called "agents," while other persons, known as J^® ^°" 
"conductors," went South and escorted fugitives secretly Railway." 
from "station" to "station" until safety was reached 
at last in a free state or in Canada. The persons connected with the 
"underground railway" were men of great probity in ordinary 
matters, but they thought it no crime to snatch a slave from bond- 



430 PERIOD OF THE SLAVERY CONTROVERSY 

age. It is estimated that 2000 slaves a year thus escaped from 
their masters from 1830 to i860. By such means as these the 
abolitionists attracted a great deal of attention, exasperated the 
Southerners to the point of fury, and called the attention of 
Northern people to the harshness of slavery. Their efforts at first 
were denounced by most people in the North, and sometimes their 
meetings were violently broken up, but opinion there gradually 
changed, so that the Northerners, by 1850, would do nothing to 
aid masters in recovering runaway slaves. 

Let us look at the other side of the picture. In 1831 the South 
was probably already more proslavery than in 1800. It received 

the Garrisonian movement with violent scorn. Many 
Effect in the ]-)jj-^gj- things were said about those who would recklessly 

incite the slaves to murder their masters. The "black 
terror" was ever the nightmare of the community. In 1831 Nat 
Turner, a black slave in Southampton county, Virginia, began an 
insurrection, killing sixty whites before he was captured and hanged. 
It was believed he had read the literature of the abolitionists. The 
incident sent a shock of horror throughout the South. Out of the shock 
came the motions in the Virginia legislature to abolish slavery, and 
a great debate followed in the succeeding winter. But no one could 
suggest a satisfactory way of disposing of the freedmen, and all the 
discussion came to naught. Virginia was not willing to have the 
negro population freed and left within the state. The upshot was 

to convince the South that the blacks were a fixed part\ 
fif^kcTd^'* of its population and that if they remained, they could 

be best controlled as slaves. From that time the negro's 
lot became harder. Laws were passed to forbid his instruction in 
reading and writing, his free use of the roads, his preaching to his 
own people, his right to assemble in meetings of any kind where no 
white man was present, and whatever else might enable him to com- 
bine for any action which might lead to freedom. This new "black 
code" now became common to all the Southern states, and by i860 
the negro was completely cowed. As abolition gained in the North,\ 
proslavery gained in the South. In 1800 Southern statesmen and 
preachers generally considered slavery an evil, though they knew 
not how to remedy it : in i860 Southerners of both classes were found 
who argued that slavery was a blessing to the negro, a benefit to the 
South, and a beneficent institution whereby peace and happiness 
was established for society. 

This growing division between the sections soon found expression 

in congress. Southerners were alarmed when abolition 
f^^^sU^veiy literature began to be sent South, some of it to ne- 
Mails,^ groes, and in 1835 a great group of indignant citizens 

of Charleston, South Carolina, seized and burned a mass 
of such papers before they were delivered. Appeals were sent to the 



THE "GAG RULE" 431 

postmaster-general to refuse the use of the mails for such purposes. 
He did not think such action legal, and a compromise was reached 
by which abolition papers were to be accepted by postmasters when 
offered for mailing, but need not be delivered at the offices to which 
they were directed. Then Calhoun offered a bill in the senate to 
forbid sending antislavery literature through the mails to places in 
which it might not lawfully circulate; but the proposition received 
an adverse vote. The incident attracted much attention, and that 
helped the abolitionists in the North. 

Much more excitement was aroused a few months later by the 
attitude of the house of representatives toward antislavery peti- 
tions. Many such appeals had come to the house in recent 
years, and they were beginning to irritate Southern pe^tions'^^ 
members. Yet the number of petitions did not diminish ; 
for the abolitionists got them signed more with the purpose of giving 
their efforts a definite form than with the expectation of success in 
the object asked for. Finally on May 26, 1836, the house resolved 
that such memorials in the future be tabled without reading or other 
action on them. John Quincy Adams, now a member of the house, 
protested against the resolution as unconstitutional, and a violation 
of the rights of his constituents. The abolitionists could now say 
the right of petition, the ancient bulwark of liberty, was denied, and 
more memorials than ever were sent to Washington. Adams took upon 
himself the task of presenting them. Whenever the regular hour for 
petitions arrived, he could be seen at his desk in the house, a huge pile 
of papers before him. As the order of the day was announced, he would 
rise with words like these: "I hold in my hands a request from 

citizens of the town of praying the abolition of slavery in ." 

At this point the hammer of the speaker would fall, and Adams would 
be declared out of order. Not abashed, he would take another paper 
from the pile, begin with the same words, only to be cut off in the 
same manner, proceeding thus until the pile was exhausted. His 
action made him very unpopular with Southern members, but he 
became the honored champion of the abolitionists. At last the friends 
of slavery came to see that the "gag rule" in regard to 
petitions but strengthened the abolitionists in their J°^° 
appeals to the North, and in December, 1844, the offending Adams, 
rule was repealed. In resenting an irritating practice 
of the abolitionists the Southern members had put themselves in the 
wrong and given their adversaries a point to support the general 
argument that slavery tinged with cruelty and despotism whatever 
it touched. 



432 PERIOD OF THE SLAVERY CONTROVERSY 



Van Buren's Presidency 

Van Buren became president through the grace of Andrew Jackson. 
He had all the virtues of mediocrity without the capacity of leadership. 

He was honest, cool-headed, courteous to his contem- 
Character poraries, and loyal to his cause. He favored economy 
Buren. ^^ expenditures, and although the spoils system throve dur- 

ing his administration, he sought to secure efficient persons 
for the offices within his gift. He was an intimate friend of the 
New York literary men of his day, and appointed Paulding, the 
novelist, secretary of the navy. His weakness was that he had not 
the capacity of command, and his party, no longer restrained by 
the strong will of Jackson, fell into confusion and lost the confidence 
of the country. 

The first incident in his administration was the panic of 1837, 
symptoms of which began to appear before he was inaugurated. The 

cause was overspeculation, chiefly in the newer parts 
Panic of q£ ^j^g country. The past six years had been a period 
Cause. of great confidence everywhere. Railroads were being 

built, immigrants were buying land at rapid advances, 
banks were lending money far in excess of their means, cotton rose 
to sixteen cents a pound in 1835 and fell to ten cents in 1836, "wild- 
cat banks" were incorporated whose chief activity was to issue money 
to the land speculators, and the whole industrial community lived 
on the expectation that the morrow would carry the wave of specula- 
tion higher than it was to-day. Only a slight shock was needed to 
hurl the whole structure to the ground. 

Two things operating jointly served to furnish this check. The 

specie circular of 1836 (see page 425) forced land buyers to pay in 

. specie, they asked the Western banks for gold and silver 

Circular"^ in redemption of notes, and the institutions which had 

most overissued began to suspend specie payment. The 
distribution of the surplus (see page 424), beginning in January, 
1837, drew money from the deposit banks to transfer it to other 

places. This necessitated the calling in of loans, which 
TheDistri- jniplied the suspension of industrial development, and 
Surplus. ^^6 reaction reached the remotest point of the country's 

business life. Then demoralization quickly arrived. 
European holders sent back bonds and demanded cash, owners of 
specie locked it in vaults, importations of goods fell off, and the 
public revenues ceasing, the government expenses used up the treas- 
ury's surplus so that the third installment of the deposits was sus- 
pended when only half of it had been distributed. 

So acute was the situation that congress was called in extra session 
in October. Though the government was out of debt, it had no 



A BANK OR A SUB-TREASURY? 433 

money for its expenses, and since the law required public dues to be 
paid in specie or in notes of specie-paying banks, there was not 
enough currency in the treasury to enable it to carry on its busi- 
ness. The first thing, therefore, was to issue temporarily 
$10,000,000 in treasury notes. Van Buren was urged to ^° ^^*^* 
repeal the specie circular, but refused steadfastly. The congress. 
whigs declared that all the trouble came from the destruc- 
tion of the bank of the United States and hoped to carry a bill for 
recharter, but congress and president remained firm, and this demand 
failed. 

Then Van Buren brought forward a plan to have the government 
take care of the deposits, known later as the sub-treasury bill. 
Let the government, he said, keep its own money, leaving it with 
the treasurer, the mints, postmasters, collectors, and other 
receivers until it was ordered paid out. At once arose Sub-treas- 
a cry that these keepers were not responsible, and that gested. 
the scheme, if adopted, would dangerously enlarge the 
patronage. The whigs hoped the distress would make a new bank 
seem necessary, and voted steadily against the sub-treasury. The 
democrats were divided ; one part, strong in the Eastern cities, opposing 
the suggestion as unsafe, and the other supporting it. The second 
faction called itself the antimonopolists, but it was generally known 
as the "Locofocos, " a nickname given by its enemies in New York. 
In the popular parlance of the day the sub-treasury bill was "the 
divorce bill," because it sought to "divorce the government from 
all banks." It failed in the extra session, came up in a simpler form 
in 1838, but was again lost. It was taken up again and 
successfully passed and signed July 4, 1840. When finally ^g °^ ^ "^ 
passed, it created sub-treasuries to keep and pay out the 
public money at Boston, New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and 
New Orleans, which, with the treasury at Washington left the funds 
in six important centers of business. It also provided that after 
the end of June, 1843, only specie should be received for public dues. 
The whigs fought the bill to the last, for its adoption meant the 
relinquishment of their hope for a bank; they repealed it in 1841, 
in the first days of their triumph, but the democrats restored it in 
1846, omitting the specie feature. 

Before this law was passed, the presidential campaign of 1840 was 
being conducted. Van Buren's nomination by his party was easily 
secured in a convention at Baltimore, May 4, 1840. . 

Several states had named candidates for the vice-presi- ^g^^ '°° ° 
dency, and the convention thought it best to refrain from 
deciding between them. It was probably expected that the choice 
would at last fall to the senate. A platform strong in Jacksonian 
principles was adopted as the ground on which the country should 
continue to manifest its confidence in the existing administration. 



434 PERIOD OF THE SLAVERY CONTROVERSY 

The whigs approached the election year in high spirits. The long 
period of financial stringency, the inabihty of the democrats to unite 
on a positive remedy, and the many opponents of Van Buren in his 
party indicated that the democrats would have strong opposition. 
Clay saw the situation and had high hopes. It seemed that lais oppor- 
tunity was at last at hand. The convention was called at Harrisburg, 
December 4, 1839. As the time approached, a strong anti-Clay 
opposition appeared within the party. He was a mason, he had 
spoken against the abolitionists, and he was already twice defeated 
for the presidency. These facts, it was urged, made him an unavail- 
able candidate, and Harrison, leading whig candidate in 1836, was 
pointed out as a stronger man. The opponents of Clay were well 
led by Thurlow Weed, party manager in the important state of New 
York. When the convention met, Clay had 102 votes on the first 
ballot, mostly from the slaveholding states, Harrison had 91, and 
General Winfield Scott had 57. Scott was a stalking-horse for Clay's 
enemies, who now began to shift their support to Harrison, with the 
result that the latter was finally named. Clay, deeply disappointed, 
burst into a rage when he learned the news. Walking rapidly to and 
fro, in a group of his friends, he exclaimed, "If there were two Henry 
Clays, one of them would make the other president !" John Tyler, 
of Virginia, deeply attached to the defeated leader, was nominated 
for vice-president. No platform was adopted, for in the groups of 
men supporting the action of the convention were so many of con- 
flicting views that it was perilous to attempt to devise a body of prin- 
ciples on which they should appeal to the people. The whigs were con- 
tent to rest their fate on the cry of " Down with Van Buren ! " 

No one doubted how New England and the bank men outside of 
it would vote, but it was not certain what the rest of the country 

would do. Fortunately for the whigs the campaign had 

^P^®" . hardly opened when a lucky accident showed how they 

Tyler Too." could be reached. A disappointed friend of Clay was 

heard to say that Harrison, whose talents were very limited, 
if given a pension and a barrel of hard cider would retire to his log 
cabin and think no more of the presidency. The democrats seized 
on the remark and dubbed Harrison the "log-cabin candidate." But 
the blow reacted. The whigs made it a symbol of honor, saying it 
showed that their candidate was a man of the people, disdained by the 
aristocrats, whose heads were turned by their long lease of power. 
At every political meeting of the whigs a log cabin, a jug of cider, and 
a coon were displayed as tokens of their candidate's love of the people. 
A popular song lauding him as the "hero of Tippecanoe" also did 
much to create enthusiasm for his cause. This wave of popular ex- 
citement accomplished the object for which it was raised, and in the 
final test Harrison and Tyler, "Tippecanoe and Tyler too," were 
chosen by 234 to 60 electoral votes. Van Buren lost his own state 



TYLER AND CLAY 435 

and carried only Virginia, South Carolina, Missouri, Alabama, Arkan- 
sas, Illinois, and New Hampshire. 

This overwhelming victory resulted fatally for the victor. Duly 
inaugurated in March, 1841, he was at once overwhelmed by a horde 
of hungry whig oflfice seekers, who dogged his steps, 
exhausted his strength, and so disturbed his peace of mind Hanson 
that he yielded to an attack of pneumonia one month after 
he took the oath of office. One of his last acts was to call congress in 
extra session for May 31, 1841. When it met, Tyler was president. 

The Adivonistration of Tyler 

Tyler now found himself at the head of a party with which he had 
little political sympathy. He believed in state rights, opposed a bank 
and a high tariff, and had only left the democratic fold 
because he resented the towering methods of Jackson. pqs^Ijou 
His nomination had been made without the slightest 
expectation that he would ever be in a position to veto a bill which 
the whigs had carried through congress. 

On the other hand, Clay, the real head of the party, was in no mood 
to resign his leadership. Harrison, had he lived, would have had 
a sharp struggle with this imperious man, who was not , 
disposed to bow before so insignificant a figure as Tyler, ^^tuude 
When, therefore, the extra session began. Clay, a member 
of the senate, took charge of the situation like a military commander. 
He offered a resolution specifying what work the extra session should 
perform, the chief features being : the repeal of the sub-treasury act, 
the incorporation of a bank, the enactment of a higher tariff law, and 
the distribution of the proceeds of land sales. Tyler was very cautious, 
but he was also stubborn, and Clay's dashing assumption of power 
aroused him. He accepted a bill to abolish the sub-treasury, but 
sent back with a veto a bill to incorporate a great bank in 
the District of Columbia with branches in the states. J^^l^^^ 
The whigs had a safe majority in each house, but they Question, 
could not pass a bill over a veto. They were greatly dis- 
appointed ; for hearing rumors of Tyler's objections they thought 
they had eliminated from their bill all the features to which he was 
opposed. Smothering their resentment outwardly, they conferred 
with the president to know what kind of a bank bill he would approve. 
What he said became later a matter of dispute, but they hastily 
prepared a charter for a "Fiscal Corporation," passed it without 
difficulty, and sent it to the president. Tyler had expressed his op- 
position to the word "bank," and so the word was not used. The 
bill was said to have been shown to the president and to have had his 
approval. Great was the anger of its friends, therefore, when it 
came back in six days with a veto. Many had expected such action, 



436 PERIOD OF THE SLAVERY CONTROVERSY 

spite of his previous approval ; for the second bill differed from the 
first in little but the names it gave to bank and branches. Under it 
the great institution would have been able to do most of the things 
which Jackson had found so distasteful. Both vetoes showed that 
Tyler was fundamentally opposed to a bank on constitutional grounds. 
He had evidently tried hard to reconcile his desire for party harmony 
with his long-proclaimed principles, but the badly veiled discourtesy 
of Clay and other leading whigs in setting him aside as leader had 
wounded his pride and made him feel disposed to show them that he 
was still president. While the second veto was being prepared, con- 
gress passed a bill to distribute among the states the proceeds of land 
sales. Tyler accepted the bill, but it was repealed in the following year. 
The " Fiscal Corporation" was vetoed on September g, 1841. Two 
days later all the cabinet but Webster, secretary of state, resigned 
as a token of their disapproval. They published letters 
^^Iv^ ^V denouncing what they declared Tyler's false conduct, 
byth^e^ and Clay, wishing to detach as many whigs as possible 

Whigs. from the administration, secured a caucus of the leading 

members of the party which solemnly declared that "all 
political connection between them and John Tyler was at an end." 
Webster also gave reasons for his conduct, saying that he did not 
think it wise to leave the cabinet without giving the president time 
to select another secretary. Negotiations pending for the determina- 
tion of the Northeast boundary made it desirable that he should 
remain in office. He was not on good terms with Clay, and resented 
the manner in which that leader sought to bend the whigs to his will. 
Tyler saw in this a good omen. He hoped to build up a party in 
which the dashing Kentuckian should not be supreme, and immediately 
filled the cabinet with men who, like himself, had once been Jack- 
sonians, but who had left the democratic fold because they did not like 
the Jacksonian rule. As a party move, the step was a failure. Even 
Webster soon came to realize that Tyler was not the man to lead the 
whigs, and in May, 1843, when the administration was leaning strongly 
toward the annexation of Texas, he also withdrew from the cabinet. 

The only other distinctly whig measure passed through congress 
dm-iug Tyler's presidency was the tariff of 1842. The term through 
_, -, ._ which the compromise of 1833 was to run was to expire 
of 1842 June 31, 1842. Before that date the treasury had a defi- 

cit. There was much alarm for th'e future, and some 
attempts were made to devise a plan for relief; but the president 
stood by the compromise of 1833, and it was allowed to run its course. 
Finally, on August 30, 1842, a bill was passed fixing the duties on most 
articles at the rates in force in 1832, and the president gave it his 
approval. It involved the repeal of the distribution act of the pre- 
vious year, and on that ground received enough democratic votes to 
pass the senate. 



MAINE THREATENS WAR 437 



The Maine Boundary and the Webster-Ashburton Treaty 

When Webster decided to remain in the cabinet in 1841 he had 
begun important negotiations with England. The treaty of 1783 
provided that the Northeast boundary should begin at 
the mouth of the St. Croix river, follow its course to the the D'^soute 
source, thence due north to the highlands separating the 
tributaries of the St. Lawrence from the streams that flowed into 
the Atlantic, along the said highlands to the source of the Connecticut, 
thence with that river to the parallel 45° north, and thence due west 
to the St. Lawrence. The commissioners knew little about the real 
geography of the Northeast. There were several rivers which the 
early inhabitants had called the St. Croix, and the British naturally 
claimed that the westernmost should be taken for the true starting 
point, while the Americans held for the easternmost. From the source 
of the stream claimed by the British a northward line reached the 
eastern end of some hills running westward, which it was claimed were 
the highlands which ought to be accepted as the boundary. The 
Americans were sure that the real St. Croix was either the river now 
known as the St. Johns or a smaller stream called by the Indians the 
Magaguadavi, about twenty-five miles east of the present St. Croix. 
A line due north from the source of that stream did not touch the 
hills just mentioned, but passed on through level country, across the 
St. Johns, until it reached high ground which paralleled the St. Law- 
rence, about 140 miles northward, and following these hills south- 
westwardly this boundary gave to the United States about 12,000 
square miles of territory more than that conceded by the British line. 
This disputed region was drained in part by the Aroostook river, 
which flows into the St. Johns, and whose valley by 1840 was being 
settled by inhabitants of Maine. Various attempts to determine 
the rights of each nation in the matter had been made, but none 
succeeded. Maine meanwhile exercised jurisdiction over the Aroo- 
stook lands, frequently driving out persons cutting timber under 
Canadian authority. In 1838 the intruders were more numerous 
than ever, and Governor Fairfield, of Maine, sent 150 men to oust 
them. The intruders fell back to New Brunswick, gathered reen- 
forcements, and only the exercise of moderation on the part of the gov- 
ernor of New Brunswick prevented bloodshed. Through- 
out Maine was great indignation, and the president was stookWar"' 
called on for help. Van Buren advised negotiations, but 
congress with practical unanimity gave him the authority to call out 
50,000 men to defend the rights of the country, if he thought force 
necessary. Several irritating incidents had recently occurred on the 
Canadian frontier, and the country was in no friendly mood toward 
Great Britain. At this time the English and American governments 



438 PERIOD OF THE SLAVERY CONTROVERSY 

agreed to desist from further operation on the Aroostook, and Maine, 
already prepared to enforce her claim by force, was induced to with- 
hold her hand until diplomacy had its opportunity. This period of 
disturbance was popularly called the "Aroostook war." 

Such was the situation when Webster became secretary of state 
in 1841. He immediately opened negotiations with England, which 

had no other wish than to dispose of the Aroostook inci- 
Concluded ^^^^ without injury to her rights. Lord Ashburton, 

a reasonable and courteous diplomatist, was sent to Wash- 
ington to have special charge of the British side of the case, and on 
August 9, 1842, the Webster-Ashburton treaty was signed, disposing 
of the controversy through a compromise satisfactory to all moderate 
persons. It adopted a line which gave 7015 square miles of the dis- 
puted area, including the Aroostook valley, to the United States. 
The treaty also pledged the two contracting powers to keep a joint 
squadron in African waters to suppress the slave trade. Maine and 
Massachusetts received from the United States money payments for 
land claims they had in the region awarded to England. A British 
map not accessible to Webster in 1842 supports the American claim 
and makes it evident that England gained by the treaty 5000 square 
miles more than the treaty of 1783 allowed her. 

The Annexation or Texas and the Occupation of Oregon 

During Van Buren's administration the annexation of Texas was 
held in abeyance. The South desired it, but the North was sure to 

object, and the question was too dangerous to party 
The Situa- harmony to be taken up as long as it could be avoided, 
Texas. Texas herself understood the situation, and after 1838 

ceased to offer herself where there was no prospect that 
she would be accepted. Meanwhile, she had many difficulties. Im- 
migration was not very rapid, the struggle for independence over, 
many of her adventurers returned to the United States, and the ex- 
pense of keeping an army and navy to repel Mexico but added to her 
heavy debt. She was in need of foreign assistance, and some of her 
people were showing a willingness to accept it from any available 
source. 

In 1843 Washington learned that England and France had induced 
Mexico to make a truce with Texas with a view to a permanent treaty. 

Our government was surprised that these European 
E^^^h^^^^ nations were taking such active interest in Texan affairs. 
Scheme. Then came reports that England was to advance money 

to free the slaves in Texas, the republic guarantee- 
ing the interest on the loan. Why was Great Britain, it was asked, 
concerning herself in this quarter ? The answer was in order that she 
might have the trade of Texas and secure a vast source for the supply 



A TREATY OF ANNEXATION 439 

of cotton she needed for her factories. Moreover, it was evident that 
if she got as strong a hold over the country as this plan involved, 
nothing but a war would shake her off. The report, although denied 
by the British government, was credited in the South and by many 
people in the North, and the impression grew that if we did not wish 
to see this valuable region slip out of our grasp, we must act at once. 
The North, however, laughed at the rumors and declared they were 
manufactured to influence the action of congress. Later investiga- 
tions have made it clear that they were well founded, although Eng- 
land's activity had not gone as far by 1843 as the Southerners believed. 

Tyler and Upsliur, his secretary of state, believed the reports and 
suggested to the Texans that it would be well to renew offers of an- 
nexation. Samuel Houston, the Texan president, assumed 
indifference, saying that if negotiations were now reopened Tyler sug- 
the newly established friendship of Texas and England g^sts An- 
would be weakened. This whetted the desire of Tyler, 
and he consulted with his friends and satisfied himself that a treaty 
of annexation could be carried through the senate. He took a warmer 
tone with Houston, who at last offered to treat for annexation if the 
United States would send an army to the frontier to aid the republic 
in case Mexico attacked while negotiations progressed. The con- 
dition was accepted, but later modified, so that we did not promise to 
aid the republic until a treaty was accepted. At this juncture Upshur 
was killed by the explosion of a cannon on the ship-of-war Princeton, 
and when the negotiations actually began, Calhoun was secretary of 
state. They ended in a treaty, signed April 12, 1844, in which Texas 
was to become an American territory and surrender its public lands, 
its indebtedness of $10,000,000 being assumed by the United States. 

All this was done as quietly as possible, but secrecy could not be 
maintained when the document came to the senate. Its publication 
was not a surprise to the country, but it met none the less 
a vigorous protest in the North. The South, it was said, j,"^^^ ^ . 
had assumed the aggressive and was seeking to acquire an 
immense region for the extension of the sphere of slavery. On the 
other hand, the Southerners replied that they only wished to enlarge 
the national domain and that the North selfishly sacrificed the glory 
of the country in order to gratify an unreasonable feeling against the 
South. As early as this the two sections had come to the inevitable 
conflict between slavery and freedom. The problem now became 
a very practical one for the politicians. The presidential campaign 
was beginning, neither party was willing to assume the responsibility 
of annexation, and so the treaty, which at first seemed safe, was de- 
feated in the senate. Calhoun and Tyler had the matter much at 
heart, and were sorely disappointed at the miscarriage of their plans. 

While Texas thus engaged the attention of the South and North, 
Oregon had become an important matter to the people of the West. 



440 PERIOD OF THE SLAVERY CONTROVERSY 

For many years after the explorations of Lewis and Clark little was 
done to occupy that region. But by 1840 many settlers following the 

Missouri river had crossed the Rocky mountains to the 
Ouestion°° fertile valley of the Columbia, where England also had 

claims to territory. The controversy to which these 
conflicting claims gave rise was an intricate one. The British claim 

went back to 1778, when Captain Cook sailed along the 
Claims of Pacific coast as far as about 54° north latitude ; Spain 
SDaia\nd ^^^^ ^^^ claims in the same region, but relinquished them 
Russia. in the Florida purchase treaty of 18 19, by which she gave 

up to the United States all right she may have had to the 
coast north of 42° north latitude. Russia, also, had once held that 
her Alaskan possessions extended south as far as Oregon, but in 1824 
Secretary Adams induced her to agree that her authority should 
not extend south of 54° 40'. Thus in 1824 the region between 42° 
and 54° 40' was free of Spanish and Russian claims, but there was still 
the dispute with England. This we tried several times to arrange, 
but always without success. In 1818 it was decided to leave the 
country, now definitely known as "Oregon," to the joint use of both 
powers for ten years ; and at the end of that period joint occupancy 
was renewed indefinitely, either party to terminate it by 
Joint Oc- giving a year's notice. The Hudson Bay Company, 
Oregon. ^ith strong trading interests at Vancouver, was the center 
of the British influence, and the Americans, missionaries 
and traders with a few farmers, were settled chiefly on the Columbia. 
In 1 84 1 they numbered 400. In 1818 England and the United 
States had agreed that the parallel 49° north should be the common 
boundary as far as the Rockies, and the United States were now will- 
ing to extend it directly to the Pacific, but to this proposition England 
objected. She wished to have the Columbia for the southern boundary 
of her Pacific coast possessions. On this basis nothing could be 
determined, and so the matter was left to drift along until the settle- 
ment of Oregon should make it necessary to come to a more definite 
understanding. 

The transference of American life to Texas, creating in Jackson's 
administration a lively interest in southwestern expansion, could not 
but awaken a similar feeling in regard to the Far North- 
Oregon a west. About 1838, therefore, Linn, senator from Missouri, 
Issue 1844. ^ state whose position gave her great interest in North- 
western expansion, opened a campaign for the erection 
of forts along the Oregon trail as far as the mouth of the Columbia. 
Of course, this would violate the existing agreement with England and 
might lead to war. Another objection was that Oregon was so far 
away that when settled it would become a colony, a thing for which 
the constitution made no provision. Linn's efforts met strong op- 
position in the East and for a while in the South. But in 1843 the 



TWO PERPLEXED CANDIDATES 441 

Texan question came up, and Southerners concluded that it could 
be united with the Oregon question, since both related to expansion. 
This gave the Northwest more hope. The feeling in that quarter 
was now intense. Ignoring our former offer to accept the 49th 
parallel, the West demanded all of Oregon, and the slogan, "Fifty- 
Four Forty or Fight" was originated to express its position. It 
was accepted by the democrats, who in the platform of 1844 
demanded the " reoccupation " of Oregon and the " reannexation " 
of Texas. 

Meanwhile, the settlers in Oregon were rapidly increasing through 
immigration, for agitation stimulated interest in the country. So 
much did the people suffer from lack of a legal govern- 
ment that in 1843 they formed an irregular government of I™nijgra- 
their own to continue until congress made further pro- Oregon. 
visions for them. In May, 1844, a caravan of 1000 per- 
sons, with 1967 oxen, horses, and cattle, started from the Kansas 
river on the journey across the mountains. They were mostly from 
Missouri. These events of necessity aroused the diplomats and led 
to a renewal of negotiations. Great Britain opened the 
question, but offered nothing better than the old terms, ^^'^^^^f 
which were promptly rejected. Then she suggested tjong. 
arbitration, but this was also refused. At this point the 
negotiation was suspended, probably to await the result of the elec- 
tion, then near at hand. 

The Election of 1844 

Early in 1844 Van Buren and Clay were generally considered the 
inevitable candidates of their respective parties in the coming cam- 
paign. The former had much reason to feel satisfied with 
the outlook, for the congressional elections of 1842 gave ^^^Texls 
the democrats a majority of 70 in the house, and the dis- jg^^^ 
couragement of the whigs through the quarrel with Tyler 
had added greatly to their embarrassment. Across this promising 
sky fell the cloud of antislavery. The year was hardly begun before 
each candidate was forced to reply to questions as to his position on 
the annexation of Texas. The democratic leader replied in a letter 
which showed that he was at last in the same position that his ancient 
enemy, Calhoun, was in when the nullifiers forced his hand in 1828. 
He must oppose annexation and lose the support of the South, or 
favor it and lose the support of his own section. He chose the former 
course, hoping, no doubt, that he could so soften the blow as to retain 
the good will of the South. He believed annexation constitutional, 
he said, but inexpedient because it would involve a war with Mexico, 
violate our neutrality obligations, and hold us up to the world as 
willing to extend our power through a war of conquest ; but if Mexico 



442 PERIOD OF THE SLAVERY CONTROVERSY 

carried herself toward Texas so as to threaten our interest, the people 
of the United States could be relied on to unite against her, and in 
that case he would, if president, submit the matter to the wisdom of 
congress. 

Calhoun must have remembered the days of his own humiliation 

when he saw this letter. He had spent the past thirteen years in 

, arousing the South on slavery, and the result was now 

Failure. apparent. From every slaveholding state came protests 

against the man who could temporize in such a situation. 
Van Buren, said the Southern democrats, could not be trusted; he 
was intimidated by the Northern antislavery men, and he must not 
be nominated. From that time his selection, as even his best South- 
ern friends admitted, was impossible. Andrew Jackson, old but 
keenly watching the political field, could only exclaim: "I would to 
God I had been at Mr. V. B.'s elbow when he closed his letter, I would 
have brought to his view the proper conclusion. We are all in sack- 
cloth and ashes !" 

If Clay thought he would profit by his rival's predicament, he was 
mistaken. He also had written a letter, known as his "Raleigh 

Letter," from the place in which it was written ; and in 
TeMs.° ^^ ^^ ^°*-*^ almost exactly the same ground that Van 

Buren took. It did not defeat his nomination, for it 
pleased the North, where his greatest strength lay ; but it caused dis- 
may in the South, and so many requests that he soften his expressions 
came from the whigs there that later in the summer he wrote other 
letters saying that he had no personal objection to annexation "with- 
out dishonor, without war, with the common consent of the union, 
on just and fair terms." We shall see how this apparent juggling 
of the question worked his ultimate undoing. 

The two leading parties held their conventions in Baltimore in 
May, 1844. The whigs made their choice harmoniously, naming 

Clay without a dissenting voice, and Frelinghuysen, for 
The Candi- vice-president, on the fourth ballot. The democrats 
Selected. were in sad confusion. A majority of the convention was 

instructed for Van Buren, but some of the pledged dele- 
gates were opposed to him, and the two-thirds rule was used to prevent 
his nomination. For a time it seemed that the party would be seriously 
divided. Most of the Northern delegates stood by Van Buren, while 
the Southerners were divided, some going for Cass, of Michigan, who 
had strong Western support. As the ballots were taken. Van Buren 
declined and Cass gained strength, until on the seventh he seemed in 
a fair way to succeed. He was unpopular with the Old North, and 
an adjournment was carried until next day in order to stop the trend 
toward him. During the night much was done to find some man to 
beat him. James K. Polk, of Tennessee, urged by his friends as a man 
vouched for by Jackson, was now brought forward. On the first 



POLK'S HARD-WON VICTORY 443 

ballot taken next morning he had 44 votes, and on the second Van 
Buren was withdrawn and Polk nominated by a union of North and 
South which swept away in the enthusiasm with which it was received 
even the original Cass support. The nomination for vice-presidency 
was offered to Wright, of New York, Van Buren 's ablest lieutenant, 
but he declined peremptorily, and it was then given to George M. 
Dallas, of Pennsylvania. The platform declared for Texas and Oregon 
and reaffirmed the party's opposition to a bank and to the distribution 
of the funds derived from lands. Polk was not a brilliant man, but 
he was a steady and industrious politician, and his party put away its 
dissensions and entered the canvass hopefully. 

Two other conventions were held. One nominated Tyler for presi- 
dent with no other platform than his Texas record. The other 
was held by the Liberty party, organized 1840, when it 
cast 7100 votes for James G. Birney. He was now re- -J^j^^' 
nominated, with Morris, of Ohio, the candidate for vice- 
president. 

The campaign was full of bitterness and excitement. Clay traveled 
widely, making speeches to immense audiences. The Texas men of 
the South began to declare for annexation or a dissolution 
of the union with such fervor that whigs and democrats ASugges- 
became alarmed, and hastened to say that no one ought to Disunion, 
think of disunion. In Pennsylvania Polk was openly 
accused of being a free trader. In a letter to Kane, of that state, he 
said he was for a judicious tariff yielding enough revenue for the ex- 
penses of government economically administered. It was a clever 
statement, pleasing the South, which was alarmed at the 
turn toward protection manifested in the tariff of 1842. J^®'^^"^ 
It also gave the democrats in protectionist Pennsylvania vania. 
an opportunity to proclaim him a supporter of the tariff 
of 1842, which was enacted to get money to defray the expenses of 
government. They raised the cry, "Polk, Dallas, and the tariff of 
1842!" and thereby held the state in its old political faith. Still 
more important was the attitude of the antislavery whigs, strong in 
New York. Their first inclination was for Clay, but 
his quibbling over annexation was so evident that several y^j^ J^^ 
thousand of them voted for Birney, thus reducing his vote 
until it was below Polk's by 5104. If he had received New York's 
36 electoral votes, he would have been elected. As it was, he got 
105 votes, while Polk got 170. Polk lost North Carolina, 
the state of his birth, and Tennessee, the state of his resi- £°ectgj 
dence. He carried all the Gulf states, where annexation 
was strongest, and all of the Northwest, where Oregon was an impor- 
tant issue, while Clay carried all New England, where annexation 
was opposed, and the Middle and the upper Southern states were 
divided. 



444 PERIOD OF THE SLAVERY CONTROVERSY 

Polk's victory indicated that Texas would be annexed, and Tyler 
used the last weeks of his administration in securing the prize. He was 

now completely identified with the democrats, having 
Authorized Proved his friendship in the summer before the election 

by withdrawing from the campaign lest the South be 
divided. When congress met in December he again brought up the 
Texan question, recommending immediate annexation by a joint 
resolution. This method, requiring only a majority vote in each house, 
was preferred to annexation by treaty, which required a two-thirds 
majority in the senate. The Texas men took up Tyler's suggestion 
with alacrity. The house passed it by a vote of 120 to 98, and the 
senate by the close vote of 27 to 25. The democrats generally voted 
in the affirmative, and a few of the Southern whigs, not willing to go 
against the strong feeling of their section, took the same position. 
The resolution, as passed, provided that Texas might become a state 
when her constitution was accepted by congress, that four additional 
states might with her own consent be formed out of her territory, that 
boundary disputes should be settled by future negotiations between 
the United States and any other foreign power who made objection, 
that Texas should assume her own debt and surrender her land and 
water defenses, that the principle of the Missouri compromise should 
be extended to the Texan territory, and that the president should 
have authority to complete annexation by negotiating with Mexico 
or by an agreement with Texas, as he saw fit. 

The last clause was to meet the objection of a few senators who 
insisted that honor demanded that Mexico be conciliated. They 

asserted that they had assurances that Polk would follow 
tici at ^^^^ P^^^ ^^ ^^^ resolutions passed, but he later denied that 

Polk. ^6 gave such a promise. In fact, Tyler gave him no option 

in the matter. Though only seven days of the term 
remained to him, Tyler hurriedly dispatched a messenger to Texas 
with an offer of annexation. It arrived none too soon, for Texas 
was considering a proposition for a joint British and French guarantee 
of Texan integrity, with further joint mediation with Mexico on the 
question of boundaries. If Polk had resorted to negotiations, he 
must have encountered this scheme, and Texas might have been lost. 
As it was, Tyler's offer, and not England's, was accepted by the Texans, 

and December 29, 1845, ^ ^^^ state was admitted to the 
State union. Mexico, watching the progress of annexation, 

broke off diplomatic intercourse with the United States 
as soon as congress passed the joint resolution, and a few months 
later she declared that the admission of Texas into the union would 
be equivalent to a declaration of war. 



OREGON CONTROVERSY ADJUSTED 445 



Polk's Administration 

The war with Mexico is the chief event under Polk ; but before we 
begin with it three other measures must be described. The first was 
a new tarifif bill, passed and approved by the president in 
disregard of the campaign assurances of his friends in jg.g* ° 
Pennsylvania. The tariff of 1842 was about as high as 
that of 1832, and it pleased the protectionists. It did not suit the 
democrats, who now controlled all branches of the government. They, 
therefore, lost no time in passing a new bill, to which has been given 
the name of Secretary of the Treasury Walker. It became law July 
30, 1846, and provided for a reduction to a strictly revenue basis. It 
was in force until 1857, when there was still further reduction. It 
did not injure the manufacturing interests of the country, and sup- 
plemented by other laws yielded sufficient revenue, even in the period 
of war which followed its adoption. 

The second measure was the settlement of the Oregon boundary. 
Polk was especially anxious to make the Pacific coast American, and 
showed firmness in executing the Oregon clause of his 
party's platform. His first move was to offer to settle, ^ ^^® 
on the old basis, the extension of the parallel 49° to the Question. 
Pacific. The British minister in Washington refused the 
offer bluntly without referring it to his government. Polk then asked 
congress to do three things: (i) give notice to terminate the joint 
occupation of the disputed region ; (2) erect forts there ; and (3) ex- 
tend the laws of the United States over Oregon. Such a course 
might undoubtedly lead to war, but Polk believed that England would 
5deld when she saw we were in earnest ; and the result showed he was 
right. 

But congress was divided. The whigs wished to avoid war, the 
Northwestern members were firm for all the coast to the parallel 54° 
40', and began to suspect that the South, having got Texas, 
was willing to sacrifice Oregon, while some of the extreme : 
Southerners did not like the idea of enlarging the area ^g^(, 
which must eventually be free territory. Congress 
wrangled until late in April, when it was finally decided to give notice 
to end joint occupancy. England had watched the proceedings 
closely. She did not wish war over so trivial a matter, and suggested 
unoflScially that we renew our former offer. Polk thought this beneath 
the national dignity, and suggested that it was for England to reopen 
the negotiation. She was clearly in the wrong, and yielded as grace- 
fully as possible. June 6, 1846, she submitted a treaty accepting 
the 49th parallel, and Polk, first getting the approval of the senate, 
signed the treaty, which was later formally ratified. The Northwest 
was deeply disappointed, but the rest of the country were satisfied 



446 PERIOD OF THE SLAVERY CONTROVERSY 

with the compromise. The Mexican conflict was now beginning, 
and no one wished two wars at once. 

The third matter related to Cahfornia and New Mexico, a vast and 
thinly populated possession of Mexico. The Oregon immigrants were 
already entering California, and Polk believed that San 
3. An Offer Francisco harbor was necessary to the development of 
iSaandNew -American power on the coast. Its acquisition, therefore, 
Mexico. was a prime consideration in his policy from the time he 

became president. In September, 1845, spite of the 
rupture of relations with Mexico, he sent Slidell to Mexico to purchase 
the country, to settle the Texan boundary, and to adjust a mass of 
claims of American citizens. Slidell was instructed to assume the 
Mexican claims and pay $20,000,000 for that part of California from 
and including San Francisco northward, while he might offer $5,000- 
000 more for the part including Monterey. For New Mexico, part 
of which Texas claimed, he might offer $5,000,000 ; and he was to 
endeavor to get Mexico to accept the Rio Grande for her Texas 
boundary. The affairs of Mexico were in great confusion, she was 
badly in need of funds, and as she had intimated that she would be 
willing to settle her relations with the United States, it was believed 
that Slidell by skillful management could get what we wanted. 

The result showed that Polk did not understand the Spanish- 
American temperament. We were so unpopular with the Mexican 
people on account of the annexation of Texas that our offer was not 
even received, and Slidell was forced to return without the slightest 
success. Then Polk realized that if we got California and New Mexico 
we must resort to war, and for that contingency he was prepared. 

Of the three matters of dispute the boundary question was the oc- 
casion of the war. Under Spanish and Mexican control Texas 
„, _ had never extended south of the Nueces, but the agree- 

Boundary ^nent With Santa Anna, 1836, had recognized the Rio 
Grande as the boundary (see page 421), a concession 
Mexico promptly repudiated. But the Texans persisted in their 
claim, and our government now took it up. The disputed region was 
uninhabited, and it is probable that time and diplomacy would have 
given it to us without a struggle. Such a course was not to be followed, 
for Polk had other ends in mind. 

Pending the results of Slidell 's diplomacy. General Zachary Taylor, 
with 1500 men, took position at Corpus Christi just south of the mouth 
of the Nueces, where he remained until early in 1846. 
"^.^^ ^f^' When it was seen that Slidell would accompHsh nothing, 
\H^ar^ Taylor was ordered to the Rio Grande, and promptly 

obeyed. General Ampudia, with a Mexican force, was 
at Matamoras, on the south bank of the Rio Grande near its mouth. 
He considered the last move of the American general an act of in- 
vasion, and demanded that he fall back to the Nueces. He sent a force 



TAYLOR'S OPERATIONS 447 

across the river, which on April 24 surrounded a reconnoitering party 
of Americans, killing and capturing them all. To Polk this was an 
act of invasion, and he advised congress that war had been begun by 
Mexico and that preparations for meeting it ought to be made. The 
nation was deeply excited, and congress, accepting the statement of 
the president, ordered the enlistment of 50,000 soldiers, and appro- 
priated $10,000,000 for war expenses. In this way began the Mexican 
war, May 12, 1846. 

Three chief offensive movements were planned by the Americans. 
One was intrusted to Taylor, who was to conquer the northern Mexi- 
can provinces and distress the enemy until they were 
willing to sue for peace. When in time this was seen to ^^^ Three 
be insufficient, a second was organized to march from Vera ^^ -^^j. 
Cruz against the Mexican capital. A third expedition, 
launched in the beginning of the war, was to invade and take New 
Mexico and then to proceed to the coast and occupy the weakly de- 
fended province of California. The purpose was to occupy the disputed 
region and hold it by force, to distress Mexico until she sued for peace, 
and to secure California, which Slidell could not get, as war indemnity. 

Taylor moved first. News of hostilities had aroused the whole 
nation, and May 6, before congress had acted, reenforcements arrived 
from New Orleans, with which he took the field against 
the enemy, who had crossed the river. In two sharp T,^^^^^^ 
engagements, Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, he de- Battles, 
feated them, forced them to recross the Rio Grande, and 
then took Matamoras on May 18, Arista, the Mexican general, falling 
back to Monterey. Taylor now paused until he could make more 
deliberate plans. August 5 he resumed his advance, and September 
20 invested Monterey, a strongly fortified town in which a large body 
of Mexicans were posted. After three days the enemy were so crippled 
that they asked for terms. They were allowed to march out with 
their arms, and Taylor agreed not to continue his march for eight 
weeks. The armistice displeased the president and was set aside, and 
Taylor advanced and occupied Saltillo without opposition. December 
29 he occupied Victoria, the capital city of the state of Tamaulipas. 
He now had 10,000 men, and was holding a line 200 miles long. To 
his surprise and disgust he received an order to send half his force to 
Vera Cruz to join another army designed to march against the city 
of Mexico. Like a good soldier he obeyed orders, and began to drill 
the troops left him, chiefly raw recruits. 

Almost immediately he learned that he was in great danger. Santa 
Anna, the Mexican commander-in-chief, had concentrated 20,000 
men and was marching northward to crush him. To fall 
back to ihe Rio Grande meant a loss of all the prestige guena Vista 
of the campaign, and Taylor decided to fight. He took 
position at the hacienda Buena Vista, five miles south of Saltillo, 



448 PERIOD OF THE SLAVERY CONTROVERSY 

where he was attacked by the Mexicans on February 23. His army 
was posted between two mountains, and beat off the first attack with 
a splendid rifle and artillery lire. Santa Anna then rallied his men, 
turned Taylor's left, and made a bold dash at his line of retreat. 
Troops less cool would have been thrown into confusion, but the 
Americans trusted their commander and stood their ground. The 
flanking party was driven back to the mountain, and only a ruse of ^ 
a pretended flag of truce saved them from capture. Santa Anna now 
made his last effort. Massing his reserves, he fell on Taylor's center, 
took its batteries, and penetrated the line for a considerable distance. 
Then Taylor pushed forward a battery commanded by Bragg which 
opened with grape and canister, while Jefferson Davis's Missis- 
sippians and a small band of Indiana troops cut them to pieces on 
the flank. Repulsed here, the enemy withdrew, leaving their dead 
and wounded on the field. The battle of Buena Vista, taking com- 
parative numbers into consideration, was the best fought engagement 
of the war. After it was won Taylor remained undisturbed on the 
Rio Grande. 

The expedition of Scott was undertaken because an army could 
not reach the enemy's capital from the Rio Grande. It was de- 
cided to land at Vera Cruz, take well-fortified defenses, and fight 
through the intervening region until the objective was reached. 
Selecting a commander caused much trouble. Taylor was a whig, his 
victories were fast making him a popular hero, and he was already 
mentioned as a presidential candidate. Ought a democratic admin- 
istration to continue to afford him an opportunity to achieve laurels ? 
General Scott, head of the army, was also a whig and open to the same 
objection. But the democrats had no good general of high rank, 
although Senator Benton, who had great confidence in himself, was 
willing to resign his seat and lead the second army of invasion. There 
was much wrangling over the point, and valuable time was lost, but 
at last good judgment prevailed, and Polk, putting political considera- 
tions aside, intrusted the command to Scott, who on March 9, 1847, 
began to land at Vera Cruz with more than 12,000 men. Before his 
operations are described we must follow the fortunes of the third 
movement, undertaken for the conquest of California. 

Its conduct was intrusted to Colonel Stephen W. Kearny, who in 
June set out with 1800 men from Fort Leavenworth, on the upper 
Missouri, for Santa Fe. His greatest hardships were 
Kearny's those of the march through an arid country, but on August 
Exped^ition. 1 8 he entered Santa Fe, the Mexican army fleeing before 
him. Following his instructions, he set up a temporary 
government under the American flag, and a month later set out for 
California, going by way of the Gila valley to the Colorado and thence 
due west to San Diego. He started on this part of his campaign with 
only 300 men, but meeting Kit Carson with news that California was 




CALIFORNIA AND MEXICO 

at the Beginning of the 

MEXICAN WAR 

Scale of Miles 
lOu ■200 300 400 500 



110 Loneitude West from 100' Oreenivich 



SCOTT'S EXPEDITION 449 

already conquered, he sent two-thirds of his detachment back to New 
Mexico and proceeded with only 100 men. 

The events to which Carson referred were strange, and filled with 
the spirit of adventure. Early in 1846 Commodore Sloat, with a 
squadron, was oflf the coast, with instructions to seize 
the harbors if war began, and the American consul at T^® Prov- 
Monterey was instructed to promote the spirit of inde- seized, 
pendence among the inhabitants. At that time Captain 
John C. Fremont, prominent as an explorer, was in California, engaged 
in geographical research, and secretly longing for an opportunity to 
raise the population, a portion of whom were Americans by birth, 
against Mexico. The knowledge that war had begun put all these 
forces into activity. Sloat took the ports of San Francisco and 
Monterey, and Commodore Stockton, who relieved him, took Los 
Angeles. Meanwhile, the inhabitants of the province rose against the 
Mexican garrisons and raised the American flag, Fremont giving such 
help as his small body of explorers afforded. Thus the whole prov- 
ince fell into American hands, and when Kearny arrived in Decem- 
ber, 1846, only the remnants of resistance were to be suppressed. 
His authority superseded that of Stockton and Fremont, and he was 
soon at odds with them over the form of government to be established. 
The latter wished to have a territory with Fremont for governor. 
But Kearny was ordered to proclaim a provisional civil government 
with military support, and his compliance with the order was approved 
by the president. 

When the news from California arrived in Washington Scott's 
army was beginning to execute the third important phase of the land 
operations. March 9 it landed three miles from Vera 
Cruz and invested the place, while a fleet blockaded the Vera Cruz 

find iJcrro 

harbor. After five days of heavy bombardment, the town, Gordo, 
suffering from hunger and exhaustion, was surrendered. 
Scott was an excellent general, as his proceedings now showed. Two 
hundred and fifty miles away was the capital of Mexico, reached by 
a good road which at eighty miles from the coast crossed a mountain 
range, the pass of which was guarded by the hill of Cerro Gordo. 
Here Scott, who advanced rapidly, found the enemy strongly posted 
on April 17. In a battle which consumed most of two days the army 
carried the well-fortified hill, drove Santa Anna into disastrous 
flight, and captured 3000 prisoners and a large quantity of arms and 
supplies. 

Now followed nearly four months of inaction, while futile efforts 
for peace were made. Early in August the advance was resumed, and 
on the nineteenth the army had passed around Lake 
Chalco and faced the enemy at Contreras and Churu- jakeif''**^ 
busco, two strong places a few miles south of the city. 
In four days' fighting both positions were taken in the most gallant 



450 PERIOD OF THE SLAVERY CONTROVERSY 

manner. The prize was now all but won, when an armistice was 
granted and negotiations for peace were again begun. The demands 
of the Mexicans were impossible, and Scott, convinced that they were 
only made to gain time, broke off negotiations and took Molino del 
Rey on September 8. He was now four miles from the city, but 
before him stood the rock Chapultepec, 150 feet high, crowned with 
batteries and flanked with outworks, all well manned. On the thir- 
teenth he attacked this place, carrying it after the most desperate 
resistance and coming at nightfall to the very gates of the city. These 
he was ready to storm on the following morning when the city officials 
appeared with a flag of truce and handed over the keys. By this 
time the army of the defenders had withdrawn to Guadaloupe Hidalgo, 
and his own troops marched through the gates to the great plaza, 
where they raised their flag over "the Halls of the Montezumas." 
With due allowance made for the inferior fighting ability of the Mexi- 
cans, it was a splendidly won campaign ; and many an officer who 
served gallantly on one side or the other in the civil war saw here 
his first active service. 

Polk began the war, thinking that Mexico would yield at the show 
of force, and Trist, chief clerk of the state department, accompanied 

Scott with the draft of a treaty of peace. This policy 
Treaty of ^^^ called "conquering a peace." It was Trist's pres- 
Hidd^o°"^^ ence that caused Scott to halt twice in his march on the 

capital, a course which only made the Mexicans think 
the Americans timorous. This naturally angered Scott, who saw 
it interfered with the vigor of his campaign. His protests at last 
reached Washington, and just as the city of Mexico was entered 
there arrived orders for Trist to desist and return home. A strong 
feeling was arising in administration circles to demand all of Mexico. 
Meanwhile, Trist remained in Mexico, spite of his recall, and February 
2, 1848, he signed the treaty of Gaudaloupe Hidalgo, in accordance 
with the instructions given him nearly a year earlier. It provided 
that the boundary should follow the Rio Grande to the New Mexican 
line, thence west to the first branch of the Gila, thence with the river 
to the Colorado, and from that point with the boundary between 
upper and lower California to the Pacific. The treaty was not 
strictly binding, as Trist's authority had expired; but Polk sent it 
to the senate, where it was accepted, March 10. It gave us New 
Mexico and California, for which we agreed to pay $15,000,000 and 
to assume the claims of American citizens against Mexico. 

The Slavery Question in a New Form 

Had the spirit of 1820 now prevailed it would have been possible 
to divide the newly acquired territory between freedom and slavery. 
Moderate men generally desired such an arrangement, but the most 



SLAVERY AND THE NEW TERRITORY 451 

earnest persons on each side of the controversy would not have it. 
The North generally considered the war an act of Southern aggres- 
sion and prepared a countermove. In 1846 a bill was be- 
fore the house to appropriate money to enable the president p^® Wilmot 
to make peace, when Wilmot, a Pennsylvania democrat, 
offered his celebrated proviso that none of the territory acquired in 
the war should be open to slavery. It passed the house, where the 
North was in control, and was laarely defeated in the senate. It 
aroused a storm of protest in the South, which believed itself about 
to be excluded from its fair share in the domain for which it had borne 
the brunt of war. Spite of the efforts of party leaders, Southern 
whigs dared not support the measure, and Northern democrats showed 
a growing unwillingness to oppose it. Sectionalism was rampant, 
and the union seemed imperiled. But the North did not yield. It 
had definitely concluded that no more slave states should be admitted 
to the union. If this plan were followed, the power of the South 
would soon be broken, and slavery in the South itself would eventually 
be hampered by irritating and disastrous limitations. The proviso was 
again before congress in 1847, and again defeated through the opposi- 
tion of the senate, where the South still maintained its hold. 

While the country was awakening to this controversy, the election of 
1848 drew near. The whigs nominated General Taylor, staking their 
all on a military hero. He had no political experience, but 
the good sense and kindliness which had led his soldiers to Election of 
call him "Old Rough and Ready" recommended him to i j'~ 
popular favor. He was a war hero neglected by the demo- Nominated, 
cratic administration, and the people showed their dis- 
position to right his wrongs. He was a Southerner and a slaveholder, 
which gave him strength in the South, and it was believed his war rec- 
ord would carry him through in the North. For vice-president 
Millard Filmore, of New York, was named. The whig convention 
tabled a resolution to adopt the Wilmot proviso. 

The democratic party was handicapped by an internal conflict in the 
important state of New York. One faction was called barnburners. 
It favored reforms and got its name from a story of a Dutch 
farmer who burned his barn to destroy the rats in it. Silas Barnburners 
Wright was at the head of the group, but he had the sup- Hunkers, 
port of Van Buren, William Cullen Bryant, editor of the 
New York Evening Post, and many other liberal minded men. The 
other group, called hunkers, were more practical men, and were sup- 
ported by the Tammany society. Their leader was William L. Marcy, 
and they got their name because they were supposed to hunger, or 
"hunker," for office. The two factions hated one another so much 
that Polk was bound to have trouble. In the beginning of his ad- 
ministration he offered to take a barnburner into his cabinet, but the 
men selected declined, and he made Marcy secretary of war. Then 



452 PERIOD OF THE SLAVERY CONTROVERSY 

followed trouble over the patronage, widening the breach until in 1848 
nothing could bring the two factions to act together, and the result was 
two sets of delegates to the national nominating convention, which as- 
sembled at Baltimore, May 22, 1848. 

Aside from the New York wrangle, the meeting was harmonious. 
Recognizing the Wilmot proviso as a dangerous subject, the leaders 

kept it in the background, and a resolution in its behalf was 
inated °'°" tabled by a large majority. Several persons were sug- 
gested as candidates, but Lewis Cass, of Michigan, led 
from the first ballot and secured the nomination on the fourth. He 
had been in Jackson's cabinet, and was a man of ability and a popu- 
lar leader in the West. With a candidate who pleased the West and a 
platform which pleased the South success seemed assured. The hope 
was defeated by the New York factions, each of which had been allowed 
to cast half of the state's vote. Each refused this settlement, but the 
hunkers pledged themselves to support Cass, while the other faction 
protested against the tabling of the Wilmot proviso and repudiated Cass. 
Returning from the convention, the barnburners called a state con- 
vention at Utica and nominated Van Buren for the presidency on a 

platform which demanded the adoption of the Wilmot pro- 
Free Soil yjgQ Then followed a movement to consolidate all who 
ganized. opposed the extension of slavery. In November, 1847, 

the liberty party had nominated Hale of New Hampshire, 
while a radical offshoot of that party, the liberty league, in June, 1848, 
nominated Gerrit Smith. Moreover, many democrats and whigs were 
disappointed because their respective conventions had avoided the 
slavery issue. To unite all these elements a convention was called at 
Buffalo, August 9, which founded the free soil party, two of whose 
demands were that the territories be devoted to freedom and that the 
public lands be distributed free to actual settlers. This done. Van 
Buren was made the free soil candidate for president and Charles 
Francis Adams, of Massachusetts, the candidate for vice-president. 
Hale withdrew, and the liberty party and the barnburner organization 
was merged into the free soil party. In the election which followed 
. the New York situation was the deciding factor. Taylor 
Results'^ '°° carried the state with 218,000 votes against 120,000 for 

Van Buren and 114,000 for Cass; and this meant a whig 

victory. Had the barnburners supported Cass, he would probably 

have carried the state. He had 127 electoral votes and Taylor had 163. 

Although both democrats and whigs avoided in their platforms the 

question of slavery in the territories, the issue would not down. It 

was now more urgent than ever, because a government 
Oregon must be established in Oregon and because gold having 

Territory. been discovered in California the country was filling up 

with an adventurous population. The issue was strongly 
drawn in May, 1848, when Polk sent congress an urgent request for a 



GROWING BITTERNESS 453 

territorial government for Oregon. A bill was framed which ap- 
proved the laws already adopted by the temporary government there. 
Calhoun objected because, as he said, congress had no power to ex- 
clude slavery from any territory. The antislavery men, on the other 
hand, demanded specific restrictions. There was a long debate, the 
upshot of which was a compromise bill applying the principles of the 
Northwest Ordinance to Oregon and creating the territories of Cali- 
fornia and New Mexico without power to pass on slavery, either for or 
against it. The house tabled the bill, and finally, after much bitter- 
ness, the provisions of the bill in relation to Oregon were passed as a 
separate act. Thus Oregon became a territory without slavery, but 
California and New Mexico must wait. 

The next session of congress was a short one. The house passed a 
bill to organize the territory of California without slavery, but the 
senate refused to concur. Various other propositions on 
the same subject were made, but none were acceptable. Futile Ses- 
In this session, as in the former, Polk urged that the whole ^°°g° jg°^ 
question be settled by extending the Missouri compromise 1849/ 
to the Pacific, and some favored the idea. Probably the 
South would have accepted it, but the North was aroused and was 
determined to check the spread of slavery, so that Polk's suggestion 
was not adopted. While this subject was being discussed. Northern 
members brought in a bill to forbid the slave trade in the District of 
Columbia. It passed the house, but was reconsidered and tabled. The 
Southern members were aroused, and replied by asking for a committee 
to prepare a more effective fugitive slave law. The request was not 
granted, but it served to call the attention of the country to a concrete 
grievance of the South. The Southern congressmen in an address 
described the growth of discrimination, and soon afterwards the 
southern legislatures passed resolutions of similar nature. North- 
ern legislatures replied by demanding the exclusion of slavery from 
the territories. 

On March 4, 1849, congress adjourned after three months of bitter 
debate, in which no progress was made toward removing the sectional 
differences. Threats of disunion were freely uttered 
by Southerners, and before adjournment they organized Disunion, 
a committee which sent forth an address on the posi- 
tion of the South. It reviewed the rise of opposition to slavery, 
arraigned the aggressive spirit of the North on the question, declared 
the South was denied a fair share of the territory it had done so much 
to conquer in the recent war, and called on all Southern people to 
stand as a unit in resistance of the treatment it received. The address 
was warmly commended in the slave states by both whigs and demo- 
crats. In the North there was also much excitement, and many legis- 
latures there passed resolutions for the prohibition of the slave trade in 
the District of Columbia. 



454 PERIOD OF THE SLAVERY CONTROVERSY 



The Compromise of 1850 

When the next congress met, December 3, 1849, affairs were no 
nearer a settlement. California, tired of awaiting the action of con- 
gress, had set up an irregular state government with the 
The Long- tacit approval of President Taylor, and was asking for 
Harmony. statehood, while New Mexico suffered many inconveniences 
through the lack of a regular government. Something 
must be done, but no one could say what. Behind all was the omi- 
nous and growing movement for disunion. Cool-headed men, business 
interests, and conservatives generally recognized the necessity of com- 
promise ; and party managers, alarmed at the way negro slavery in- 
terfered with older political alignments, wished to find some road to 
harmony. The issue was fast destroying the whig party in the South, 
and it threatened to undermine the democracy in the North. 

Three suggestions of compromise came into the minds of the leaders. 

One was the extension of the Missouri line to the Pacific. We have 

seen that this was opposed by the antislavery North. 

opuar 'pj^g second was to refer the question to the territories, 
bovereignty. _ 1 • n 1 1 itt-i 

It was nrst made in 1847, when the Wilmot proviso was 

being discussed ; and Cass in the same year adopted it in a letter to 
a Tennessee supporter. It meant that congress should do nothing 
about slavery in a territory, allowing slaveholders and non-slave- 
holders to settle there as they chose, and that the people of the terri- 
tory should decide the question for themselves when the territory 
became a state. This doctrine, so consonant with the theory of state 
rights, would probably have been accepted by the South in 1848. 
Brought up later by Douglas, who named it "popular sovereignty," 
it played an important part hi the conflict over Kansas and Nebraska. 
The suggestion did not please the antislavery men, who meant that 
slavery must be given no opportunity in the territories. 

The third suggestion came from Clay. For nearly eight years he 
had been in retirement, and was now sent back to the senate because 

his friends thought he could do something to save the 
Su^estion union. At heart he favored the Wilmot proviso, and since 

California and New Mexico evidently wished to save 
themselves from slavery, he thought they ought to be gratified. Look- 
ing over the field he prepared a plan of compromise which gave 
something to each side. He thought all moderate men would unite 
to pass it in order to remove the slavery question definitely from 
the field of national politics. It appealed to his imagination that 
"the Great Compromiser," as he was called, who had done good 
services in the crises of 1820 and 1833 should finish his career with 
another compromise, greater in its significance than either of the 
other two. 



CLAY AND CALHOUN 455 

January 29, 1850, he introduced a series of resolutions providing 
for: I. The admission of California as a free state; 2. The creation 
of the territories of New Mexico and Utah without restric- 
tion as to slavery ; 3. The assumption of the debt of Texas iu!^onc*^°' 
contracted before annexation and the relinquishment of 
her claim to a large part of eastern New Mexico ; 4. The prohibition 
of the slave trade in the District of Columbia with the refusal to pro- 
hibit slavery there without the consent of Maryland ; 5. The more 
effectual return of fugitive slaves to their masters ; and 6. The asser- 
tion that congress could not forbid the interstate slave trade. 

A week later Clay made a two days' speech in defense of his reso- 
lutions. The nation had come to the point of dividing, he said, and 
it was time for each side to make concessions. The South 
was defending its interests, the North was contending ^'^^ ? ^°™" 
for a sentiment ; and it was easier to relax sentiment than speech, 
interest. The first and fourth resolution would favor the 
North, and on these the South must be content to give way. The 
others favored the South, and he pleaded that the North would be 
reasonable and yield on these. His speech was filled with protesta- 
tions of loyalty to the union of the fathers, a union which he and every 
other old man present had seen born and develop through the preced- 
ing sixty years. He spoke with wonderful effect to an audience which 
filled every available foot of space in the senate chamber. 

On March 4 Calhoun tottered into the capitol to speak to the reso- 
lutions. He had come from a sick-bed, and could only sit and watch 
the senators while his words were read by a friend. He 
too was born before the constitution was written, but his Calhoun's 
speech was no plea for concession. He had long been ^peech, 
rallying the South against the growing power of the North, south Out- 
and this last appeal was a message of warning. The union, distanced, 
he said, began with an equal distribution of power between 
the North and the South, but at the end of sixty years the equilibrium 
was destroyed. The census about to be taken would show a vast 
preponderance of population in the North, and this was not due to 
natural causes, but to three lines of policy followed by the federal 
government. The first was the Northwest ordinance and the Mis- 
souri compromise, by which the South was excluded from many of 
the territories ; the second was the protective tariff ; and the third 
was the growth of consolidation by which the power of the federal 
government had come into the hands of the North. For a long time 
there was a complete equilibrium in the senate, but of late the char- 
acter of Delaware was become neutral, giving the North 28 and the 
South 26 members of the senate. At present there were two Northern 
territories, Minnesota and Oregon, and no Southern territories, in a 
formative process. Add to this the proposition of the North for the 
exclusion of the South from California, New Mexico, and Utah, and the 



456 PERIOD OF THE SLAVERY CONTROVERSY 

prospect was that there would be five more states added to the power 
of the North. Could there be any doubt whither this situation would 
lead? 

About 1835, he continued, began the antislavery agitation, pro- 
claiming as its purpose the destruction of slavery, an achievement 
which would overturn the social system of the South. 
^j^f^P''®'^'^ At first ignored by the two great parties, it had grown 
union. until whigs and democrats were afraid to oppose it, and its 

latest demand was the exclusion of slavery from the terri- 
tories. Would it ever be weaker than now ? Was it not evident that 
if something were not done to check its progress the South must choose 
between abolition and secession? The evidences that disunion is 
growing are seen in the churches. The Methodists and Baptists are 
already divided on the question of slavery, the bonds of the Presby- 
terian church have begun to yield, and only the Episcopalians, of the 
four great Protestant bodies, are not affected by the great dissension. 
The same tendency is seen in the two great parties. Cord after cord 
has broken, and if the agitation goes on, not a bond will remain to 
bind together the two great sections of the country. This is 
disunion. 

Calhoun then came to his remedy for this aggravated situation. 
He proposed an amendment to the constitution guaranteeing the 
South an equal position in the territories, a fair execution 
R^m°d"^ of the fugitive slave act, and a cessation of antislavery 
agitation. Would the North accept this? She would if 
she loved the union as she professed. It was not a gift in the posses- 
sion of the South, the weaker section. "If you who represent the 
stronger portion," he said to the Northern senators, "cannot agree 
to settle them [the points mentioned] on the broad principles of justice 
and duty, say so ; and let the states we both represent agree to sepa- 
rate and part in peace. If you are unwilling we should part in peace, 
tell us so, and we shall know what to do, when you reduce the question 
to submission or resistance. If you remain silent you will compel us 
to infer by your acts what you intend." 

This speech was the last warning of the Southern Nestor, and four 
weeks later he was dead. There are flaws in the argument, but he 
stated clearly the situation of the South. It had played 
Significance ^ losing game in the race for progress, it was now face to 
h^un^s ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ inevitable, and it must submit to the will 

Speech. of the North and allow slavery to be put in a way to be 
extinguished, or it must separate from the North and es- 
tablish a government of its own. Compromise was entirely without 
Calhoun's ken. He realized that it was only a palliative and pleaded 
calmly for Northern conciliation in a saddened eloquence which would 
have been better expended if it had been used to reconcile his own 
people to the inevitable progress of civilization. 



WEBSTER'S LOVE OF UNION 457 

March 7 Webster rose to speak. He too had seen the union pass from 
its birth through a period of doubt to a splendid maturity. He grew 
up to manhood when patriotism was a passion, the best 
efforts of his Hfe had been given to establish the ideals of Webster's 
union, and he was dismayed at the prospect which Calhoun jjarch 7. 
held up so firmly. Moreover, Webster, like many other 
cooler Northerners, had no enthusiasm for abolition. He did not 
believe slavery as undesirable as disunion, and he now threw his whole 
soul into the task of calming the Northern mind, charging the aboli- 
tionists with excessive severity, and pleading that the South be not 
driven into the last ditch. Conservative Northerners approved the 
speech, but the verdict of the antislavery men was far otherwise. 
One compared him with Benedict Arnold, another exclaimed : 
"Webster is a fallen star! Lucifer descending from heaven !" and 
he was freely charged with bidding for the Southern whig support for 
the presidency. He undoubtedly had his ambitions, but he would 
hardly have risked his standing at home if he had not felt that duty 
impelled him. The avalanche of criticism under which he was buried 
shows how much the North was aroused against slavery. 

Clay's resolutions were debated, with some intermissions, for three 
months before bills embodying their principles were introduced. One 
was called "the Omnibus Bill," because it contained his 
recommendations in regard to California, New Mexico, '^^^ 9°™" 
Utah, and Texas ; another prohibited the slave trade Adopted, 
in the District of Columbia, and still another provided a 
better fugitive slave law. As the debate proceeded, the "Omnibus 
Bill" was broken up into three measures, each of which, with the two 
other propositions, was adopted through the efforts of Clay. Thus 
the North gained the admission of California as a free state and the 
"prohibition of the slave trade in the national capital. The South had 
a distinct gain in the new fugitive slave law, which gave to the federal 
courts the execution of the law, and Texas was relieved of her debt 
incurred in the struggle to win and maintain her independence./ In the 
creation of New Mexico and Utah as territories the North lost to the 
extent that the Wilmot proviso was not applied, but the net gain was 
bound to be hers as one of the territories was north of the Missouri 
line and the other could not hope soon to be a state. 

June 3, while the compromise was being debated, a Southern con- 
vention met in Nashville, nine states being represented. The dele- 
gates from South Carolina and Mississippi were for extreme 
measures, but cooler heads restrained them, and the con- T!*.®^*^^" 
vention contented itself with demanding the extension yention. ' 
of the line 36° 30' to the Pacific. For all Calhoun's de- 
liberate gloom the Southern people were not yet ready to secede. But 
the convention had an important influence on the action of congress. 
The extreme Northerners declared it a mere threat, and believed that 



458 PERIOD OF THE SLAVERY CONTROVERSY 

the talk of secession was gasconade. In the light of later events we 
know that disunion had taken a strong hold in the South, although it 
had not yet been accepted by the great mass of people there. 

July 9 President Taylor died. Although not experienced in politics, 
he had made a good executive. He had a soldier's love of duty and 

a leaning toward the enforcement of authority which 
FiUmore reminds one of Jackson. Talk of secession aroused his 

opposition, and he was not favorable to compromise. Fill- 
more, his successor, was conservative by nature and gave active sup- 
port to Clay's plans. The great compromise having passed, he 
sought to enforce it, and wished it to be, as it was intended, a final 
settlement of sectional dissensions. His administration was void 
of other important events. 

July 5, 1850, was ratified the Clayton-BuJwer treaty, referring to 
the construction of an Isthmian canal. Hopes of such a waterway 

had long been entertained in Central America, but the 
Clayton- interest of the United States in it sprang chiefly from their 

acquisition of their Pacific coast. In 1846 a treaty was 
made with New Granada, looking to a canal at the Isthmus of Panama. 
Soon afterwards a railway was begun at this point, but no canal con- 
struction was attempted. At the same time Great Britain was moving 
to get possession of the Nicaraguan route. She had acquired the east- 
ern, and was making efforts to get the western, terminus. Nicaragua 
feared that these steps would lead to the most serious results, and 
sought to play the United States against England. Our general 
opposition to an increase of British influence in Central America was 
sufficient to arouse interest. American capital was also negotiating 
for a canal charter, and in 1849 a treaty was negotiated with Nica- 
ragua, but not ratified, by which we got a concession for a canal and 
agreed to guarantee the integrity of Nicaragua. Then followed com- 
plications with Great Britain, the result of which, 1850, was the treaty 
which bears the names of the American secretary of state and the 
British minister in Washington, Clayton and Bulwer. It pledged each 
nation to maintain the neutrality of any interoceanic canal which either 
should construct at any point in Central America, agreed to admit 
other nations to the benefits of the treaty, and promised that neither 
power should extend its possessions in that region. 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

The best general works are : McMaster, History of the People of the United 
States, vols. VI and VII (1906, 1910), the fullest and most reliable general treatment ; 
Schouler, History of the United States, vols. IV, V (1891) ; Von Hoist, Constitutional 
and Political History, 8 vols. (Eng. trans., ed. 1899) ; Wilson, History of the Ameri- 
can People (1905); Garrison, Westward Extension, 1841-1850 (1906), very satis- 
factory; and Stanwood, History of the Presidency (1898). 

The leading biographies are : Schurz, Henry Clay, 2 vols. (1887) ; Shepard, Van 
Buren (1888); McLaughlin, Cass (1891); Morse, John Qiiincy Adams (1882); 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 459 

Lodge, Webster (1883); Curtis, Daniel Webster, 2 vols. (1870); Meigs, Life of 
Benton (1904) ; Curtis, James Buchanan, 2 vols. (1883) ; Hunt, Life of Calhoun 
(1907) ; Hart, Salmon P. Chase (1899) ; Bancroft, Life of Seward, 2 vols. (1900) ; and 
Dodd, Statesmen of the Old South (1911). 

For the sources see : The Congressional Globe, 108 vols. (1834-1873) ; Benton, 
Abridgment of the Debates, 16 vols. (1857-1861), extends to 1850; House Executive 
Documents, Senate Executive Documents, House Reports, and Senate Reports, a Table 
and A nnotated Index was published in 1902 ; Richardson, Messages and Papers of the 
Presidents, 10 vols. (1896-1899) ; MacDonald, Select Documents, IJ76-1861 (1898) ; 
Haswell, Treaties and Conventions (1889); and Peters, Statutes at Large, 8 vols. 
(1845-1846), continued in United States Statutes at Large. 

Of the contemporary periodicals the most valuable are : Niles' National Regis- 
ter (1811-1849), whig in sympathy, but contains many documents; The National 
Intelligencer (Washington, 1800-1870), whig organ; The Globe (Wixshington, 1830- 
1845), democratic organ; The Enquirer (Richmond, 1804-1877), voiced the old 
Virginia influence, ably edited by Ritchie ; The Evening Post (New York, con- 
tinuous from 1801), supported the barnburners, edited by Wm. Cullen Bryant 
from 1828 to 1878; The Neiv York Tribune (1841-), antislavery, very in- 
fluential; The Liberator (Boston, 1831-1865), extreme antislavery; and The Na- 
tional Era (Washington, 1847-1864), antislavery, but moderate. 

Many contemporaries left memoirs or narratives. Among them are : John 
Quincy Adams, Memoirs, 12 vols. (1874-1877), very valuable; Benton, Thirty 
Years' View, 2 vols. (1854- 185 7), to be used with caution : Tyler, Letters and Times 
of the Tylers, 3 vols. (18S4-1896) ; Polk's Diary, 4 vols. (1910) ; Webster, Works, 
6 vols. (1851), in 7 vols. (1897) ; Calhoun, Works, 6 vols. (1853-1859) ; Ibid., Corre- 
spondence (ed. by Jameson, Am. Hist. Assn. Reports, H, 1899) ; Garrison and 
Garrison, William Lloyd Garrison, 4 vols. (1885-1889) ; Wise, Seven Decades of 
the Union (1881) ; and Buchanan, Works of, 12 vols. (Moore, ed., 1908-1911). 

Financial matters are treated in Dewey, Financial History (1903) ; Bolles, 
Financial History, i vols. (ed. 1897); Taussig, Tarijf History (ed. 1898); Stanwood, 
Tariff Controversies, 2 vols. (1903) ; Kinley, Tlie Independent Treasury of the United 
States (1893) I Dunbar, Laws Relating to Currency, Finance, and Banking (ed. 
1897) ; Scott, Repudiation of State Debts (1893) ', ^^'^^ Sumner, History of Banking 
in the United States (in History of Banking in All Nations, 4 vols. 1896). 

The antislavery literature is very abundant, but the following books are sufKi- 
cient for most students : Hart, Slavery and Abolition (1906) ; the best recent book, 
impartial and supplied with a good bibliography ; Garrison and Garrison, William 
Lloyd Garrison, 4 vols. (1885-1889) ; Pierce, Memoir and Letters of Charles Sum- 
ner, 4 vols. (1877-1893); Birney, James G. Birney and His Times (1890); and 
Smith, The Liberty and Free Soil Parties in the Northwest (Harvard Studies, 1897). 

Texas annexation is well treated in Justin H. Smith, Annexation of Texas (191 1) ; 
Garrison, Westward Extension (1906) ; Ibid., History of Texas (1903) ; Ibid., "The 
First Stage of the movement for the annexation of Texas," in Am. Hist. Rev., X, 
72 ; Reeves, Diplomacy under Tyler and Polk (1907) ; Adams, British Interests and 
Activities in Texas (19 10), should be used in connection with Smith's review, American 
Historical Review, XMI, 151; and Texas Diplomatic Correspondence, :^ parts (Am. 
Hist. Assn. Reports, 1908). 

On the northeastern and northwestern boundary disputes see : Moore, Digest 
of International Arbitrations, 6 vols. (1895) ; Ganong, Boundaries of New Bruns- 
wick (Royal Soc. of Canada Transactions, 1901-1902) ; Mills, British Diplomacy 
in Canada (Royal Colonial Institute's Journal, United Empire, 191 1); Gallatin, 
Right of the United States to the Northeast Boundary (1840) ; Greenhow, History of 
Oregon and California (1844); Twiss, The Oregon Question (1846); and Bourne, 
Legend of Marcus Whitman (Essays in Historical Criticism, 1900, also in Am. Hist. 
Rev., VI). 

On the war with Mexico see : Ripley, The War with Mexico, 2 vols. (1849) ; 
Wright, General Scott (1894) ; Howard, General Taylor (1892) ; Scott, Memoirs, 



46o PERIOD OF THE SLAVERY CONTROVERSY 

2 vols. (1864), to be used with discrimination; Livermore, War with Mexico Re- 
viewed (1850), on the poHtical side; Bancroft, History of Mexico, 6 vols. (1883- 
1888) ; Ibid., History of California, 7 vols. (1886-1890) ; and Hittell, History of 
California, 4 vols. (1886-1897). 

On the compromise of 1850 see: Rhodes, History of the United States, 7 vols. 
(1892-IQ06) ; Greeley, The American Conflict, 2 vols. (1868-1870) ; Schurz, Henry 
Clay (1887) ; Stephens, War between the States, 2 vols. (1868-1870) ; and Davis, 
Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, 2 vols. (1881). 

On the Isthmian canal see : Keasbey, The Nicaragua Canal and the Monroe 
Doctrine (1896) ; Huberich, The Trans-Isthmian Canal (1904) ; and Travis, History 
of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty (Michigan Pol. Sc. Assn. PuUications, 1900). 

For Independent Reading 

Davis, Recollections of Mississippi and Mississippians (1891) ; Higginson, 
Cheerful Yesterdays (1898); Wise, Seven Decades of the Union (1881); Parkman, 
The Oregon Trail (1892 and other editions); Irving, Astoria (many editions); 
Royce, History of California (1886) ; and Clarke, Antislavery Days (1884). 



CHAPTER XXII 

SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT, 1815-1861 

Growth of Population and the Results 

During the years 181 5-1860 the westward movement of population 
continued the most noticeable feature of our domestic affairs. In the 
former year the Atlantic states had about 5,800,000 in- 
habitants, in i860 they had 15,895,971, while the region ^ g®^.^^^ 
lying westward had increased from 1,500,000 in 1815 to jgj^^ 
15,484,350 in i860. Had the old feeling of opposition 
between the East and the West persisted, the latter section would in 
i860 have been nearly in the supremacy. That it did not persist was 
due to two causes, i. The democratic party, founded as an expres- 
sion of the will of the rural classes, had a strong hold in all parts of the 
country. It was a truly national bond. 2. The rise of the slavery 
question introduced a new kind of sectionalism, the North against the 
South. By this newer alignment the North was very powerful. In- 
cluding the free West, it had in i860 a population of 20,309,960, while 
the South had 11,133,361. 

In a new country the birth rate is high, and to this must be attrib- 
uted the greater part of the rapid growth in numbers. But another 
important fact was immigration, which increased swiftly 
after the war of 181 2. The growth of manufactures and t™™^*" 
the development of the West created a great demand for 
labor, while disturbances and suffering in Europe gave an impetus for 
emigration to a land where wages were high and homes awaited those 
who would have them. The records of immigration, kept from 1820, 
show that from that year to i860, inclusive, 5,055,938 aliens, including 
travelers, arrived in the United States, most of them coming from three 
countries. Ireland, afflicted with famine and many other ills, led with 
1,880,943, Germany came next with 1,545,508, and England was 
third with 744,285. France, Switzerland, and the Netherlands sent 
considerable numbers; but the nations from which we have lately 
received most of our immigrants then sent few. For the entire period, 
only 16,776 came from Italy, Russia, and Poland. 

The immigrant avoided the states in which slavery was the preva- 
lent form of labor. He could not compete with it in wages, and it 
made it difficult for him to become a proprietor of his own enter- 
prises. In i860 the foreign-born population was 4,136,175, and 

461 



462 SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT 

of this the fifteen slave states had 471,000, more than half of whom 

were in the border states of Missouri and Maryland. 

Immigrants j^. ^^g gg^j^ g^^ ^j^^ j-jj^g ^^r^^ white labor could not thrive in 

South. t^^ South. The experience of the last half century shows 

that the opinion was erroneous. It seems evident that but 
for the presence of slavery the South would have the share of im- 
migration to which its fertile soil and agreeable climate entitled it. 

The immigrant was rarely a pioneer. The hard task of exploring 
the wilderness and pushing the Indian westward was assumed by the 
natives, while the less adventurous European was content 
Location of ^^ arrive when towns were being planted and farming lands 
grants. were being taken up. Thus, in the seven territories in 

existence in i860, with a total population of 220,197, 
there were only 35,476 foreign-born persons, while in the five states of 
the old Northwest, with a total population of 6,926,884, there were 
1,197,736 foreign-born persons. The rapid growth of manufactures 
in the East absorbed a large portion of the newcomers. In the six 
great manufacturing states, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, 
New Jersey, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, with a total population 
in i860 of 9,324,818, there were 1,930,139 persons of foreign birth. 
Thus we see that in eleven states, constituting the older agricultural 
West and the manufacturing East, were concentrated 75.6 per cent of 
the immigrant population. 

Most immigrants were good laborers, and a few were able to pur- 
chase farms. Some were diseased, and it was known that parishes 
in Europe had sent their paupers. By 1830 public opinion, 
Opposition which was all for immigration in 181 5, began to change, 
grants' Vot- ^"^ demands were heard for discrimination among the in- 
ing. coming multitude. The Irish caused special alarm. They 

were hot-tempered and clannish, clung to the cities, and 
soon fell into the hands of designing politicians. As they were gener- 
ally Catholics, a solid Irish vote caused alarm to those who feared the 
American doctrine of strict separation of church and state might be 
weakened. As a result, much was said about denying to the immi- 
grants the right both to vote and hold ofhce, but neither of the great 
political parties was willing to espouse such a principle. 

Finally the advocates for reform effected a distinct organization, 
calling themselves Native Americans. They appeared chiefly in the 
cities, and nominated candidates for city office. In Boston 
Americans. ^^ ^^^7 ^ ^^^^ grew out of the excited feeling of the "Na- 
tives" and the Irish. In the same year the Native Amer- 
ican Association was created, demanding of congress the repeal of 
the naturalization laws. Throughout the succeeding years there was 
much ferment. City after city fell into the hands of the Native Ameri- 
cans ; and in the summer of 1844 there was prolonged rioting in Phil- 
adelphia, occasioned by a protest of the Catholics against the use of the 



NEW STATES 463 

Protestant Bible in the public schools. The matter became a cam- 
paign issue, the democrats espousing the cause of the naturalized 
citizens, and denouncing the spirit of persecution. The victory of 
Polk did not discourage the Native Americans, and in 1847 they held 
a national convention and indorsed Taylor for president. Violence, 
which had never been approved by the leaders, was now abandoned, 
and the organization seemed losing its influence. But the impulse 
persisted, and in 1850 was founded the Order of the Star Spangled 
Banner, which proved the germ of the Know Nothing movement 
(see page 493). Voting by newly arrived immigrants, which was the 
chief complaint of nativism, has been allowed to this day most liberally 
by the states, who have jurisdiction of the suffrage. 

Vast changes in the national domain occurred between 181 5 and 
i860. A schoolboy in the former year would learn that Florida was 
Spanish and that our southwestern border was Texas and 
New Mexico. Our claim to Oregon was so indefinite that New States 
it hardly counted at that time in the popular mind. By tories. 
i860 our western boundary was the Pacific, and 444,053 
Americans were settled on the coast. Here already were two states — 
California, admitted in 1850, and Oregon, a state in 1859 — and one 
territory, Washington, set off in 1853. In 1815 no state but Louisi- 
ana existed beyond the Mississippi. We have seen how Missouri 
was admitted in 1820, balancing the free state of Maine. The process 
continued steadily as the settlement of the territories proceeded. 
In 1836 Michigan and Arkansas were admitted, in 1845 Texas and 
Florida came in, followed by the two free states of Iowa in 1846 and 
Wisconsin in 1848, and in 1858 Minnesota was admitted. Thus by 
i860 a belt of states extended the whole length of the Mississippi on 
the west. Beyond it to the confines of Washington, Oregon, and Cali- 
fornia was a great area embracing the territories of Kansas, Nebraska, 
Utah, and New Mexico, destined within a short time to be divided into 
several territories. The only part of the national domain not or- 
ganized into territories in i860 was the portion of the two Dakotas 
lying between Minnesota and the Missouri, a region in which the 
powerful Sioux tribes had their homes. 

The Influence of Great Inventions 

In 181 5 the United States had already begun to use power machinery 
in industry. The first effects were seen in New England, 
every stream of which had water power. Manufactures Manu- 
now took the place of commerce as the chief form of in- ^^^^"^j^^^ 
dustry, and the seat of wealth was no longer confined to the Growth of 
seaports. The immigrants furnished an operative class Towns, 
and the towns grew rapidly ; while the farmers, drawn more 
and more away to the West, left agriculture in a languishing state. 



464 SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT 

In the Middle states towns grew as readily as in New England, but 
the greater fertility of the soil sustained the prosperity of agriculture, 
spite of the drain of men to the Western lands. 

For all this rich life transportation was an essential. It was needed 
to carry merchandise to the interior, to bring farm products to the 

seaboard, and to bind the remote regions to the seacoast. 
and^Canals Steamboats, canals, and railroads all served this purpose. 

The first were especially useful on the rivers of the in- 
terior. In these initial days of Western development, when every 
promoter could call up a vision of wealth, the papers were full of 
schemes to establish navigation companies. Many of the plans 
proved failures, others had short careers and gave place at last to rail- 
roads, and some were established successfully. 

In 1828 canals were much in vogue in the West and in the seaboard 
states. New York was reaping great advantages from the Erie canal, 

then three years completed. Pennsylvania had just 

inaugurated a system of roads and canals which would 
deliver a vast amount of the Western traffic to Philadelphia, and the 
Potomac people were planning to construct a canal parallel to the river, 
whence by easy roads they could reach the tributaries of the Ohio. 
If these routes were opened, Baltimore's thriving trade would be turned 
aside and her glory would be gone. In desperation she thought of 
a railroad, and July 4, 1828, the first stroke was made on the Balti- 
more and Ohio line. The success of the undertaking led to many 
other similar enterprises, North, South, and West. Sometimes the 
state built the railroad and operated it, but more frequently it was 
built by a chartered company and received aid from the state either 
in bonds given in exchange for stock, or in land donated. By 1840 
the railroad had demonstrated its superiority over the canal and was 
in general use. Most of the roads were short, built to connect impor- 
tant towns or cities, and the era of consolidation did not appear until 
just before the civil war (see page 733). It was not until 1853 that 
Chicago had an all-rail line of travel to the seacoast. The develop- 
ment of railroads gave great importance to the great business corpora- 
tion, whose shares became a medium of investment and speculation. 
Now arose also the necessity of making laws defining the relation of 
railroads to the public. They could no longer be looked upon as mere 
private enterprises, since they were vitally connected with the welfare 
of the communities through which they ran. Out of this relation 
arose, chiefly after the civil war, a great conflict between capital and 
the public. 

While railroads largely superseded steamboats on the small streams, 
they did not soon replace them on the great rivers. On the Missis- 
sippi the boats were especially numerous and luxurious. They vied 
with one another in speed and comfort, and the trip from St. Louis to 
New Orleans was long remembered by the traveler who took it on 



LABOR-SAVING MACHINERY 465 

one of these fine craft. For many years it was said that a steam- 
boat could never cross the Atlantic because she could not carry the 
necessary fuel; but the Savannah disproved this in 18 19, 
going with auxiliary steam power, and the Sirius and Great Steamboats 
Western, going entirely by steam, in 1838. In 1840 the ^^^ ocean. 
Cunard line began to operate steam packets regularly 
between New York and Liverpool. Other steamships were soon 
crossing the ocean, but for many years the fast and graceful clip- 
pers of the day continued to be the favorite means of passing over 
the Atlantic. 

Many other inventions of this period contributed to the progress of 
the country. In 1844 Morse invented the electric telegraph, which 
he did by combining in a practical way several discoveries 
of scientists who preceded him. As a means of bringing The Tele- 
one part of the country into close business and social rela- ^^p*^' *^® 
tions with another part, it was hardly less important than ^j^g sewing 
the railroad. In 1834 McCormick invented the reaper, Machine, 
building, also, on many principles discovered by men who 
preceded him. It was vastly improved in 1845-1847, and found a 
ready place in the agricultural life of the country. It revolutionized 
industry in the West, where the fertile lands were well adapted to 
wheat-raising. With the reaper to harvest the grain and the railroads 
to take it to the seaports, the West became in a short time a granary 
for many parts of Europe. In 1846 Elias Howe patented his sewing 
machine, after many years of struggle against poverty and illness. 
It was destined to revolutionize the clothing-making industry and to 
lighten the labor of housewives in all parts of the world. These impor- 
tant inventions, with many others of less importance, testified to the 
versatility and strength of the inventive faculty in the United States, 
and gave the American people a prominent place among the progres- 
sive industrial nations. They were accompanied by a quick-witted 
adaptation of the great inventions of other countries, which powerfully 
stimulated the development of business and general comfort. 

The Indians 

In 18 1 5 Indian tribes lived east of the Mississippi in the extreme 
Northwest, in Tennessee and the region south of it, and in Florida, 
which was still in the hands of Spain. The advance of 
the whites gradually pushed them back in the lake region, j^gsissinDi 
and they gave up their lands in a series of treaties which 
by 1830 left them only the prairies south of Lake Michigan and the 
lands between that lake and the Mississippi. In the southern parts 
lived the Sacs and Foxes, who in 1804 ceded their lands between the 
Illinois and the Wisconsin, retaining permission to occupy and hunt 
on them until they were sold to the whites. During the war of 1812 



466 SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT 

some of the Sacs crossed the Mississippi, but the remainder con- 
tinued in the valley of the Rock river. By 1830 the 
Black Hawk surrounding country was filling with settlers who looked 
longingly at the fine Indian lands. Then followed a deed 
which, from its frequent recurrence in similar situations, may be pro- 
nounced the normal way of beginning an Indian war. Late in the 
year, while the men were hunting, white intruders broke up their 
village, drove the women and children to the forest, and established 
themselves in the fertile corn land at the mouth of Rock river, the site 
of the present town of Rock Island. When the hunters returned they 
took up arms under the leadership of Black Hawk and retook their 
village. Troops were called out, but hostilities seemed avoided when 
Black Hawk moved his people across the Mississippi after promising 
never to return. In the following year, however, he was back in the 
tribal lands, committing depredations against the whites. He was 
now pursued by a force of regulars and militia, driven into Wisconsin, 
and captured after a severe battle at Bad Axe. The Black Hawk war 
was the last Indian struggle on the northwestern frontier until the gold 
hunters began to invade the Rocky Mountain region more than thirty 
years later. 

This affair in Illinois must have been a striking object lesson to the 
Georgia Indians, who, as v/e have seen (page 400), were in the same 
year, 1832, at the height of their contention with the state 
TheSitua- authorities. In 1830, congress, following the suggestion 
Geor°L*^^ of the president, offered to give lands beyond the Missis- 
iiuHans. sippi to such eastern Indians as would remove thither. 
But the Indians refused to move, and appealed to the 
supreme court, relying on their treaty rights. The verdict was in their 
favor, but through President Jackson's failure to execute it they 
profited nothing by it ; and Georgia proceeded to establish her civil 
authority in the region over which the Indian law had extended. She 
also began to sell their hunting lands and threatened to take their 
farms and homes. What she did for the Cherokees and Creeks within 
her borders, Mississippi was ready to do for the Chickasaws and Choc- 
taws within her limits. 

Under such conditions, the Indians could do nothing but yield. 
The Creeks sold their lands to the federal government in 1832, the 
Chickasaws and Choctaws in 1833, and the Cherokees in 
Removal j8t^^. A few members of the last-named tribe refused to 
pushed. 3,bide by the sale and were removed by force. For all the 

land these Indians sold the federal government promised 
liberal annuities, or agreed to sell the relinquished lands and 
hold the proceeds in trust for the Indians. It also paid the cost 
of removal and donated new lands in the West. In 1834 con- 
gress established Indian territory in the fertile valley of the Ar- 
kansas. More accurately speaking, it was a series of reservations. 



Indian 
Territory. 



THE FLORIDA INDIANS 467 

on each of which a nation was placed with the assurance that 
it would never be moved and that no white man should settle 
within its border without a license. Each nation was to have its 
own council and make and execute its own laws ; and assistance was 
given to enable the Indians to contend with the worst 
difficulties of life in a new environment. There was no 
regular territorial government, and no hope of statehood 
was held out. A large part of the Indian territory was left unassigned 
in order that the Northwestern tribes might be induced to settle on 
it. As this expectation was not realized, these unsettled lands were 
many years later opened to settlement by the whites and became 
organized as Oklahoma territory. 

In one other quarter occurred trouble with the Indians. In Florida 
lived the Seminoles. Many fugitive slaves had settled among and 
intermarried with them, and it was considered desirable to 
remove this tribe, also, to the West. In 1833 they were ^^^j^ •^^^~ 
induced to make a treaty for that purpose, and the next year 
an agent was sent to execute it. This aroused the resident fugitive 
slaves, who foresaw that they would be returned to bondage. They 
joined with the less submissive Indians and made up a party who defied 
the government under the lead of Osceola, an able half-breed whose 
father was a white man named Powell. His wife was the daughter of 
a negress, an escaped slave, and in 1835 she was seized when on a 
friendly visit to Fort King. Osceola protested and was arrested. 
Feigning submission, he was released, only to make secret plans for 
resistance. In November, 1835, he put himself at the head 
of the discontented ones, drove the friendly chiefs into the 
forts of the white men, retired into the swamps, and made himself a 
source of terror to the settlements. Troops were now hurried to 
Florida, but Osceola, fighting with great energy and bravery, drove 
them back to the forts and held at his mercy all the open country 
south of St. Augustine. Reenforcements were called for, but these 
had little better success. The years 1836 and 1837 witnessed many 
encounters in which the Indians, having fought as long as they dared, 
fled at last to the swamps, into which they could not be followed. In 
1837 the Seminoles agreed to go West if allowed to take with them 
"their negroes, their bona fide property." Many of them assembled 
at Tampa, and transports were ready to take them to New Orleans, 
when white men appeared to claim the fugitive slaves. Resistance 
was immediately renewed, and the struggle went on again more bit- 
terly than ever. Later in the year Osceola was seized at a conference 
under a flag of truce and sent to Fort Moultrie, at Charleston, where 
he died in January, 1838. In the following December Colonel Zachary 
Taylor defeated the Indians in an important battle in Okechobee 
Swamp, but he was not able to follow the survivors into the recesses 
of the swamp, and so the war dragged on until the last remnant of re- 



468 SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT 

sistance yielded and the Seminoles finally consented to remove in 1842, 
Even then a few remained in the everglades of southern Florida, 
where their descendants are still found. Since the surrender of the 
fugitive slaves was the chief question at stake, this long and expensive 
struggle aroused strong criticism from the antislavery men of the 
North, who denounced the affair as a slaveholders' war. 

By this time nearly 125,000 Indians had been induced to cross the 
Mississippi, either to Indian territory or to the unorganized region 
of the Northwest. Many small bands remained near 
The Reser- ^j-,eij- old homes, mere fragments of the older tribes and 
lem^ ^^~ shorn of all power to resist the advance of the white man's 
civilization. For the western tribes the reservation sys- 
tem was now well developed. It meant that the government would 
keep the Indians quiet by distributing rations and blankets, establish- 
ing agencies for distribution, regulating the traders who came to 
monopolize the profitable Indian trade, and restricting as much as 
possible the sale of spirits to the savages. For these purposes the 
government spent liberally, and as the reservations were remotely 
located the system offered rare opportunity for fraud through the col- 
lusion of traders, agents, and the contractors who furnished supplies. 
The system, moreover, lessened the Indian's sense of self-dependence, 
and offered him little inducement to acquire habits of thrift and in- 
dustry. It tended to pauperize his spirit and to give him a contempt 
for the white man's ideals. At this time the lavish expenditure of 
money on Indian education had not begun. 

Social Development in the South 

The lands of the South are of three kinds : i. Mountainous, extend- 
ing as far southward as northern Georgia, fertile in itself but heavily 

timbered and inaccessible. The small valleys between 
^ ^^® . the ridges, popularly know as "coves," fell into the hands 
Rerion."^ of poor men who drifted in from the lowland, and the 

society that resulted was provincial and unenterprising, but 
essentially bold and self-sufficient. Here and there was a small town, 
but the country was generally covered with forest broken at intervals 
by small clearings. Very few of the inhabitants were slaveholders, 
and in i860 they were mostly for the union. 

2. The Piedmont region, adjacent to the mountains and not adapted 
to cotton cultivation. The inhabitants were generally small farmers 

and owned few slaves, many of them none at all. The 
p. V^^ lands along the infrequent rivers were fertile, and supported 

Region. large plantations stocked by slaves. But most of the 

people were poor. Some tobacco was raised, but the iso- 
lation of the region made it difficult to market the crop. This was a 
food-producing section, and most of the large planters in it were rich be- 



"POOR WHITES" 469 

cause their slaves were fruitful. From 1S25 to i860 there was a steady 
emigration of the small farmers to the new states of the Northwest. 

3. The Atlantic and Gulf coast region, together with the level 
plains on each side of the Mississippi, was the favored part of the 
South. All this area produced cotton except the parts 
lying in Maryland, Virginia, and Kentucky. Throughout ^ ^^^ 
its entire extent were settled the large planters, rich Region, 
through the labor of the slaves and possessed of an influ- 
ence which gave them control in all matters social and political. A 
few planters owned as many as a thousand slaves, many owned more 
than two hundred, but far the larger number owned less than one hun- 
dred. The richest jjlanters were men of culture, had handsome es- 
tates, and had established an aristocracy which was intended to re- 
semble that of the English country gentry; but the smaller ])lanters 
were hard-working men who sui)erintended their own farms and gave 
personal care to the welfare of their own slaves. In i860 there were 
384,000 slaveholders in the South. As these were generally heads of 
families, and as there were 9,000,000 white people, or about 1,750,000 
families, it seems safe to say that four-fifths of the heads of families 
were not slaveholders. But the other fifth were the men of influence, 
as men of wealth and intelligence are ever the men of influence. 

The non-slaveholders were mostly small farmers ; and as one of the 
social classes they were a large part of the population. They 
were hard-working men, but as the planters bought the 
best land whenever it was on the market, and as hired g. "" 
labor was scarce, there was little opportunity for them to holders, 
better their condition. As the schools were very bad they 
could not educate their children beyond the rudiments of reading and 
writing. To the visitors from other parts of the world they seemed 
unintelligent and miserable, but they were neither. They were as 
keen-witted, honest, and courageous a body of yeomanry as lived in 
their day ; and in the civil war they made excellent soldiers. The 
term "poor whites" has been applied to this class in a peculiar sense. 
The South had no more shiftless and lazy men than other communities, 
and the great mass of small landowners ought not to be designated 
by such a term. The industry and resourcefulness with which these 
people restored their fortunes when the abolition of slavery had given 
them opportunity, shows that they were of the genuine American 
stock, and were sound in mind and morals. 

During the period from 181 5 to i860 slavery concentrated itself 
in the South. Gradual emancipation reduced the bonds- 
men in New England from 3763 in 1790 until there were Disappear- 
none in 1850. In the Middle States there were 45,210 in g^^^ ° j^ 
1790 and 1816 in i860. Oi the latter number 1798 were the North, 
in Delaware, where the number was gradually falling 
from 8887 in 1790. In the Old Northwest, where a few slaves existed 



470 SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT 

before the famous Ordinance of 1787, and where others were brought 
in as servants bound for life, the number decreased from 1107 in 1820 
until there were none in 1850. In the South, however, there was an 
increase from 648,651 in 1790 to 3,951,944 in i860; and this latter 
number was almost evenly divided between the region reported in 
the census of 1790 and that not reported until after 1790. 
Changes in j^ the South itself the slaves tended to move to the cotton- 
Sout ^n ^ growing states. In Maryland there was decrease of 16 
ulation. per Cent from 1830 to i860, in Virginia the increase was 

only 4 per cent in the same period, and in North Carolina 
it was 35 per cent. In Georgia and the Gulf states during the same 
period the increase was 276 per cent. The increase in the Far South 
was not merely due to cotton, but to the general prosperity of the 
farmers in those states. There was, also, a steady development in 
Kentucky and Missouri in the same period, where farming was profit- 
able without cotton, the increase being 36 per cent in the former and 
397 per cent in the latter. 

Much was said about the cruelty of masters towards slaves. It is 
hard to separate this question from the feeling engendered by the 
bitter discussion of the antislavery and the proslavery 
'^/*h*™^'^* parties. Slavery is always a hard institution, and the ne- 
Siaves 8^°' being unenlightened and submissive by nature, in- 

vited severe treatment to induce him to labor hard and 
refrain from evil conduct. Whipping was used freely, because the 
masters felt it was the punishment most effective with him. Some 
masters were benevolent, some were severe and careless of the interests 
of their slaves, but the typical master considered his slave from the 
standpoint of efficiency, and fed and clothed him, restrained him from 
the enervating vices, cared for him in sickness, and afforded him reli- 
gious instruction with the object of making him a sound, moral, and 
docile laborer. He did not promote his intellectual development or his 
sense of self-dependence, since such a course would make the slave wish 
for freedom. The iron law of slavery was that nothing should be 
afforded the slave which would weaken the hold of slavery as an 
institution. The antislavery agitation in the North, by arousing the 
feeling of the masters, led them to revise the slave codes, and laws now 
appeared on Southern statute books forbidding slaves to be taught to 
read and write, prohibiting their assemblage without the presence of 
a white man, establishing patrols to keep them from traveling the 
roads without written permission, and restricting them in many 
other ways. 

The first three decades of the century constitute the mildest stage 
of American slavery. At that time the negro had made a real ad- 
vance in rudimentary civilization over African barbarism, and the 
harsher reaction of 1830-1860 had not begun. During this intermedi- 
ate period there were indications that an ameliorating process had 



DIVISION OF THE CHURCHES 471 

begun. The best Southern opinion openly regretted slavery, manu- 
mission was encouraged in the press and on the platform, negroes 
were taught to read the Bible, and a superior class was 
forming within the race. In most of the Southern states ^^'^ ^^°- 
we hear of negro ministers who preached to congregations Q^g^'^jn the 
of whites and blacks, and in one state at least — North south. 
Carolina — was a negro schoolmaster who fitted for the 
university the sons of the leading white people. Whatever hope was 
in this softening of slavery into a milder form of service was destroyed 
by the resentment of the whites against Northern interference. There 
had always been in the South men who believed a rigid regimen of 
slaves was necessary, but they were overruled by the more benevo- 
lent element. Utilizing the popular resentment against the agitation, 
they now became the majority, overrode the party of milder meas- 
ures, and so captured the minds of the rising generation that by 
i860 there remained hardly anything of the gentler measures but 
the fact that slaves were members of the white churches and lis- 
tened to sermons by white ministers. 

Nothing could better show how slavery divided the country than 
to observe how it divided the churches. The Methodist church was 
essentially a popular organization in the South, as in the 
North. Its polity provided for bishops who went on cir- ^^-^^^"^^ ^. 
cuit to hold the church conferences in all parts of the union, churches. 
Its earliest efforts in the South embraced work for the 
slaves, and about 1800 a large part of its members were colored. Soon 
after this a controversy arose between the Northern and Southern 
wings over the ownership of slaves by ministers. In 1816 it was 
decided that ministers should not own slaves in any state in which 
slaves could be legally emancipated. For many years afterwards 
peace existed in the church, but the rise of the abolition movement 
was strongly reflected in the Northern portion of the church, which 
was the larger part. In 1832 Rev. James O. Andrew, of Georgia, was 
elected a bishop, one of the recommendations being that he was a 
Southern man who did not own slaves. In January, 1844, he married 
a woman who owned slaves, and in the following May the general 
conference of the church resolved that he should "desist from the 
exercise of his office so long as the impediment remains." The vote 
was the occasion of a long and warm debate, in which the Southern 
members freely predicted that it would end in the disruption of the 
church. It was carried almost entirely on sectional grounds. Imme- 
diately the Southerners took steps to form a Southern Methodist 
church, and a plan looking to amicable division was adopted. In 
formal resolutions the Southerners declared that if they had sub- 
mitted to the censure of their bishop, the position of the church in the 
South would have been damaged ; and in other resolutions the North- 
ern members declared that if they had tolerated a bishop tainted with 



472 SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT 

slaveholding, the church would have lost strength in the North, all 
of which shows how deeply this large portion of the population had 
become divided on the question of slavery. 

The division of the Methodists into two bodies attracted the at- 
tention of the country. Clay, in deprecating it, said : " I will not say 
that such a separation would necessarily produce a dissolution of the 
political union of these states ; but the example would be fraught 
with imminent danger, and, in cooperation with other causes unfor- 
tunately existing, its tendency on the stability of the confederacy 
would be perilous and alarming." The effect was seen immediately 
in the Baptist churches, which though congregational in polity, were 
united in a general convention. The board of missions had ruled that 
slaveholders would not be appointed missionaries, and in 1845 ^^e 
Southern conventions began to withdraw, setting up in the same year 
the Southern Baptist convention. The Presbyterian and Protestant 
Episcopal churches remained undivided. McCormick, the inventor 
of the reaper, used to say that the Presbyterian church and the demo- 
cratic party, to both of which he belonged, were ''the two hoops which 
hold the union together." But in May, 1861, the assembly of the 
former body adopted a resolution offered by Dr. Gardiner Spring, of 
New York, its most eminent member, pledging the church to support 
the union, and the result was the Southern presbyteries withdrew 
their allegiance, and in August, 1861, met and founded the "Presby- 
terian Church of the Confederate States of America." The Protestant 
Episcopal church took nearly the same attitude. The Southern 
dioceses, after some preliminary steps, met in October, 1861, and or- 
ganized the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Confederate States 
of America. The Northern branch of the church did not recognize 
the division, and in its convention during the war continued to call the 
names of the absent bishops. With the downfall of the confederacy 
the Southern branch was abandoned and the Southern dioceses were 
again represented in the conventions of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church of America. The separate organization of the other churches 
continued after the war, for the spirit of division had become too deep 
in them to permit early reunion. 

The Development of Democracy in State and Nation 

All of the thirteen states of revolutionary days incorporated in 
their constitutions some of the British ideals of colonial days. For 

example, none of the states provided for absolute manhood 
^"^5^p.'° suffrage. Four states, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, 
States!^''^ Delaware, and South Carolina, were willing to allow the 

suffrage to all taxpayers ; but all the others had some 
property requirement for voters who chose one or both branches of the 
assemblies. Some of the states required that the officials should be 



STATE REFORMS 473 

property holders, others, distrusting popular elections, provided that 
governor, chief executive officers, and judges should be chosen by the 
assemblies. Much as these restrictions may seem out of place, they 
left the suffrage more liberal in the United States than in most other 
countries. 

Soon after the adoption of the national constitution the spirit of 
democracy began to make itself felt, and state after state modified 
some of the restrictive features of its constitution. In this 
the action of the new states, always more democratic Extending 
than the old, was very influential. Vermont showed the suffrage, 
way by establishing manhood suffrage in her first constitu- 
tion, and Kentucky soon afterwards did the same. Ohio, admitted 
in 1803, enfranchised taxpayers, but after her each state adopted 
manhood suffrage and elected the governor by popular vote. Along 
with this came demands for reforms in the old states. Delaware, 
Maryland, and New Jersey had yielded to the reformers by the end 
of 18 ID, and other old states were deeply agitated over the matter. 
The reformers were called Jacobins, and much was declaimed about 
the dangers lurking in wild and demagogic theories. In Connecticut, 
where the charter of colonial days was now the constitution, the oli- 
garchy was very powerful. Seven men, the majority of the council, 
had in their hands the control of the state. In 1818, after a long 
struggle, was adopted a new constitution, far more liberal than the old, 
although it still lacked something of real democracy and equality. 

The wave of reform next reached New York, where conditions were 
astonishingly bad. Only freeholders and renters of tenements could 
vote, and by this means more than 50,000 leaseholders 
were excluded from the ballot. A council of appoint- TheReform 
ment, consisting of five members, named more than 15,000 york. 
officials in all parts of the state, and had become as flagrant 
a political machine as ever existed in this land. There was also a coun- 
cil of revision, the governor and supreme judges among its members, 
which had vetoed so many laws that it had virtually made itself a 
third house of the assembly. Against this system arose such a clamor 
that the defenders of the old condition were overwhelmed, and a con- 
stitutional convention met in 182 1. It quickly swept away the coun- 
cils of appointment and re\ision, and a hard fight followed to abolish 
the last vestige of property qualification. No opposition was made 
so far as the choice of governor and members of the house went ; but 
the conservatives rallied when it came to choice of senators. Much 
was said about the sacredness of property, the incompetence of the 
propertyless class, and the horrors of the French revolution. The 
best leader on this side was Chancellor Kent, who added to his lawyer's 
instinct for conservatism a splendid mind and a weighty reputation. 
Against him the chief leader was Martin Van Buren, just elected a 
federal senator. His plea for no property qualification was effective, 



474 SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT 

and thus the reform program, with some finishing strokes in 1826, was 
completed in New York. In Massachusetts, in 1820, a constitutional 
convention abolished the property basis for voters but retained it for 
senators. 

In Virginia the privileged class was fortified behind property qual- 
ifications and an allotment of legislative seats by which the small 
slaveholding counties of the East outvoted the large and 
Vi^girda^'^ populous counties of the West. Large numbers of the men 
of the latter section became so discouraged through the 
long futile fight for equality that they moved away to the Northwest, 
where privilege was unknown. At last the eyes of the Easterners were 
opened, and a convention was called for 1829. The results of its 
deliberation was an extension of the suffrage, but a moderate property 
basis was retained. There was, also, a reallotment of seats in the as- 
sembly, but it was so made that the slaveholding East retained control. 
In 1850, however, manhood suffrage was secured. Slavery was a strong 
support of privilege, and where it existed the march of democracy was 
slow. In 1835 North Carolina made important amendments to her 
constitution, one of them being the popular election of the governor, 
but the property qualification was not touched. In a nine years' 
struggle, 1848 to 1857, it was, however, carried through, and equal 
suffrage was established. The property basis was abandoned by Dela- 
ware in 1 83 1, by Mississippi in 1832, by Georgia in 1833 and 1835, 
and by Tennessee in 1834. During this period of constitutional 
change many other reforms were made by the states, one of the most 
important being that religious tests for voting or holding office should 
be given up, and in many states popular election of judges was adopted. 
It has often been said that Jackson established democracy, but it 
would be more accurate to say that from 1820 there was a great popu- 
lar movement toward democracy, and that he became its 
Jackson and exponent. He did much to guide it, but it existed before 
cratic^Re°-' ^^ ^^^ '*' presidential candidate, and his successes were 
form. based upon its power. He furnished a rallying point for 

the new movement, and his bold attacks on the older po- 
litical leaders broke their rule and called into national and state offices 
men who were in sympathy with the democratic spirit of the day. 

The state which held most tenaciously to the old system was Rhode 
Island. Her constitution was the old colonial charter, liberal in its 
time, but it limited the franchise to freeholders. The 
The rise of manufactures introduced a large operative class who 

Struggle in were not property holders. Then followed a contest to 
land — ^' change the old system, but the property owners of the 
Thomas W. cities in alliance with the landowners of the country were 
Dorr. too strong for the operative class. Yet the demand for 

reform would not down. It found an active and persistent 
leader in Thomas W. Dorr, who announced that the people had an 



THE DORR REBELLION 475 

inalienable right to participate in government. The "log-cabin" 
campaign of 1840, which was a popular movement, stimulated them to 
most vigorous agitation. Great mass-meetings and parades occurred 
in Providence, Newport, and elsewhere, and the ])lainest hints of vio- 
lence were given. The legislature finally ordered a convention, but 
it was to be chosen by the existing voters, and the disfranchised party 
would not accept it. They accordingly called a convention of their 
own, which prepared a constitution and submitted it to the people. 
It received 13,944 votes in an election held in the closing days of 1841. 
This instrument was called the "People's Constitution." The strong 
following of Dorr now alarmed the old party, who, in the convention 
ordered by the legislature, prepared a constitution known as the " Free- 
men's Constitution." When this came before the people it received 
8013 affirmative, and 8689 negative, votes, and was declared lost. The 
most important difference between the two instruments was that the 
former provided for white manhood suffrage and the latter required one 
year's residence for landowners, two years for natives who were not 
landowners, and three years after naturalization for foreign-born citi- 
zens. 

Since their own constitution had more votes than that of their 
rivals, the Dorr party now announced that their scheme was law, and 
ordered an election for governor and legislature. The 
existing legislature pronounced such a step illegal, the ^^""^ ^P- 
governor issued a proclamation against it, and he called porce. 
on President Tyler for aid against threatened rebellion. 
Tyler replied that he could do nothing until violence had begun. 
Thus the election was held. Dorr was selected for governor, an assem- 
bly was chosen, and May 3, 1842, the People's Government went 
through the forms of an inauguration. For two weeks Dorr essayed 
the part of governor, while his assembly made "laws" for the state 
of Rhode Island. Outside of the state the whigs generally flouted 
him, but the democrats gave him much support, and great meetings in 
sympathy with his struggle for liberal suffrage were held in Philadel- 
phia and New York. May 18 came a conflict between Dorr and the 
rival governor. The latter was about to arm the members of his party 
when Dorr marched on the arsenal with cannon, but was kept from 
actual violence because the pieces would not fire. His action fright- 
ened away the courage of most of his supporters, who deserted him 
in shoals, and he fled with a handful of companions to Woonsocket, 
followed by whig shouts of derision. In the following summer he re- 
turned to Rhode Island and fortified himself in the northwestern part 
of the state. The militia were sent against him, but his followers 
fled again. Many were arrested, but he escaped. Returning a year 
later he was arrested, tried for treason, and sentenced to jail for life. 
He did not serve the term. His followers had made so plain an exhi- 
bition of strength that the conservatives relented and called a con- 



476 SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT 

vention which adopted a liberal constitution, and in 1845 Dorr was 
set at liberty. To his efforts, right or wrong, the new constitution was 
chiefly due. The victory of democracy in Rhode Island wiped out 
the last considerable vestige of landed privilege. Traces did, indeed, 
remain in a few states, but they were eventually removed from the 
constitutions, the last of them by the new constitutions established 
in the South in reconstruction days. 

The Progress of Education 

While liberal suffrage advanced in the old states, educational re- 
form, equally democratic, was also in full course of development. 

Schools were early established in every colony, but usually 
Origin of q^ a private basis, and frequently under church supervi- 
tionai "^*' ^^on. The ability to read the Bible was essential in gen- 
Movement, eral religious instruction, and the spread of intelligence 

was bound up with sound morals, so it was natural that 
the churches as promoters of moral ideals should have felt themselves 
responsible for the people's attitude toward education. But where 
government was intrusted to the competent, as was the case profes- 
sedly out of New England, there was little feeling that every man 
must be educated by the government in order that he might properly 
exercise his function of citizenship. 

It is hard to say whether the educational impulse in early New Eng- 
land was chiefly religious or political. The two functions were closely 

related, and we may well say they acted jointly. Massa- 
Schoois m chusetts took the lead, passing in 1647 an act which has 
chusetts. been called "the mother of all our school laws." It 

ordered each town of fifty families to support an elementary 
school, and each of a hundred families to support a grammar school 
under penalty of fine. The teachers were to be appointed and paid 
by the people and were to teach all children who came to them. It 
was not always enforced, especially as regards grammar schools, but 
it remained an ideal throughout the colonial period, and in 1789 a 
comprehensive act was passed, the terms of which show how far public 
education was developed. The towns were divided into districts, with 
a school in each supported by the public ; towns of 200 families were to 
have grammar schools. Teachers were to be college graduates or to 
have certificates of attainments from "learned ministers," and the 
selectmen were to see that the schools were well taught and that 
the children attended. This act was in force with little amendment 
for nearly fifty years. 

In 1837 Massachusetts created a state board of education, and 
Horace Mann was appointed its secretary. This was one of the 
remarkal^le educational reforms in the century. The old district school 
no longer served the wants of the community. Incompetent teachers 



EARLY PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEMS 477 

had been appointed by oflficials interested in local politics, there were 
no trained superintendents of teachers, and the amount of money 
spent on education was proportionally small. Within 
the past half century the state had grown rich. Horace ^°^^ °^ 
Mann realized that the old district system was insufficient, Mann, 
and assumed the task of making it modern. He was in 
office twelve years, and when he retired trained superintendents of 
schools existed in the towns, appropriations were liberal, normal schools 
had been established, the school term was lengthened to six months, 
and many other progressive features were added to the system. He 
succeeded because of his earnestness and capability. He traveled and 
spoke much, and wherever he went he left his impress on others. It 
was largely through his efforts for the schools that a revival of town 
libraries spread throughout the state. His achievement was truly 
statesmanlike. He found the school system of Massachusetts 
large, well meant, and rather formless : he gave it that cohesion 
and energy which in the political phase of society makes the state a 
living thing. 

The Middle states had many schools from the earliest colonial 
periods, but the impulse was religious or individual, rarely public. 
The Dutch made a good beginning in New York, but 
there was decline of interest with the conquest of the ^'^^^^I^i? 
province by the British. It was not until after the revo- states, 
lution that the state seems to have realized its duty in 
public education ; and then we find land granted in the western coun- 
ties and assistance voted to educate poor children in the schools al- 
ready established in the eastern parts of the state. Throughout the 
years 1815 and i860 these states were gradually perfecting school 
systems, many laws being necessary before a satisfactory result was 
obtained. It was not until 1849 that the New York system was well 
established. The same result was achieved for Pennsylvania in a law 
of 1854 ; for New Jersey it did not come until 1867, and for Delaware 
not until 1875. 

Efforts to establish public schools were made in the South early in 
the nineteenth century. They resulted in "free schools," poorly 
taught for short periods, and designed only for the poor. 
The children of the well-to-do went to private schools, g"^^**^, . 
which were numerous. Among the older Southern states ^^ south. 
the best "free school" system was probably in North 
Carolina, which was the most democratic of the Southern states. 
Little more interest was shown in the newer states of the Gulf 
region. Texas, however, made liberal land grants to her school 
system, and Tennessee and Florida received lands for the same 
purpose from the federal government. It was not until after the 
civil war that the former slave states established an efficient public 
school system. 



478 SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT 

While public education thus slowly won its way in the Middle and 
Southern states, it secured and maintained a more vigorous position 

in the Middle West. Three causes are to be noted : i. The 
Public generous gifts of land by the national government ; 2. The 

the West. ^^^^ diffusion of New Englanders in this region; and 

3. The conviction of the Westerners that schools attracted 
desirable immigrants. The lands given by the federal authority for 
education went to the states, which determined their use, some going 
to the common public schools, some to academies, and some to state 
universities, which dated from the early days of settlement. State 
aid was supplemented by funds derived from local taxes and state 
laws provided the administrative machinery. 

Preceding the rise of the public common school came a movement 
for academies. This t^-pe of school abounded among the English 

dissenters of the eighteenth century. Its curriculum 
Academy covered from three to five years, and embraced Latin, 

Greek, philosophy, with a smattering of Hebrew, science, 
and sometimes theology. It fell in readily with the condition of the 
non-conformists who had no standing in the universities and were not 
found in the great public schools. It held a place between preparatory 
school and university, and was pronounced superficial by those who 
held to the old classical schools. 

It is not strange that this kind of school was easily established in 
America, where dissenters were in the majority and where the thorough 

ideals of European instruction had not yet taken deep hold. 
The Era of Sometimes an academy grew out of the efforts of a devoted 
Academies ^^^^ generous family, as Phillips Academy, at Andover, 
United Massachusetts, founded in 1778. High-grade academies 

States. existed in most of the states and served excellently in pre- 

paring boys for college. But with the beginning of the 
nineteenth century came an era of rosy dreams of future developments. 
Most extreme in the West and South, it was nevertheless well defined 
in the North, and one of its results was an abundant crop of academies. 
This sporadic growth stood for much real interest, and spite of the 
failures many useful institutions survived. In 1850 there were 6085 
academies in the United States, and they had 263,096 pupils. 

During the years 1820 to i860 as many as 174 colleges and universi- 
ties were founded in the United States, 80 of which were in the North 

Central, and 52 in the Southern, states. Many of them 
Many Col- y^Q^e founded by churches, and many others represented the 
Founded. ambition of new communities with anticipations of future 

growth and culture. The law of the survival of the fit- 
test has brought to an early grave a great number of these institu- 
tions, but others have survived and reached positions of wide useful- 
ness. Not all were wisely founded, but who shall decry the earnest 
hope that gave them their beginning ! 



STATE UNIVERSITIES 479 

It was in this period that the state university took form. The older 
ideal of a college or university in America was a place at which men 
were fitted for the ministry, law, or another learned pro- 
fession. Its studies were strictly arranged in groups, a I^f ^*^^® 
thing long traditional in Europe. The students were 
from the upper class of society, and there was generally some kind of 
ecclesiastical oversight. Two tendencies, one domestic and one for- 
eign, operated against this idea about 1800. One was the prevalence 
of philosophic doubt in thfi first generation after the revolution. At 
the same time the French educational system was reorganized on 
a rationalistic basis, and the university' of Berlin was established 
under the guidance of Fichte. Such wonderfully important move- 
ments at home and in Europe could not fail to have a corresponding 
phase in American education. 

The process was first seen in the founding of state universities in 
North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina, and in the 
reorganization of the University of Pennsylvania on a state 
basis, all of which occurred between 1779 and 1815. At Jefferson 
this time the movement took a more definite shape at the university 
hands of Jefferson, equally devoted to democracy and of Virginia, 
liberal thought. He gave much of his later life to the 
task of remodeling higher education in Virginia. He first wished to 
remake William and Mary College on the secular plan, but failing in 
that turned to the task of founding a new institution. In 181 8 the 
legislature approved, and in 1825 the University of Virginia opened its 
doors. Jefferson was head of the commission which prepared its plan, 
head of its first board of visitors, and his colleagues allowed him to have 
his way in all that pertained to the university. It began with an elec- 
tive system, and opened its doors without examinations to all who 
came, rejecting after trial those who showed themselves unprepared 
for its classes. All this was a part of the author's plan for a thoroughly 
democratic institution. 

The influence of the University of Virginia was strong in the newer 
states of the West and Southwest. It extended, however, more to the 
form and democratic spirit of the university than to the 
method of instruction. In regard to the latter, the New Western 
England influence has been strong, at least in the West, universities. 
The complete separation of the university from church 
control gave rise to the charge that Jefferson's university was hostile 
to religion. A warm controversy sprang up in Virginia, and has ap- 
peared in most other states where the state university has been intro- 
duced. As a result, the churches founded institutions of their own for 
the education of their own youth. The controversy has not disap- 
peared in many states to this day. 

During the period of Western and Southwestern expansion the older 
institutions of the Northeast developed hardly as much as might have 



48o SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT 

been expected. Largely devoted to preparing men for the professions, 
most of their students came from the leisure class in the North and 
South. The condition is well shown in the history of Harvard Col- 
lege, the oldest of them all. In 1836, its two hundredth 
Progress in anniversary year, there were 233 students in the college 
ern^Col-^ ' Proper, and in 1856 there were 382. But the law and medi- 
leges. cal schools were well attended, having in the latter year 231 

students, with 57 in the Lawrence Scientific School, which 
was founded in 1848. The Divinity School Had in 1856 only 2 2 students. 
It seems unquestionable that the establishment of new colleges and 
universities during this period operated to lessen the numbers who 
would otherwise have gone to the older institutions. The rapid growth 
of the Eastern seats of learning, with which the present generation is so 
familiar, came after the civil war. 

The spread of intelligence brought about a movement to reform 
manners. Attention was especially directed to the misuse of spiritu- 
ous liquors, which early in the century were generally used 
The Tem- ^^ ^^^ classes. Total abstinence societies began to be 
Movement, formed about 1824, and in five years more than a thousand 
had been organized. Zealous preachers of temperance 
went into every part of the country, with the result that many 
people were enlisted in the movement. In 1830 the temperance 
organizations began to be known as Washington societies. After 
years of agitation the movement began to work for the prohibition 
of the sale and manufacture of spirituous liquors. By 1850 sev- 
eral states were in active commotion over the question. Only 
one of them, however, carried the demand to success. Through 
the leadership of Neal Dow, Maine, by several laws culminating 
in 1851, committed herself to prohibition. 

Gold in California 

January 24, 1848, yellow particles were observed in the sand on the 
exposed bottom of a mill race on the American river. Workmen 

washed out a portion of the earth and secured three ounces 
covery*^' °^ §^^"^ dust, and investigation showed gold along the 

whole length of the river. The secret was kept for a few 
weeks and then spread throughout California. In May a Mormon 
walked along the San Francisco streets with a bottle of gold dust in his 
hand shouting: "Gold! Gold! Gold from the American river!" 
Previous reports of the discovery had attracted little interest, but the 
sight of the yellow metal was electrical on the population of the town. 
At the end of a month hardly an ablebodied man remained there. 
Ships anchoring in the harbor were left without crews, the two news- 
papers suspended because typesetters had fled, and the streets were 
lined with closed shops. 



CALIFORNIA'S PROBLEMS 481 

Late in the autumn the news reached the East, where it spread like 
wildfire. Companies of adventurers were formed, ships were hastily 
bought, and by the end of the year every important At- 
lantic seaport had sent out its fleet for the "Land of Gold." T.^^^^ „ ^^ 
When spring came, the western frontier was filled with cau"ornia° 
great caravans waiting for good weather to begin a long 1849. 
and dangerous journey to the same destination. More 
than 20,000 persons set out by this route with their cattle and pro- 
visions, and encountered much hardship before they arrived on the 
Western coast as winter closed in. How many arrived this year is diffi- 
cult to say, but in 1850 the population of California was 92,597, which 
was more than that of either Delaware or Florida. San Francisco be- 
came a city of rude huts and tents, filled with speculators and travelers 
hurrying to the mines. A town meeting fixed the price of gold dus: at 
sixteen dollars an ounce, and it became the money of the coast. Wages 
became exorbitant, a carpenter getting sixteen, and an unskilled 
laborer ten, dollars a day. Gamblers and worse men abounded, and 
violence was frequent. But the majority of the immigrants were 
average Americans, strong in the instinct of self-government, and the 
result showed that they were not willing to allow the unruly element 
to dominate the country. The only authority established by law was 
military, and it could not be exercised in the many camps and towns 
that sprang up wherever there was gold. Nor could it well exercise the 
ordinary functions of courts in the protection of life and property. 
Appeals for a settled government were sent to congress, but the slav- 
ery question arose there, and for a while nothing could be done (see 
page 453). 

The first move for self-government was expressed m mmers com- 
mittees or mass-meetings, which dealt with disorders and settled dis- 
putes. This suggested a wider organization ; and in Sep- 
tember, 1849, at the call of General Riley, the de facto civil ^fjj°^|^" 
governor, a convention assembled at Monterey and made a tablished. 
constitution excluding slavery, establishing laws of prop- 
erty, fixing the bounds of California as at present, and providing a 
full state government. Before the year ended a governor, a legislature, 
two representatives in congress, and two senators had been duly chosen. 
The state officers immediately entered on their duties and the legisla- 
ture took up the task of lawmaking, but the senators and representa- 
tives, who repaired to Washington, were kept waiting until the com- 
promise of 1850 was completed ; and it was not until September 9 of 
that year that California at last became a state. 

Nor did statehood bring good order at once. So deeply was the old 
habit of lawlessness implanted that the state officials could not easily 
secure control of the situation. Robberies, murders, and other out- 
rages abounded, and the people, turning aside from the slow process 
of law, openly expressed their contempt for lawyers and judges, and 



482 SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT 

frequently took into their own hands the task of repressing crime and 
disposing of criminals. The presence of many persons of Spanish- 
American birth stimulated this spirit of violence. They 
ness Yields ^^^^ suspected, hated, and mistreated. Sometimes they 
Slowly. deserved nothing good, sometimes they were innocent of 

evildoing . Originally the miners were generally men of aver- 
age peacefulness, but the excitement of the day, the tendency to heavy 
drinking and quarreling, overcame good impulses, and the years f ollow- 
ing the settlement of the state were a period of chaos, out of 
Committees, which the best men could see no better road to good order 
than vigilance committees, which too often expressed the 
mere rage of the mob. But as the communities became settled, and as 
capital became fixed in mining, real estate, and commerce, the con- 
servative element triumphed. The turbulent class went on to the 
newer mines in the distant mountains, leaving peace behind them. 
By 1858 the area of order embraced most of the state. 

The Panic of 1857 

The discovery of gold in California and elsewhere in the West to- 
gether with the rapid increase of the money supply promoted the 
spirit of speculation. Railroads were built through 
Prosperity, sparsely settled regions from which for a time it was impos- 
sible to get enough revenue to pay dividends. Manufac- 
tures were stimulated, and increased their output beyond reasonable 
demands. To support this vast volume of business the banks lent 
freely, straining their own resources to the utmost. In fact, it was one 
of those "boom" periods with which our industrial history is filled, 
the inevitable end of which is reaction. It was facilitated by the loose 
state-banking system, under which the banks, eager for profits, assumed 
impossible burdens in order to lend at high rates to railroads, manufac- 
turers, and speculators of every kind. 

In 1857 the bubble could expand no further. Speculators could not 
sell their lands and bonds at a profit. The Western banks from which 
they had borrowed began to fail, and this communicated 
of iSfiT^^ ^^^ shock to the Eastern banks from which the Western 
banks had secured funds, and a general panic reigned. 
Generally speaking, the banks of Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New 
York closed their doors, and those of New England suspended specie 
payment. With a few exceptions, those of the West failed completely. 
Thousands of depositors were ruined, and legitimate business was at a 
standstill. Factories closed, labor was out of employment, the prices 
of agricultural products dropped, and fourteen railroads failed com- 
pletely. 

The West suffered most ; for at this time the Crimean war was ended, 
and a large area was thrown open to wheat cultivation, on account of 



THE MORRILL TARIFI 483 

which the price of that commodity fell from $2 to 75 cents a bushel, 
entailing ruin to producers and all who depended on them. The South, 
on the other hand, felt the panic less heavily ; for its staple, 
cotton, was still in demand at former prices. The South- p^^^" 
erners, observing their advantage, felt more confidence 
than ever in their assertion, "Cotton is King." 

So far as the banks were concerned, the spasm was of short duration. 
By the spring of 1858 most of them had resumed specie payment, and 
were cautiously lending money to the traders and manufac- 
turers who were still carrying on business. But this Recovery 
year and that which followed were years of "hard times," panic. 
and it was not until i860 that industry was again in a 
normal condition. This panic, like all the others in our history, was 
only a readjustment of temporarily inflated business. Beneath its 
swirling current was the firm surface of immense economic resources. 

Probably the most permanent result was the unexpected impulse it 
gave to protection. Just before the crash the tariff had been lowered 
because of the unusually large sums derived from the great volume 
of imports. But with slackening business came a reduction of im- 
ports, and with that a deficit in the national treasury. Notes were is- 
sued and bonds sold in the hope that the want would be temporary. 
But through the years of "hard times" importations continued re- 
duced and the minds of men began to turn toward higher duties. 
Suffering manufacturers seized the moment to ask for greater protec- 
tion, and the two forces combined to secure the Morrill Tariff, which 
failed to pass the senate in 1S60, but became law early in 1861 after 
several Southern senators had withdrawn. It restored most of the 
rates of 1846 and made others higher. 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

Few monographic studies have been made in the social development of our coun- 
try during this period. McMaster, History of the People of the United States, vols. 
IV-VII (1895-1910), contains in several chapters the most valuable general ac- 
count. See also Schouler, History of the United States, 6 vols. (1880-1894). Some 
excellent chapters are in Turner, Rise of the New West (1906), and in Hart, Slavery 
and Abolition (1906). A thoughtful discussion is Leroy-Beaulieu, The United 
States in the Twentieth Century (trans, by Bruce, 1906). 

On the growth and distribution of population one must consult the statistics of 
the census bureau, but for practical purposes they are well summed up in its bulle- 
tin entitled, A Century of Population Growth (1909). Immigration in general is dis- 
cussed by R. Mayo Smith, Emigration and Immigration (1890). For the op- 
position to immigrants see McMaster, History of the People of the United States, 
vol. VII, pages 369-384; Scisco, Political Nativism in New York (1901); and 
Schmeckebier, The Know-Nothing Party in Maryland (1898). 

On the influence of great inventions see : Doolittle, Inventions of the Century 
(in "Nineteenth Century Series," 1903); Johnson, American Railway Transpor- 
tation (1903) ; Ringwalt, American Railway System (1888) ; Hewes, The American 
Railway (1889) ; Sanborn, Congressional Grants of Land in Aid of Railways (1899) ; 
Wells, Our Merchant Marine (1890) ; and Bates, The American Marine (1897). 



484 SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT 

Our relations with the Indians have not yet been satisfactorily described. The 
)est thing for a student is to use McMaster's volumes in connection with two 
official collections : Indian AJfairs, Laws and Treaties, vol. II (Kappler's ed., 1904) 
and United States Statutes at Large, vol. VII, in which the treaties are included. 
Very valuable is Miss Abel, Indian Consolidation West of the Mississippi (Am. 
Hist. Assn. Report, 1906). On the Black Hawk war see : Ford, History of Illinois 
(1854) ; Thwaites, Story of lite Blac/i Hawk War (in Wisconsin Hist. Soc. Collections, 
vol. XII) ; and McCall, Letters from the Frontier (1868), bears also on the Seminole 
war. On the war in Florida see: Fairbanks, History of Florida (new ed., 1898); 
Sprague, Origin, Progress, and Conclusion of the Florida War (1848). 

Much has been written about the society of the South. Probably the best 
treatment is the work of Frederick Law Olmstead, an intelligent Northern 
observer who made visits to that section in the last decade before the civil 
war and wrote three books showing in excellent literary form how Southern life 
impressed one who was used to conditions in the free North. The books are : 
A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States (1856, new ed., 1904), yl Journey through Texas 
(1857), and A Journey to the Back Country (1861). Essential parts of these three 
books were published in The Cotton Kingdom, 2 vols. (1861). A good Southern 
treatment, though written with the advantages of post bellum retrospect, is Ingle, 
Southern Sidelights (1896). Several delightful books of reminiscences have appeared 
written by persons connected with the planter class. They are apt to be colored 
by feeling and do not, as a rule, present the point of view of the middle class and 
poorer whites. Among them are : Mrs. Pryor, Reminiscences of Peace and War 
(1904) ; Mrs. Clayton, Black and White under the Old Regime (1899) ; and Mrs. 
Smedes, Memorials of a Southern Planter (4th ed., 1900). See also : Hammond, 
The Cotton Industry (1897) ; Brooks, The Story of Cotton (191 1) ; and Hurd, Law of 
Freedom and Bondage, 2 vols. (1858-1862), contains summary of statutes concern- 
ing slaves and free negroes. 

On the development of democracy see : Dodd, Revision and Amendment of State 
Constitutions (1910) ; Borgeaud, Adoption and Amendment of Constitution (1895, 
trans, by Hazen) ; Lobingur, The People's Law (1909) ; Oberhaltzer, Referendum in 
America (ed. 191 1) ; Poore, Federal and State Constitutions, 2 vols. (1877) ; Thorpe, 
American Charters, Constitutions, and Original Laws, 7 vols. (1909), contains errors 
and should be used with caution. See also : Mowry, The Dorr War (1901) ; King, 
Life of Thomas W. Dorr (1859) ; and McMaster, History of the People of the United 
States, vol. V, 373-394. 

Educational progress is shown in : Boone, Education in the United States (1889) ; 
Dexter, History of Education in the United States (1904) ; E. E. Brown, Making of 
Our Middle Schools (1907) ; Martin, Evolution of the Massachusetts Public School 
System (1894) ; Weeks, Beginnings of the Common School System in the South (U. S. 
Comsr. Education, Report, 1896-1897); H. B. Adams, editor, 33 monographs on 
history of education in various states, issued as Circulars of Information by the Com- 
missioner of Education (1887-1902); H. B. Adams, Thomas Jefferson and the 
University of Virginia (1888) ; and Hinsdale, Horace Mann and the Common School 
Revival (1898). 

On the discovery of gold in California and the conditions which followed see : 
Hittell, History of California, 4 vols. (1886-1897) ; Bancroft, History of California, 
7 vols. (1884-1890); Willey, Thirty Years in California (1879), good for early 
social conditions; Shinn, Mining Camps (1885), very suggestive; and Letts, 
California Illustrated (1852). 

For Independent Reading 

Bayard Taylor, Eldorado (1850) ; Mowry, The Dorr War (1901) : Mrs. Pryor, Rem- 
iniscences of Peace and War (1904) ; Mrs. Clayton, Black and White under the Old 
Regime (1899); Hubbard, Memorials of a Half Century (1887), deals with expe- 
riences in the Old Northwest ; Four American Universities, by Professor Norton and 
others (1895), deals with Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and Princeton; and Olmstead, 
A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States (new ed., 1904). 



CHAPTER XXIII 

EVENTS LEADING TO 'I'H1<: ClVIl. WAR, 1850-1860 

Overthrowing tiik Comi'romisk of 1850 

Conservative men North and South wished the compromise of 1850 
to be llnal. Politicians, business men, and conservatives generally 
hojjed it would remove the slavery question from j)olitics 
and introduce an era of harmony. In April, 1852, the J^»"^''*yo^ 
house of representatives adopted a resolution to that promise, 
effect by a vote of 103 to 74, and the democratic convention 
of the same year enthusiastically resolved to accept the compromise as 
final and to resist any attem])t to renew the slavery agitation. In the 
whig convention a similar resolution was adopted, with ()() tlissenting 
votes, all of which came from the North, and were from men who sup- 
ported Scott as party leader. 

The democrats had much trouble to name a candidate. l<\)r forty- 
eight ballots fortune leaned in turn to Cass, the defeated candidate of 
1848, to Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, to Marcy, of New 
York, and to Stei)hen A. Douglas, a brilliant senator from tio^'"*" 
Illinois who had just completed his thirty-ninth year and 
for whom his admirers i)redicted the highest honors. On the thirty- 
fifth ballot I'Vanklin Pierce, of New Ilanijjshire, was brought forward 
by Virginia as a "dark horse," and on the forty-ninth he received the 
nomination, William R. King, of Alabama, being named for vice-i)resi- 
dent. The whigs also had their ditlicullies, but General Winlield Scott 
won on the fifty-third ballot, taking the honors from Webster and Fill- 
more, through a combination of the Southern whigs with the Northern 
wing of the party under Seward, who led a large grouj) of men opposed 
to the fugitive slave law, a part of the great compromise. William A. 
Graham, of North Carolina, was nominated ior the vice-presidency. 
The free soil party nominated John P. Hale, of New IIam[)shire, and 
denied the finality of the com])r()mise. 

The only inii)ortant issue in the campaign that followed was keeping 
the compromise. Scott was pledged to it, but he was supported by 
those who would be glad to see it overthrown. Pierce, it 
was not doubted, was sincerely for it, while Hale repudiated ^igction 
it altogether. The results showed how much it was de- 
sired by the people. The democratic candidates received 254 electoral 
votes, the whigs had 42, carrying Massachusetts, Vermont, Kentucky, 
and Tennessee, and the free soilers had none. Hale had only half as 

48s 



486 EVENTS LEADING TO THE CIVIL WAR, 1850- 1860 

many votes as Van Buren got in 1848, and this was taken to show that 
the cause of political abolition was declining. 

Pierce took office amid the plaudits of the citizens. He was a 
handsome man and knew how to conciliate his opponents. Could he 
, not perpetuate the spirit of compromise, if any man could ? 

Cabinet. f^^^L^. ^^^ cabinet appointments aroused apprehensions. 
| Dix^ of New York, who was a free soiler in 1848, was 
denied a posiTfTm after it had been offered him, and the reason for the 
change of intention was his unpopularity with the South. Jefferson 
Davis, of Mississippi, was made secretary of war, and Caleb Cushing, 
of Massachusetts, a warm friend of Davis, became attorney-general. 
Moreover, the inaugural address hinted pretty plainly at the acquisi- 
tion of Cuba, a thing much desired by the slaveholders. It was not 
long before whisperers began to say that the administration was under 
Southern domination. 

This seemed ominous for the spirit of compromise, but a still more 
threatening thing was the hostility of many Northern people to the 
execution of the fugitive slave law. In the two and a half 
^ Opposition years since the law passed nearly ever}, fugitive arrested in 
F^ugitive^^ the North had been taken by a mob from the hands of the 
Slave Law. federal marshal and spirited away to freedom. In Syra- 
cuse, New York, Gerrit Smith and the Rev. Samuel J. 
May led a mob of respectable men who forcibly rescued a negro, 
Jerry McHenry, from the hands of an assembled court and smuggled 
him into Canada ; and they were not punished. These affairs, which 
occurred before the election of 1852, aroused the moderates North and 
South and went far to secure the large democratic majority of that 
year. They were, however, not forgotten, and the extremists of both 
sides predicted freely that the fugitive slave law, which the South con- 
sidered its only gain in the great compromise, could not be enforced. 

But it was slavery in the territories, and not the rendition of fugitives, 
that kindled anew the slumbering fires of strife. The unorganized 
Nebraska country west of Missouri and Iowa became im- 
N^if " *k ^^^ portant as soon as the Oregon question came up ; and the 
Question. migration to California and the plans proposed for a rail- 
road to the Pacific gave it added interest. Attempts to 
have it made a territory had been defeated by the slavery men, be- 
cause under the Missouri compromise it would be free. The Missou- 
rians themselves, though much desiring that the territory be erected, 
would not demand it as a home of freedom. Senator Atchison, 
leading the slavery party in that state, declared that he would " see 
Nebraska sunk in hell before he would vote for it as a free soil terri- 
tory " ; and he helped defeat a Nebraska bill in 1853. In the summer 
of that year his seat in the senate was being contested, and his op- 
ponents boldly charged him with neglecting the interests of Missouri. 
To make Nebraska slave, it was said, he was sacrificing the oppor- 



COMPROMISE BROKEN 487 

tunity to have St. Louis the terminus of the Pacific railroad and ex- 
cluding Missourians from the rich lands to the west. It was a hard 
blow, and he met it by a change of front. He would never see Ne- 
braska free soil, he now said, but he would vote to make it a. territory 
on condition that the people who settled there could decide for them- 
selves the question of slavery or freedom. This, it was pointed out, 
was what had been done for Utah and New Mexico in 1850. The dis- 
cussion in Missouri was warm throughout the summer of 1853, and 
just before congress met in December, it was taken up by the demo- 
cratic papers of the East. The antislavery men could hardly be- 
lieve what they read when they saw a prediction that a bill would 
be introduced in congress to create Nebraska territory under the plan 
just described. They did not take the prophecy seriously, and pointed 
out that the proposed step repealed the compromise of 1820 and over- 
threw the harmony established in 1850. 

Events showed they were mistaken. In December, 1853, an Iowa 
senator introduced a bill to create Nebraska territory. It went to 
the committee on territories, S. A. Douglas, chairman. 
January 5 it came from committee, Atchison's slavery uebraskr^ 
proposition engrafted on it. The change was made with ^^t^ jgg^, 
the consent of Douglas, whose motive is a matter of dispute. 
He favored a new territory in the region through which the proposed 
Pacific road would run, and he may have adopted Atchison's idea be- 
cause he saw it was the only way to get the support of the Southerners. 
On the other hand, he wished to be president, and as his opponents 
charged, he may have merely sought Southern support to that end. 
He was a self-made man, with some crudeness of manner, spite of his 
great forensic ability, and more than once had been made to realize 
that he was not popular with the Southern members. He now showed 
them how much he could serve them. Holding together in a solid 
phalanx all who wished the railroad built, those who desired the terri- 
tory for its own sake, those faithful friends who wished to see him ad- 
vanced to the presidency, and above ^ all the willing Southerners, he 
forced his bill through both houses and made it a law. Before^ it 
passed it underwent an important amendment. Two territories, in- 
stead of one, were now provided for, it being a return to the old parallel- 
ism by which was preserved the balance of free and slave states. Kan- 
sas, the more southern of the two, it was expected, would be settled 
by slaveholders, and Nebraska by non-slaveholders. A clause in the 
bill when finally passed specifically repealed the Missouri compromise. 
Douglas expected a hard fight from the antislavery men, but he 
had arguments to meet them. The bill, he said, was the only practi- 
cable way to get the territory created, and the North need 
not be alarmed, since slavery could not live in the region n^cance. 
concerned. If one spoke of violation of the compromise of 
1850 the reply was that the bill did not violate, but only confirmed, the 



I 
488 EVENTS LEADING TO THE CIVIL WAR, 1850-1860 

compromise; for did it not apply to Kansas and Nebraska exactly 
the principle applied to Utah and New Mexico ? For all this, it was 
as plain as a barn door that the bill was a defeat for the antislavery 
party, that it opened to slavery territory which the compromise of 
1820 dedicated to freedom, and that the proslavery party won a vic- 
tory which would give slavery its share in the unsettled Northwest, 
unless natural conditions proved too hard for it. Though Douglas 
carried his measure through congress, a great wave of protest was 
aroused out of congress, and from 1854 all thought of the finality of 
the compromise of 1850 was abandoned. 

Douglas called his doctrine "popular sovereignty," since it an- 
nounced the right of the people in the territory to settle the vexed 
question for themselves. His enemies with a tinge of 
Popular contempt called it "squatter sovereignty," a term which 
eignty." immediately had an extensive use. The most striking 
early effect of his move was that some Northern democrats 
would not vote for his bill, or support him afterwards. They held 
together, and were known as "Anti-Nebraska" democrats. 

It is evident that a new spirit ruled in the country in 1854. Four 
years earlier the old men, led by Clay and Webster, loving the union 
and lamenting the tendency of the young men toward 
New Men radicalism, united and carried a compromise over the 
NortlTa^nd heads of the radicals. In 1852 died both Clay and Web- 
South, ster — Calhoun had died in 1850. Thus in 1854 the 
militant younger men were in control on each side. The 
most conspicuous Northern leaders were : Seward, of New York, an 
able politician and a man of influence because he could carry the most 
important state in the union ; Chase and Wade, of Ohio, both strong 
debaters ; and Sumner, of Massachusetts, who was a fervid orator and 
a biting foe to the slave power. In the South Jefferson Davis, of 
Mississippi, a cool-headed and logical debater, was most eminent, and 
by his followers was pronounced the heir of Calhoun's leadership. He 
was a member of Pierce's cabinet, but returned to the senate in 1857. 
Toombs, of Georgia, warm and audacious in manner, but conserva- 
tive in ideas, was an able second to Davis. Neither of these men in 
1854 would advocate secession, but they were ready to accept it if 
necessary to save the South from an antislavery majority in the North. 
Another group of Southerners, the most prominent of whom were 
Yancey, of Alabama, and Rhett, of South Carolina, were avowed se- 
cessionists. Among Northern democrats the leaders were Douglas, 
now bitterly disliked because of the Kansas-Nebraska act, and 
Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, an old man trained under the Jackson 
regime, whose best asset was that he was minister to England in 
1854, and so was not forced to vote for or against Douglas's cele- 
brated bill. 

The Kansas-Nebraska bill opened a new strife between these two 



IMMIGRANTS TO KANSAS 489 

contending sides, which by regular steps led straight to the civil war. 
The chief events in this progress are the following : i. The 

struggle to settle Kansas ; 2. The organization of the re- Conse- 

publican party; 3. The Dred Scott decision; 4. The JheK^nsal- 

Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858; 5. The John Brown Nebraska 

raid ; and 6, The election of Lincoln in i860. It is now Act. 
necessary to take up these events in order. 

The Struggle for Kansas 

At first most people expected Kansas to become the home of slavery, 
and Missourians began to move into its fertile valleys as soon as it was 
a territory. The antislavery men were not willing that 
this should be accomplished without opposition. Eli Northern 
Thayer, of Massachusetts, organized the " Emigrant Aid ^^^ i^^I 
Society" to assist New Englanders to settle in the terri- grants, 
tory. When its proteges began to arrive, an angry cry arose 
from the settlers from Missouri. The wealthy North, it was said, 
was pouring in colonists to organize the country so as to exclude 
slavery, and appeals were made for Southerners to help settle Kansas. 
The response was ready in Missouri, and on election day, 1855, more 
than 5000 men rode from that state and cast votes in the choice of 
members of the first territorial legislature. Governor Reeder, of 
Kansas, appointed by Pierce, who was known to favor the Southern- 
ers, did not approve the proceedings, but he did nothing to check 
them. The result was that the new legislature met, de- 
clared some of the delegates chosen from the districts of Legislature 
the New Englanders illegally elected, and made a code of 
laws in support of slave property. This they did on the theory that 
popular sovereignty meant that slavery should not be discriminated 
against until the territory itself determined whether or not it should be 
established. 

By this time immigration from New England was large, and the free 
state party felt strong enough to defy their antagonists. They found 
a leader in Dr. Charles Robinson, who had lived in Cali- 
fornia long enough to know how to deal with the chaos now ^° ^°J' 
in Kansas. All the Missourians had done was pronounced Appeal, 
illegal, and plans were made to organize an irregular 
government, adopt a constitution, and ask for admission to the union. 
Thus assembled the Topeka convention, chosen entirely by the party 
of freedom. The other side pronounced it extra-legal, gave it no 
countenance, and declared their sheriff and legislature the only legal 
authority in the territory under the governor, who was appointed by 
Pierce and in sympathy with the slavery men. Fortunately, the two 
parties had settled in different districts, and each legislature, though 
claiming jurisdiction over all Kansas, was content to exercise authority 



490 EVENTS LEADING TO THE CIVIL WAR, 1850-1860 

merely over its own district. The Missourians, in their hasty en- 
trance to the territory, took the rich lands along the Missouri on whose 
banks they planted the towns of Atchison, Leavenworth, and Kick- 
apoo. But the New Englanders, with a better sense of future develop- 
ment, settled along the Kansas river, and thus their towns, Lawrence, 
Topeka, Lecompton, and Ossawatomie, penetrated nearly a hundred 
miles into the territory. 

Early in 1856 the Kansas situation was before congress. Both 
contending governments were tainted with illegality, and if the federal 

government had carried out the true spirit of Douglas's 
the^Eas^t" popular sovereignty theory, both would have been over- 
thrown, and new elections held. Unhappily, the country 
was deeply aroused and divided in sentiment, and both the president 
and congress were no more disposed to act calmly than the Kansas 
settlers. Pierce, a democrat, naturally followed his party, the larger 
part of which were Southerners. He issued a proclamation against 
lawless men in Kansas, and authorized the governor, now Shannon, to 
use federal troops if necessary. 

To preserve order in Kansas was only a temporary remedy for the 
chaos there. A more permanent remedy was suggested by Pierce in 

a recommendation that it be admitted to the union as soon 
Statehood as sufficiently populous; and in March, 1856, Douglas, 
^^ ^ in the senate, introduced a bill to authorize the Kansas 

the^Con- legislature to call a convention to prepare a constitution for 
fusion. admission to the union when the population of the territory 

should be 93,420. Such a convention would undoubtedly 
be under the influence of the Missourians, and the proposition was 
bitterly opposed by the opposite side, who demanded that Kansas be 

admitted under the Topeka constitution. Then came 
Warm ^j^g ^f ^^^ most exciting debates in the history of congress. 

Debate. Douglas and many Southerners spoke on one side, Seward, 

CoUamer, Hale, and Sumner on the other. The speech of 
Sumner was very bitter. He was a man of the highest purposes and 
the deepest feelings ; he hated slavery, and thought its supporters 
entitled to no consideration. He was now highly wrought up by re- 
cent events, and prepared a speech on "The Crime against Kansas," 
into which he put as much denunciation as his intense soul could utter. 
He himself called his speech " the most thorough philippic ever uttered 
in a legislative body." Into it he brought some biting personalities, 
attacking especially Douglas and Senator Butler, of South Carolina. 
The former replied in words equally biting, but the latter was avenged 

by his nephew, Brooks, who represented a South Carolina 
AssauUed district. Two days after the speech was made Sumner was 

leaning over his desk writing, the senate having adjourned. 
Brooks approached, uttered a few words of reproach, and fell to beating 
Sumner over head and shoulders until bystanders interfered. The 



JOHN BROWN'S RETALIATION 491 

attack left the senator with injuries from which he did not recover 
before i860. 

When Sumner finished his extraordinary speech, Cass, the Nestor 
of the senate, broke the painful silence of that body by saying: "I 
have listened with equal regret and surprise to the speech 
of the honorable senator from Massachusetts. Such a theYncident 
speech, the most un-American and unpatriotic that ever 
grated on the ears of the members of this high body, I hope never to 
hear again here or elsewhere." These words might have represented 
the judgment of posterity concerning Sumner's utterances, had not 
Brooks's violent retaliation taken oflf their edge. In the days when one 
gentleman caned another, he sought to overwhelm him by the in- 
dignity rather than by the severity of the affair ; but Brooks attacked 
most savagely, breaking his cane and finishing the chastisement with 
the butt. His achievement found many defenders in the South, and 
he might have finished his days, had he so wished, in belaboring 
abolitionists with the many canes he received from admiring Southern- 
ers. In the North his deed and the approval of it in the South elicited 
the deepest horror. It did more to arouse the average man against 
the South than any speech Sumner ever made. Meanwhile, all this 
trouble accomplished nothing for Kansas. Congress could not agree 
on a plan, and the territory continued to be the prey of faction. 

These struggles came to a head in Kansas the day before Sumner 
was injured. A proslavery grand jury had indicted several of the 
antislavery leaders, and a posse under a federal marshal 
marched to Lawrence and made the arrests. They de- La*^rence* 
stroyed, on the ground it was a nuisance, a large stone hotel 
built there, probably with the purpose of having it serve as a fort in 
case of need. The posse contained many lawless men under slight 
restraint, and there was much drinking and plundering. The news- 
paper offices were looted, stores were sacked, and the house of the 
governor under the Topeka constitution was destroyed. While 
Brooks's violence filled every mind, news of this occurrence reached 
the East and but added to the excitement. 

To one free-state Kansan it seemed to call for vengeance. John 
Brown, of Ossawatomie, hated slavery to the verge of insanity, and he 
believed himself ordained by providence to redress the 
wrong of his party, five of whom had been slain. With J°^° , 
seven followers he entered the settlements of the slavery taliation. 
party on Pottawatamie Creek, took five men from three 
homes, and left their bodies by the roadside lifeless and mutilated. 
"God is my judge," exclaimed he, "the people of Kansas will yet 
justify my course." Approve it they coukl not, but it was the signal 
for the outbreak of a guerrilla struggle in which nearly two hundred 
lives were sacrificed. This state of affairs was largely due to the lax 
rule of Governor Shannon, who gave ill disguised sympathy to the 



492 EVENTS LEADING TO THE CIVIL WAR, 1850-1860 

slave party. Its effect on the presidential canvass then in progress 
in the states was so great that Pierce was forced to send another gov- 
ernor. Geary, who arrived on the scene September 9, won the respect 
of both sides and eventually restored order. He resigned March 4, 
1857, feeling that he was not supported by the president. 

Buchanan, who became president on the same day, was anxious to 
have affairs settled in the territory. His party's platform had de- 
clared for a just application of popular sovereignty in 
Governor Kansas, and he wished to redeem the pledge. After much 
Walker s persuasion he induced Robert J. Walker, a Mississippi 
Restore democrat and a man of ability and fairness, to accept the 

Order. governorship. During the past two years many Northern 

men had moved to the scene of conflict, and Walker real- 
ized that they were by far the majority of the population. He gave 
up hope of saving Kansas for slavery, and tried to save it for his party. 
Elections to a constitutional convention were announced, and he 
urged all free state people to vote in them, promising that the con- 
stitution to be prepared should be submitted to the people for approval. 
The appeal was futile. Of the 18,000 voters thought to be in the terri- 
tory only 2200 took part in the election, most of them proslavery. 
Had his advice been taken, much trouble would have been avoided. 

When the Southern politicians in Washington learned that their 
friends controlled the convention, which met at Lecompton in Sep- 
tember, 1857, they acted quickly. Agents went to Kansas, 
The Le- j^^d a scheme was arranged by which the minority might 
c'^sf^u- control. The constitution as a whole was not to be sub- 
tion. mitted to the people, but only the clause in reference to 

slavery. The vote was to be "the constitution with 
slavery" or "the constitution without slavery." If the latter pre- 
vailed, the slaves already in Kansas, not more than 200, would not be 
liberated. The vote on the constitution was to be taken by officers 
appointed directly by the convention. These unusual details sug- 
gested dark designs, and Walker denounced them openly and set out 
for Washington to protest to the president himself. He found that 
Buchanan was committed to the Southerners. 

The country was beginning to forget Kansas, but this turn of affairs 
caused it to remember. Most of all, Douglas was alarmed and out- 
raged. He had risked much of his own popularity for 
Douglas ^ ^^^ South, and he could not but feel that he was betrayed. 
Telling the president plainly that he should oppose the 
scheme, he went into the senate to make a bold speech against the con- 
stitution made at Lecompton. "If Kansas wants a slave-state con- 
stitution," he said, "she has a right to it; if she wants a free-state 
constitution, she has a right to it. It is none of my business which way 
the slavery clause is decided. I care not whether it is voted up or 
down." He got little for his trouble ; the South turned against him, 



THE WRONG TO KANSAS 493 

and the republicans could only see that he was seeking to secure in 
1858 his reelection to the senate. His action defeated the bill to admit 
Kansas with the Lecompton constitution ; for though it passed the 
senate the Douglas democrats in the house cast the deciding votes 
against it. But the English bill, a faint-hearted compromise, was 
finally passed. It offered Kansas a gift of land if it became a state, 
ordered an impartial election on the question of receiving the gift, 
and authorized the president to admit the state by proc- 
lamation if the vote was in the affirmative. The Kansas gjy ^ 
free-state party considered the bill a proffered bribe and 
rejected it by a vote of 11,300 to 1788. From this time, August, 1858, 
the struggle in Kansas dropped into the background, the territorial 
government was in authority, and it was not until 1861, after some of 
the Southern states had seceded, that difBculties disappeared with the 
acquisition of statehood. 

Douglas, like many other politicians, cared little for either slavery 
or abolition, but wished to remove from the political field an annoying 
question, and he thought his popular sovereignty theory _, . . 
would accomplish his aim. He believed that other North- .u^^^^^.u 

I'll- ^r '11 11 r ^ c^ '■"® OOUtn. 

erners like himself, with the help of the South, could keep 
the question in the background, spite of the antislavery Northerners, 
whom he rightly believed in the minority. But the South would not 
play his game. It believed itself entitled to Kansas, and was angered 
when the North tried to fill the territory with settlers. It met this 
move, which it believed perfidious, with fraud and violence, which 
deepened at each step. It was too unfair a proceeding to be permitted 
by the nation, and was not in keeping with the former conduct of its 
authors. It was the last desperate hope to preserve the equilibrium of 
states, and its failure left Southerners the choice between submission 
to the limitation of the slave power and withdrawal from the union. 

Party and the Election of 1856 

The whig party suffered much by the compromise of 1850. If it 
repudiated the agreement, its southern wing would be wrecked ; to 
accept it sacrificed the good will of many earnest anti- 
slavery whigs. It was freely said that the party would ^,®^J|.'^'°^ 
never win another victory. Although it had a strong paj-ty. 
position in Massachusetts, New York, and other states, 
and managed to preserve its national organization, its fate was sealed. 

For a time it was thought it would yield place to the know-nothing 
party. This was a secret political organization with the 
same principles as those of the Native Americans. When 5°°^" 
one of its members was asked any question about it he was party."^ 
instructed to give a formal answer, "I don't know," and 
from this came the name. As the Irish Catholics were usually 



494 EVENTS LEADING TO THE CIVIL WAR, 1850-1860 

democrats, the organization naturally drew largely from the whigs, 
and as it had the open denunciation of Douglas and other leading 
democrats it felt drawn to those who opposed the Kansas-Nebraska 
bill. By judicious combination and much work it polled in 1854 one- 
fourth of the entire vote of New York, two-fifths of that of Pennsyl- 
vania, and nearly two-thirds of that of Massachusetts. In the last- 
named state it elected the governor and other general officers and 
controlled the legislature. This silent machine, without canvassers 
or other outward evidence of activity, but sweeping so much before it, 
struck terror to the old party leaders. Late in 1854 it decided to re- 
quire all its members to take oath to support the union, and the de- 
cision drew many anti-Nebraska men to its ranks, as well as a large 
number of union men in the South, mostly old whigs. In the spring 

of 1855 it carried Connecticut, New Hampshire, and 

Rhode Island, and freely boasted it had 1,000,000 enrolled 
voters. It now abandoned secrecy, hitherto its greatest weakness. 
The light of day showed that it was chiefly the old whig party under 
another name, and from that moment disappeared all hope of building 
up out of it a great union party. In 1856 it lost its antislavery wing 
when it refused to demand the restoration of the Missouri compromise. 
In this year its candidate, Fillmore, carried only one state, Mary- 
land. 

Meanwhile, the republican party had been organized on the basis 
of open opposition to slavery extension. While congress debated the 

Kansas-Nebraska bill, 1854, many mass meetings were 
Republican }^gi(j^ ^-q protest against the measure, and one of them at 
Founded Ripon, Wisconsin, March 20, went beyond the others by 

recommending a new party to fight slavery extension. 
July 6 a convention of all who would cooperate to resist "the en- 
croachments of slavery" met at Jackson, Michigan, nominated a 
state ticket, and called on the other free states to do the same. The 
sources of its strength, and the proportion of its distribution, are 
shown in the fact that three of the nominees were former free soil men, 
five old whigs, and two anti-Nebraska democrats. Wisconsin followed 
Michigan's example, while Vermont, Indiana, and Ohio nominated 
anti-Nebraska tickets. The movement prevailed in Ohio by a majority 
of 75,000. It was, however, forestalled in the great Eastern states by 
the rise of know-nothingism. But the check was temporary, and in 
1855 its eastward march was resumed. 

Whig leaders in the East watched the rise of the republican party 
with keen interest, and this was especially true of Seward, leading 

whig and opponent of slavery extension in congress. His 
New^York °^^^ party was disintegrating : should he follow the exodus 

and unite with the republicans to build up a great sectional 
organization ? His answer was most important ; for he controlled, 
with the aid of his astute friend, Thurlow Weed, the action of his 



EARLY HOPES OF REPUBLICANS 495 

party in the most important state in the union. He hesitated for 
months, but by the autumn of 1855 his mind was made up. Plans 
were made to unite the whigs and republicans, and each party met in 
convention at Syracuse in September. To one of his friends who 
asked which convention an opponent of slavery ought to attend, Seward 
replied that it made little difference ; for although the delegates would 
go in through two doors they would come out at one. The whigs 
had hardly assembled before they resolved to join the republican 
party, and the leaders, followed by all but a small remnant, marched 
to the republican convention and took seats in good fellowship. In 
Massachusetts similar results were secured by means less 
spectacular. Slavery had already divided the whig party chusetts 
in this state, its opponents being called "Conscience 
Whigs," and the conservatives "Cotton Whigs," and the former now 
generally became republicans. By the end of 1855 the republican 
party was established throughout the free states. 

In the South a like movement toward sectionalism was in progress. 
Here the whole Kansas incident was considered an act of bad faith 
toward the South, and the whigs could not defend their 
Northern brethren from the charge of participating in it. 2^1^-^"^^ °f 
So rapidly did the party fall away that its leaders became j^ ^ij^ south, 
utterly discouraged, and the most ambitious of them went 
over to the democrats, henceforth the Southern sectional party. 

Two republican conventions were held in 1856. One was at Pitts- 
burg, February 22, to organize the party nationally. It was cheered 
by the news that the seceding know-nothings would join 
them. After adopting a platform demanding the exclusion j/o^nated 
of slavery from the territories and the admission of Kan- 
sas to the union it called a nominating convention in Philadelphia 
for June 17. Pending that date there was much discussion of 
candidates. At first most republicans looked to Seward, the ablest 
politician in the party ; but as the spring advanced they began to 
think that the signs of the time pointed to a victory if the right man 
were nominated. Then arose a feeling against Seward. He had made 
many enemies, particularly among the know-nothings, and it was 
generally said that a man who could win should be taken. The 
argument prevailed, and John C. Fremont, prominent because of his 
career in California in 1846, was nominated. Seward, who did not 
believe the party could win at that time, was content to wait for future 
honors. 

The democratic convention met at Cincinnati June 2. Since the 
Kansas policy was to be the chief issue it was to be expected that 
Pierce or Douglas would be nominated. But so great was 
Northern resentment of that policy that the delegates dared dominated 
not name a man prominently responsible for it. Thus 
they took Buchanan, who had been minister to England and was not 



496 EVENTS LEADING TO THE CIVIL WAR, 1850-1860 

connected with anything that had been done in America during the 
past three years. He was acceptable to the South, which he had never 
opposed, and he appealed to Northern conservatives of all parties, 
who thought the republican position on slavery a kind of radicalism. 
The whigs held a convention and indorsed Fillmore, whom the regular 
know-nothings had previously nominated. 

The chief issue of the campaign was Kansas, "Bleeding Kansas," as 
the republicans called it. It was an unwelcome issue to the democrats 
in the North, who tried to supplant it by the question of 
of Ti^^ union. Did any one think the South, said they, would sub- 
mit to be ruled by a president and congress elected entirely 
by the free states? Toombs, speaking for his section, said that the 
election of Fremont would be the end of the union. In fact, Fre- 
mont and "black republicanism" were so hateful to the South that it 
was hardly safe for a man to espouse them. A professor in the uni- 
versity of North Carolina who said he would vote for this ticket if it 
were offered him was set upon by the press, and when he wrote a moder- 
ate article in reply, the trustees of the university asked him to resign 
his professorship. For the South there was but one ticket, and it was 
in the North the battle was to be fought. Conservative whigs in this 
section realized that the real contest was between Buchanan and Fre- 
mont, and many of them preferred the former. The republicans, on 
the other hand, had with them the majority of the ministers, college 
professors, and literary men of the North. The religious press worked 
for them. It was a moral issue, and appealed strongly to the young 
men. As the campaign progressed it became evident that Pennsyl- 
vania was the most critical state. All eyes centered on it, and the 
democrats gave a cry of joy when in a state election in October they 
carried it by less than 3000 votes. This presaged success in the na- 
tional election in November ; and the hope was realized when counting 
the returns of that day's battle gave Buchanan 174 electoral votes, 
Fremont 114, and Fillmore 8. It was a narrow escape for the demo- 
crats, for in most of their northern states the majorities were small. 
The republicans had done exceedingly well for a party which had never 
before taken part in a national campaign. The historian cannot but 
reflect that the Kansas Nebraska bill which Atchison forced on Doug- 
las in 1854 and which Douglas carried through congress by his brilliant 
leadership was become a most expensive experiment for the slave- 
holding power. 

In this campaign an important part was played by Mrs. Harriet 

Beecher Stowe's novel, " Uncle Tom's Cabin," published in book form in 

1852, as a protest against the execution of the fugitive slave 

„ °*^ ® law. It had an immense circulation, and was translated 

lom s . , _ ' . 

Cabin." ^^^o many languages, it was a most earnest protest 01 a 

sensitive soul against slavery, and it was difficult for one to 

read it without feeling an impulse to do something to destroy the 



SHALL THE COURT DECIDE? 497 

system. The Southern people resented its pictures of slavery and 
slaveholders. In fact, the condition was not as bad as it was portrayed, 
but it was bad enough to cry for reform. 

The Dred Scott Decision 

From the time the Wilmot proviso was before the public suggestions 
of the power of the supreme court to pass upon the status of slavery in 
the territories were heard. When by the compromise of 1850 
New Mexico and Utah were created as territories without ^^''o^^ *° 
restriction as to slavery, it was understood that if a question court, 
arose in connection with slavery in their borders it was to 
be referred to this tribunal. In every debate over Kansas the con- 
stitutionality of the Missouri compromise was freely challenged by the 
South. The logical tendency was to bring the dispute sooner or later 
before the highest court in the land. This tribunal had declared 
against many laws : Why should it not relieve the intensity of feeling 
in the country and decide once for all the controversy which threat- 
ened the existence of the union ? Beyond this was another question : 
Would its decision be accepted as final by the losing side ? 

Dred Scott was the slave of an army surgeon residing in Missouri 
who took the slave into Illinois and Minnesota, and returned after 
more than two years' residence in free territory. Shortly j) d s tt 
afterwards the master died, and Dred sued for his freedom. 
The case first came up in Missouri courts, which had jurisdiction ; but 
while it was in progress he was sold to a citizen of New York, who hired 
him out in Missouri. He then brought suit in the federal courts. He 
claimed to be a citizen of Missouri, and on that ground contended that 
his case came within federal jurisdiction, since the federal courts may 
try cases between citizens of different states. He also claimed that 
when his master took him voluntarily into the land of freedom the 
shackles of slavery fell off, and that his return to a slave state could 
not be construed as reenslavement. He insisted that the Missouri 
compromise, a federal law, protected him in this contention. The 
two points before the courts, therefore, were: was Dred Scott a citizen 
of Missouri, and did the Missouri compromise protect him ? The 
defense denied the first contention, and asserted the compromise was 
unconstitutional. 

The case was first argued in the supreme court early in 1856. Seven 
of the justices were democrats, and of these five were Southerners. 
One was a republican, and another, Curtis, was a whig. -,, ^ . 
At first the case attracted little attention outside of the g^.^^^ ^^^^g^^ 
court, but after a while it became known that it involved 
the Missouri compromise, and the public, especially the Southerners, 
began to take notice. In view of this the court had it reargued in 
December, 1856, every point being taken up most carefully. Even 



498 EVENTS LEADING TO THE CIVIL WAR, 1850-1860 

then the court hesitated. Should it merely settle the status of Dred 
Scott and his family, or should it by passing on the two fundamental 
points raised exert its power in the very center of the great sectional 
controversy ? To do the former would avoid the unpleasant task of 
rnaking an enemy of either Northern or Southern faction; but it 
would also lay the court open to the charge of cowardice. "What," 
it would be asked, "was a court for but to settle disputed constitutional 
points?" Some pressure was brought on the court by outsiders to 
get them to take up a broad attitude, chiefly by the Southerners, who 
felt that the majority of the justices leaned their way. They succeeded, 
and March 6, 1857, when the decision was announced, was an impor- 
tant day in the great antislavery struggle. It showed that the court 
was on the Southern side. 

Each member of the court read an opinion, all of the Southern 
justices and one Northerner, Grier, a democrat, agreeing materially. 

The opinion of Chief Justice Taney was taken as that of the 
Oph^on. majority. It dealt with two important points : was a 

negro a citizen of the United States ? and was the Missouri 
compromise law constitutional ? In regard to the former, Taney as- 
serted that federal and state citizenship were not identical, that 
Scott's citizenship was to be determined by the law in force in the state 
of his residence, and that since Missouri did not recognize him as a 
citizen he could not be considered a citizen of the United States. As 
to the rights of the citizens of one state resident in another, Taney held 
that such rights were only maintained during temporary residence, and 
that the constitution did not intend to take away in this respect the 
right of a state to decide so vital a point as what classes of persons 
should be admitted to state citizenship. As to the Missouri com- 
promise, the court felt impelled to pass on its constitutionality ; for if 
it were valid, Dred Scott became free by his residence in Minnesota, 
and if he was free there it was assuming a great deal to say that his un- 
disputed return to Missouri would, bring reenslavement. Taney ac- 
cepted the Southern view on this point. The claim that congress 
could legislate for the territories was disposed of by holding that the 
words were restricted to the territory actually owned by the federal 
government in 1787, and not to the Louisiana purchase. The constitu- 
tion, he further held, recognized the existence of property in slaves, it 
gave no part of the government the right to destroy such property, and 
an act of congress claiming to exercise such a right was unwarranted. 

Judge Curtis, supported by McLean, the republican justice, took 
the contrary view in a well written opinion. Free negroes, he said, 
_ ^. , were citizens of North Carolina and several Northern states 

CJurris s • 

Opinion. ^^ ^789, and voted there, and he held that any citizen of a 
state is a citizen of the United States, and was such in 1789. 
If this was true, Taney's first point, relating to citizenship, was de- 
molished. As to his second point, Curtis was equally successful. 



THE CONTROVERSY UNSETTLED 490 

Congress, he pointed out, was given power "to make all needful rules 
and regulations concerning the territory of the United States." Taney 
held that this did not apply to territory acquired after the constitution 
was adopted, but Curtis disputed the point with a great deal of strength 
of argument. If congress had such power, it might forbid the entrance 
of slaves into a territory, and in doing so it did not violate the clause 
which forbade it to deprive a citizen of property without due process 
of law. 

It was the fate of these two lines of reasoning that one enunciated 
the view for which one side had long contended, and the other that for 
which the other side had been equally earnest. One was 
supported by the justices who favored the democratic ^"V?^*^. * 
party, and the other by those who leaned toward the other Decision. 
parties. Perhaps it was impossible that honorable judges 
should have been uninfluenced by the storm of discussion amid which 
they had lived during the past decade. The democrats, North and 
South, exulted that they had the majority of the court with them and 
flouted the opinion of Curtis. The opponents of slavery in the North 
found Curtis entirely convincing, and denounced the majority of the 
court as subservient to the slave power. The upshot was that the at- 
tempt of the court to intervene in the great sectional conflict was a 
total failure. We may consider it a certainty that when the court 
gives an opinion adverse to the previously formed view of a majority of 
the American people, its decision will be futile and its influence will be 
lessened. The status of slavery in the territories was, in fact, no longer 
a judicial matter. It had become a political issue, and it was not wise 
for the court to undertake to settle it. 

The administration party was not surprised by the outburst of in- 
dignation which met the Dred Scott decision, but they thought it 
would soon blow over. There followed, however, the at- 
tempt to admit Kansas with the Lecompton constitution ^e^ocrats 
(see page 492), and this added to rather than lessened the strength, 
excitement. Meanwhile there came the midsummer panic 
of 1857, which occasioned great distress in the business world. The 
democratic secretary of the treasury, Howell Cobb, of Georgia, showed 
little ability to retrieve the treasury from its consequent embarrass- 
ments ; and when the manufacturers of the North asked for higher 
tariff rates to protect their prostrate businesss, the Southern senators 
objected. The result was, therefore, a diminished respect of the 
powerful business element for the party in power. 

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates 

Early in 1858 the worst of the panic was over, the Lecompton scheme 
was defeated, and there was a breathing spell in which the politicians 
had time to think of the presidential election of i860. To the 



500 EVENTS LEADING TO THE CIVIL WAR, 1850- 1860 

shrewdest men it seemed that fortune favored Douglas. Much of 
the enthusiasm of 1856 had subsided. The Kansas-Nebraska law 
did not seem quite so bad now that it was evident that 
Douglas's popular sovereignty did not mean the establishment of 
Earlyln slavery in a territory. Douglas's opposition to the 
i8gg. Lecompton constitution had brought him the good will 

of many conservative republicans, who could not fail to ac- 
knowledge his genius, and it was even whispered in some quarters that 
Northern democrats and republicans might unite to make him president. 
Douglas could not have had expectations of this nature, but he took 
no pains to check them on the part of others. Two years of peace, it 
was believed, would go far to remove the sectional strife, and if 
Douglas could be supported in i860 by the South, the Northern 
democrats, and the conservative republicans, what might he not 
expect to do ? True, he was unpopular in the South, where his 
Lecompton votes were pronounced acts of treachery, but he was a 
most facile man, and no one who knew him doubted that he would 
find means of restoring himself to Southern favor before the critical 
time arrived. We are now to see how his prospects were blighted 
by Abraham Lincoln. 

Douglas's term in the senate expired in 1859, and his party in state 
convention in 1858 nominated him to succeed himself. The repub- 
licans named Lincoln as his opponent, and a series of joint 
^^^ debates was arranged between the two candidates. No 

Arranged. other public discussion in our history has been more 
important. It not only sealed the political fate of one pres- 
idential candidate, and established another in the road to the presi- 
dency, but it educated the North to the true nature of the problem 
before it and convinced the South that secession was the only way to 
escape the ultimate extinction of slavery. 

In the beginning of his campaign Lincoln attacked boldly. The 
time had come, he thought, to announce frankly that the war on 
slavery was uncompromising, and he did it, in accepting 
J;^ his party's nomination, in simple words which will never 

Divided" ^^^^ ^""^"^ ^^^ history. '"A house divided against itself 
Speech. cannot stand,'" he said; "I believe this government can- 

not endure permanently half slave and half free. I do 
not expect the union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to 
fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all 
one thing or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will 
arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind 
shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction, 
or its advocates will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful 
in all the states, old as well as new — North as well as South." 
Hitherto republican campaigners were content to attack the slave power 
for its aggression in Kansas, and they feared to lay the axe to the root, 



THE FREEPORT DOCTRINE 501 

iest conservatives, whigs and democrats, be driven off. They 
trembled when Lincohi assumed a bolder front, and one of them was 
heard to call his "house-divided" announcement "a fool utterance." 
But Lincoln was in earnest, and he could not bring out the best in 
him unless he spoke in all sincerity. Douglas in the course of the 
debates made much of this advanced utterance, pronouncing it the 
froth of abolition ravings ; but his opponent stood by it manfully, 
explaining it in a spirit of far-sighted statesmanship which convinced 
more men than it repelled. It was probably the most convincing point 
of his argument. 

Lincoln saw in the joint debate an opportunity to make Douglas 
unacceptable to the South, and for that purpose asked him this 
question in the discussion at Freeport, "Can the people 
of a United States territory, in any lawful way, against ^°^ 
the wish of any citizen of the United States, exclude ^/gg'troyed 
slavery from its limits prior to the formation of a state Douglas, 
constitution?" The reply of Douglas became known as 
his Freeport doctrine. Slavery, he said, could not exist in a territory 
without local police regulations to protect it, and these could only be 
made by the local legislature, which would oppose slavery if the people 
who elected the legistators were opposed to it. "Hence, no matter 
what the decision of the supreme court may be on that abstract 
question, still the right of the people to make a slave territory or a free 
territory is perfect and complete under the Nebraska bill." This 
utterance saved its author in his senatorial contest. When Lincoln 
was urged to drive him from this position, he refused, saying he was 
looking for higher game than the senatorship. He foresaw better 
than the other republicans that it would kill Douglas in the South ; 
for it was the negation of all the slaveholders saw in the Dred Scott 
decision. The Freeport doctrine was known and discussed far and 
wide. It was read most attentively by the men of the South. From 
this time. Judge Douglas, try as you may, you will never again induce 
the Southern friends of slavery to think you their safe champion and 
defender ! 

And yet we must not too easily blame Douglas. He was in the 
difficult position of Calhoun in 1828 and Van Buren in 1844 ; he must 
give up the support of his own state or that of the section 
opposite to his own. He chose, as they, to preserve the D^g^a^ 
good will of his state, realizing that here was his first 
element of safety. He was one of the ablest Americans then living, 
and he loved the union. He sought to preserve it by saving the great 
democratic party as the last and strongest national bond then in exist- 
ence. He won his senatorship, but all he hoped for in behalf of union 
was lost. 

Lincoln also showed himself a great American. Was it not great 
to defeat the great Douglas? His powerful logic, which forced the 



502 EVENTS LEADING TO THE CIVIL WAR, 1850-1860 

issue down to the narrow point of slavery or no slavery in the terri- 
tories, and his courage and sincerity, which cast aside the last remnant 
of temporizing and made it clear that the contest waged 
Lincons ^^^ nothing less than a war to put slavery in a way of 
ultimate extinction, — these were his weapons. No man 
before that day, or afterwards, wielded them more brilliantly. He 
had the advantage of his opponent in this, that he appealed to a more 
populous and homogeneous section, the rich and prosperous North. 
It was a North ready to be convinced that slavery should be reduced 
to a minority power, and his splendid strokes convinced it. 

The congressional elections of 1858 showed how fast the tide ran 
for the republicans. Two years earlier the elections resulted in a 
house containing 131 democrats, 92 republicans, and 14 
Republicans know-nothings. In 1858 they gave 109 republicans, 86 
House. democrats, 13 anti-Lecompton democrats, and 22 know- 

nothings. In the senate the democrats still held a ma- 
jority, having in the congress then chosen 38 members to 25 repub- 
licans and 2 know-nothings. But they had lost one senator, and it 
was evident that the trend of events would soon array against them 
every free state senator. As the short session of 1858-1859 ran by 
with no other achievement than angry debate over a democratic 
proposition to buy Cuba, the Southerners came to realize how com- 
pletely they were defeated, and even their conservative leaders began 
to say in sober earnest that the election of a "black republican" 
president would justify secession. 

The John Brown Raid 

Before the succeeding congress assembled came the attempt of 
John Brown at Harper's Ferry. The farther we get away from the 

excitement of 1859 the more we are disposed to consider 
ffis Idea of this extraordinary man the victim of mental delusions, 
a^ainst"*^^* He hated slavery fervently, and despised those who talked 
Slavery. of constitutional methods. "Without the shedding of 

blood, there is no remission of sin," he said time and again 
to those who discussed the subject with him. In the confusion of the 
day no steps were taken against him for killing five men in Kansas 
in 1856, and early in 1858 we find him in New York secretly planning 
another bloody deed. He attended an antislavery convention in 
Boston as a spectator, and turned away, saying : "These men are all 
talk; what we need is action — action!" Assembling some of the 
prominent leaders, he unfolded his own scheme. It was to collect a 
band of devoted armed followers, seize and fortify a position in the 
„. p. mountains of Virginia or Maryland, and from it make raids 

into the farming communities to liberate slaves. As he 
succeeded, he said, friends from the North would join him, his power 



JOHN BROWN'S DEATH 503 

would grow, and soon he would make slavery insecure throughout 
Virginia. This was nothing less than to raise insurrection, but Brown 
and the academic leaders of abolitionism were so carried away by the 
wrongs done to enslaved negroes that they considered it only just retali- 
ation ; and money was promised to enable him to launch his enter- 
prise. News of the project came to Seward and Senator Wilson, of 
Massachusetts, and they forlmde Brown to use the arms which had 
been collected to defend the free state men in Kansas. By this time 
suspicions were generally aroused, and to allay them he went to 
Kansas, where his name was a terror to the proslavery men. After 
lying idle a short time he made a raid into Missouri, rescued eleven 
slaves, and escaped with them through Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, 
Illinois, and Michigan to the soil of Canada. The country was 
aroused, and the incident served to draw attention from Brown's 
projected operations in Virginia. 

In the spring of 1S59 he was back in New England, soliciting funds. 
Some of the most prominent abolitionists would have nothing to do 
with him, but others gave money, something more than 
$4500 first and last, and June 30 he arrived at Harper's Seizes ^ 
Ferry, Virginia, thirty miles south of the Pennsylvania Yerry.'^^ 
line. Leasing a farm, he spent the next ten weeks in cart- 
ing arms from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and in collecting the 
twenty-one followers with whom he proposed to put his dangerous 
scheme into execution. October 16, with eighteen of these men, 
he seized the United States arsenal in Harj^er's Ferry, captured thirty 
or more of the citizens, whom he held as prisoners, cut the telegraph 
wires, and for twenty-four hours held his own against the citizens and 
near-by militia companies which hurried to the scene. It was not until 
dawn of the i8th that he was captured by a detachment of marines 
commanded by Colonel Robert E. Lee, assisted by Lieutenant J. E. B. 
Stuart. John Brown himself, with four of his men were taken prisoners, 
seven escaped, and ten were slain, two of them being sons of the leader. 
The prisoners were sent to the county jail at Charlestown to await 
trial. A grand jury on October 25 found true bills, and after a fair 
trial Brown was sentenced to hang on December 2. 

Had John Brown been killed in the eventful night when he was 
taken prisoner, the raid would have gone down to history as a foolish 
deed prompted by an unbalanced mind. But the firm 
and calm bearing he displayed at his trial and during the ^ Prisoner 
month between conviction and execution touched the 
hearts of even his jailers. In the North he became a martyr to the 
antislavery party. On his trial and afterwards he declared that 
he came merely to rescue slaves, and the abolitionists could see no 
harm in such a purpose. As a matter of fact, he came with a thousand 
pikes to place in the hands of slaves and a large number of rifles and 
revolvers. It was not strictly true that he did merely what conductors 



504 EVENTS LKADINC; TO rill-: CIVIL WAR, 1S50 1800 

of the Uinlcrgrouiul Railway did. Hut (lio antishivory portion of tlic 
North, in the oxcittMuont of the nutnu'nt, did not stop to in({uire into 
niceties. To them a man of lirni lieart had risked Hfe to overthrow 
shivery and was now facing a hanji;man's death without a tremor. 

December 2, 1850, the verdict of the court was executed, the pris- 
oner dying with fortitude. As the death group marched to the gallows 

it was surrounded by a strong body of militia, and tifteen 

hundretl trooj^s formed a hollow^ s(iuare around the scaffold. 
Many hints hail been given that Brown's Northern friends had 
planned a rescue, and this display of l\)rce was precautionary. It 
elicited much derision at the time, but later researches have shown 
that some of the abolitionists were eager to attempt a rescue and were 
deterred only by their inability io raise the necessary funds. 

The intluence o{ the incident in the North is hard to estimate. 
It undoubtedly aroused the antislavery party to a high pitch. John 

Hrown died for his conx'iction, and he did it willingly and 
^f^'h*^*"*^^ with dignity. Ikit Northern conservatives did not change 
Brown" their \'iews because of the rash attempt of an enthusiast 

who did not hesitate to take the swortl to reilress what he 
belicNinl the wn)ngs of the negriies. It was to them a sulTicient evi- 
dence of the impracticability of the scheme that it finmd no response 
among the sla\es of Harper's Kerry and the surrounding region. The 
effects on the South, however, were very definite. Up to this time the 
ideas of the secessionists had not been taken very seriously by the 
southern voters. Much had been said about the iiUention of the 
abolitionists to come into the South, set the slaves against their masters, 
and forcibly o\'erthrow the institution which was at the bottoni of 
society; but the union leaders there had always met it successfully 
by saying this was but the imagining of nien unnecessarily alarn\ed. 
llere, however, was a concrete instance which the secessionists de- 
clared proved all they had predicted; and the enthusiasm shown in 
the North for John HrowTi seemeil io the masses to contirm all that was 
said. Harper's I'erry gave a strong blow to union sentiment in the 
South. 

TuK Eli:ction of i8()o 

We are now arrived at the culminatit)n of the harsh struggle which 
followed the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska act. The disorders in 
Kansas, the Dred Scott decision, and the John Brown 
s'e'^ke°°^ raid diviileil the peoj^le of the North and South beyond 
1850. ^^' possible conciliation. The prehule of the great struggle 
came w'hen the house elected in 1858 met in December, 
1859, and sought to choose a s|>eaker. John Sherman, of Ohio, had 
most of the republican votes, but lacked se\'eral of an election. A 
Missouri member introduced a resolution that.no man should be 
speaker who had indorseil Helper's " Impending Crisis of the South." 



THE SOUTHERN ULTIMATUM 505 

This book, by one from the small farmer class in North Carolina, was 
a severe indictment of salvery from the standpoint of the non-slave- 
holders of the South and called on them to support the re})ublican party 
in order to liberate themselves from the leadership of the slaveholders. 
Its languaf^e was bitter, but its doctrine mifj;ht well cause 
to tremble the men who held the upper hand in the slave g ^^'^ ° 
states; for it was as plain as day that if the non-slave- 
holding Southerners were organized against slavery its doom was 
written. In 1859 the book was brought out as a campaign document 
with a recommendation by prominent republicans, among them 
Sherman and Grow, both candidates for speaker. The resolutions 
against " The Impending Crisis " precii)itated a bitter discussion of the 
whole slavery situation, threats of seces.sion were freely made, and more 
than once members were at the ])oint of ])ersonal violence on the floor 
of the house. It was not until February 1 that the contest ended with 
the election of Pennington, a conservative republican of New Jersey. 
In these strenuous days the Southern members freely saifl that the 
election in the coming autumn of a "Black Republican" [)resident 
would bring dissolution of the union, and the violent state of feeling 
in the South indicated that the utterance was not an idle threat. 
Such was the spirit in which the country came to the election of i860. 

When this incident occurred the selection of delegates to the na- 
tional nominating conventions was imminent. Douglas was now at 
the head of the Northern democracy. His opjmsition to 
the aggressive program of the rejiublicans won for him Douglas 
the hatred of the antislavery men. It pleased the demo- 1" .. ® 
crats in the free states and it was thought it would win erners. 
the votes of many old whigs, supporters of Fillmore in 1856. 
But Douglas would not go as far as most Southerners wished. 
Their views were expressed in a series of resolutions introduced into 
the senate by Jefferson Davis, February 2, i860, demanding that 
congress guarantee slave property in the territories. As the day 
approached for the meeting of the convention it became clear that these 
resolutions were the Southern ultijnatum, made as much to force the 
Northern democrats to show their y)osition as to consolidate the South 
in support of secession, if secession should be deemed necessary. 
Douglas i)arried the thrust, and was told pointedly that he could not 
get the Southern vote unless he acce[)tcd the ultimatum. He dared 
not yield, for no Northern state would tolerate forcing slavery into 
a territory against the wishes of the inhabitants. 

The convention met at Charleston, South Carolina, April 23. The 
extreme Southerners, "fire-eaters" they were called by 
their opponents, held a caucus and indorsed the Davis J.^^ ^^^~ 
resolutions, while the Northern delegates decided to stand Charleston, 
by Douglas. The platform committee reported in favor of 
the former. It was composed of one member from each state, and was 



5o6 EVENTS LEADING TO THE CIVIL WAR, 1850-1860 

thus in Southern control. A minority report held to the Douglas 
position and accepted the Dred Scott decision. Yancey, the most 
polished orator among the Southerners, spoke for his section. Re- 
viewing the origin and progress of the great controversy, he came at 
last to describe the crisis before the country. Slavery, he said, was 
right : its existence was bound up with the prosperity of the South : 
and yet with the growth of the great Northwest the South had become 
a minority and was threatened with ruin through the pro- 
Soeech ^ posed action of the republicans. The democrats of the 
North had not met the issue squarely. Accepting the 
proposition of the abolitionists that slavery was wrong, they had sought 
to palliate: they had asked the North to withhold their hands against 
the South because the wrong was not of Northern doing. This atti- 
tude Yancey regretted. Had the Northern democrats frankly 
declared that slavery was not a wrong, the abolitionists would long ago 
have been silenced, and harmony would now reign in the country. 

Yancey's speech was not a new note in the South. Many times 
he had said the same thing, only to have it rejected as the counsel of 
an extremist. But in i860 the Southern temper had 
The Con- changed. His bold words now received the tumultuous 
Disrupted, approval of his section, and the Northern democrats 
were made to see how grave was the situation. Pugh, 
of Ohio, a friend of Douglas, spoke in their behalf. He thanked 
God, he said, that a brave man had at last spoken and the full 
demands of slaveholders were made known ; but the ultimatum 
was an impossibility, and he declared with the utmost plainness 
that it would not be accepted. Next, the convention took up the 
platform. By a vote of 165 to 138 the Douglas position was adopted, 
the first time in years that the plea of the South on this question had 
been ignored in a democratic convention. Then rose the chairman 
of the Alabama delegation with a serious and fixed countenance. 
According to the instruction of the party in his state, he said, Alabama 
must withdraw from the convention. As he and his colleagues 
walked out they were followed by the delegates from seven other 
States, — South Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, Texas, 
Arkansas, and Georgia. North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Ken- 
tucky, and Maryland were less radical than the Gulf states, and 
remained with the convention, although their delegates sympathized 
in the main with those who withdrew. 

After balloting three days the diminished Charleston convention 
could not get a two-thirds majority for any candidate, and adjourned, 
to meet again in Baltimore, June 18. When it reassembled 
Tickets ^^ nominated Douglas for president and Herschel V. John- 

son, of Georgia, for vice-president. The seceders at 
Charleston effected an organization, adopted the Southern platform, 
and adjourned to meet in Richmond, Virginia, on June 10. On 



SEWARD AND THE NOMINATION 507 

that day they again adjourned, this time to Baltimore, June 28, where 
they finally named J. C. Breckenridge, of Kentucky, for president and 
Joseph Lane, of Oregon, for vice-president. Thus came to inglorious 
failure the attempt, inaugurated by Clay in 1850 and renewed and 
fought for by Douglas from 1854 to i860, to remove slavery from 
national politics. 

Let us now turn to the republicans. After the defeat of Fremont in 
1856 Seward was generally accepted as the leader of his party, and few 
doubted that he would be its candidate for president in 
i860. Opposition existed at isolated points, but it was po^^on^ 
expected that he would be able to overcome it. The most 
patent danger was in New York, where Horace Greeley, editor of the 
New York Tribune, was at the head of a devoted band of abolitionists 
who considered him untrustworthy. Shrewd observers thought 
Greeley's chief grievance was that he was not consulted in the affairs 
of the party, and they were not surprised when in the spring of 1859 
Seward dined with him at the Astor House, and the papers announced 
that a reconciliation had taken place. Simon Cameron, who controlled 
the party in Pennsylvania, was also in opposition, but Seward made a 
trip to Philadelphia, and the report went out that he had conciliated 
Cameron also. Seward himself thought he had now arranged things 
to his satisfaction, and seized the opportunity to make a journey to the 
Holy Land. While he was gone occurred the John Brown raid and the 
subsequent wrangle over the election of speaker ; and on every hand 
Seward was proclaimed as the man who had planted the seed from 
which came the plant of insurrection. L. Q. C. Lamar expressed the 
Southern view in addressing the republicans of the house in these words: 
"I was on the floor of the senate when your great leader, William H. 
Seward, announced that startling program of antislavery senti- 
ment and action against the South, . . . and, Sir, in his exultation he 
exclaimed — for I heard him myself — that he hoped to see the day 
when there would not be the footprint of a single slave upon this con- 
tinent. And when he uttered this atrocious sentiment, his form 
seemed to dilate, his pale, thin face, furrowed by the lines of thought 
and evil passion, kindled with malignant triumph, and his eye glowed 
and glared upon Southern senators as though the fires of hell were burn- 
ing in his heart !" In the midst of this commotion Seward returned. 
In 1850, in opposing Clay's compromise, he had declared that "a 
higher law " than the constitution demanded the extinction of sla\-ery ; 
and in 1858 he had said in a speech long remembered that the North 
was engaged in an "irrepressible conflict" which must make the na- 
tion all slave or all free. These two utterances made him seem to the 
South the very head of all their woes, and he sought to lessen their 
fears and reassure moderate Northerners in a mild speech which he 
delivered February 29. The compromising disposition it betokened 
was to reappear many times in his career. 



5o8 EVENTS LEADING TO THE CIVIL WAR, 1850-1860 

There were several other candidates, Abraham Lincoln, whom the 
Illinois convention indorsed on May 9, i860, Bates, of Missouri, 

Cameron, of Pennsylvania, no longer in accord with Sew- 
Candidates. ^^^' ^^^ seeking his own advantage in the prospect of 

making a combination with another candidate, and three 
Ohioans, Wade, Chase, and McLean, no one of whom was likely to be 
selected. Seward was believed to be stronger than any of these men, 
but all of them opposed him strongly and were willing to combine to 
defeat his nomination. Lincoln, whom events were soon to make so 
famous, had, before the convention met on May 16, the support of 
Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa, and a few other delegates, but he was little 
known east of the AUeghanies. Harper's Weekly was the only New 
York journal which considered him a possibility, and it placed his 
name last in a list of eleven. 

Making a platform occupied the first and second days of the con- 
vention, and nominations were set for the third. Early indications 

pointed to Seward's success, and his opponents made prep- 
Nondnated orations for a rapid concentration on Lincoln, whom they 

found to be the most feasible candidate. Cabinet posi- 
tions seem to have been promised to the other candidates in order to 
secure this cooperation, although Lincoln, who was not present, knew 
nothing of the offers. On the first ballot the vote was 123I for Sew- 
ard, 102 for Lincoln, 50I for Cameron, 49 for Chase, 48 for Bates, 
and 42 for other men. Two hundred and thirty-three were necessary 
for a choice. On the second ballot Lincoln gained 79 and Seward 11. 
On the third, the Illinois candidate received 235I, and was nominated. 
Seward was defeated partly because it was thought unadvisable to 
nominate a man who had so many enemies, and partly because of the 
personal hostility of men who disliked him. Greeley, whose recon- 
ciliation was short-lived, was present, and worked hard against him. 
When Lincoln made up his cabinet in the succeeding March, four of 
the six members were men who had been candidates before the Chicago 
convention. Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, was nominated for the vice- 
presidency. 

May 9 all that was left of the whig and know-nothing parties as- 
sembled in convention and nominated John Bell, of Tennessee, for 

president and Edward Everett, of Massachusetts, for vice- 
Everett president. They called themselves the constitutional 

union party, and appealed to those who decried party ran- 
cor and sectionalism to help them save the country. 

No one thought either Douglas, Breckinridge, or Bell could carry the 
country. The best their followers could hope for was to throw the 

election into the house. Everywhere they attacked the 
Elected republicans and declared that Lincoln's election meant 

the disruption of the union. This argument the repub- 
licans derided. It was, said Lowell, "the old Mumoo- Jumbo" con- 



LINCOLN ELECTED 509 

jured up to frighten old women and stock speculators. Seward, who 
canvassed actively in behalf of his successful rival, said: "I do not 
doubt but that these Southern statesmen and politicians think they 
are going to dissolve the union, but I think they are going to do no 
such viing." This assurance, reiterated in many forms, allayed the 
fears of the mass of voters in the free states, so that they were nowise 
prepared for the events the succeeding winter witnessed. In October 
Pennsylvania and Indiana elected republican governors, premonitions 
of the result in November, when Lincoln came triumphantly through 
with every elector from the free stcces except three of New Jersey's 
seven. He had in all 180 votes to 72 for Breckinridge, 39 for Bell, and 
12 for Douglas. The popular vote was Lincoln 1,857,610, Douglas 
1,291,574, Breckinridge 850,082, and Bell 646,124. Lincoln, therefore, 
received 930,170 votes less than his combined opponents. In each 
house of congress, also, the republicans were in a minority against the 
combined opposition. 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

The most satisfactory general work on the period embraced in this chapter is 
Rhodes, History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850, vols. I and II 
(1892). Two excellent books are : Smith, Parties and Slavery (1906), and Chadwick, 
Causes of the Civil War (1906), both in Hart, editor, The American Nation. They 
contain good bibliographies. Von Hoist, Constitutional History of the United States, 
8 vols, (trans. 1899), should not be neglected. It shows much research and keen 
analysis, but is unsympathetic. Schouler, History of the United States, 6 vols. 
(1880-1894), is readable and accuiate. Fite, The Presidential Campaign of i860 
(191 1), is very complete, and Brown, The Lower South (1902), is very suggestive. 
Burgess, The Middle Period (1897), and The Civil War and Reconstruction, 2 vols. 
(1901), are valuable, but replete with detail. 

The biographies and works of leading men are: Nicolay and Hay, Abraham 
Lincoln, a History, 10 vols. (1890) ; Ibid., Complete Works of Lincoln, 2 vols. (1904) ; 
Tarbell, Life of Abraham Lincoln, 2 vols. (ed. 1900); Bancroft, Life of Seward, 
2 vols, (igoo) ; Baker, editor, Works of William H. Seward, 5 vols. (1853-1884); 
Moore, editor, Works of James Buchanan, 12 vols. (1908-1911); Fierce, Memoir of 
Charles Sumner, 4 vols. (1877); Works of Charles Sumner, 15 vols. (1870-1883); 
Edward Everett, Orations and Speeches, 4 vols. (1853-1868) ; Johnson, Stephen A. 
Douglas (1908) ; Hart, Salmon Portlatid Chase (1899) ; Villard, John Brown, a 
Biography (1910) ; Sanborn, Life of Joht Brown (1891) ; Dodd, Jefferson Davis 
(1907) ; bu Boise, Life and Times of Yancey (1892) ; Johnston and Brown, Life of 
A. H. Stephens (1878) ; Trent, William Gilmore Simms (1892) ; and Curtis, James 
Buchanan, 2 vols. (1883). For other biographies see Smith, Parties aiui Slavery, 
pp. 309-314, and Chadwick, Causes of the Civil War, pp. 347-3SI- 

The original sources are to be found chiefly in public documents, of which the 
most important are : The Congressional Globe, House and Senate Journals, Execu- 
tive and Miscellaneous Documents, and Reports of Committees. The laws are to be 
found in The Statutes at Large of the United States, and much valuable information 
is in Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 10 vols. (189 7- 1899). 

On Kansas and the matter pertaining to it, see : Ray, Repeal of the Missouri 
Compromise (1909), gives prominence to Atchison's influence in the matter; 
Dixon, True History of the Missouri Compromise, 1899, accepts Douglas's argu- 
ments, but shows that he was not the author of the Dixon amendment ; Charles 
Robinson, The Kansas Conflict (1892, 1898), by a leading actor on the free state 
side; Blackmar, Life of Charles Robinson (1902), sane and reliable ^j Spring, Kansas 



5IO EVENTS LEADING TO THE CIVIL WAR, 1850-1860 

(1885), fair to both sides, written by a participant ; Ibid., Career of a Kansas Poli- 
tician {Am. Hist. Revieiv, 1898) ; Fleming, The Bujord Expcdilion to Kansas (Ibid., 
1900) ; Villard, John Brown, a Biography (1910). See also the "Howard Report," 
34 Cong, ist ses. Rept. No. 200. The attempt to adopt the Lecompton Constitu- 
tion occasioned an investigation by a house committee. Its report (H. Ex. Docs., 
36 Cong, ist ses. No. 648, the "Covode Report") brought out much evidence of 
misdoing, presented in a very partisan manner. 

For party history see : Theodore C. Smith, The Liberty and Free Soil Parties 
in the Nortlnvest (1S97) ; Curtis, The Republican Party, 2 vols. (1904) ; Fite, Presi- 
dential Election of i860 (191 1); Macy, Political Parties, 1S46-1S60 (igoo); Ibid., 
Party Organization and Party Machinery (1904). Rhodes, History of the United 
States, 7 vols. (1892-1906), contains much party history carefully prepared from 
original sources. See also the biographies of leading men, especially Lincoln, 
Douglas, Buchanan, Jefferson Davis, and Seward. 

On the Dred Scott decision see : U.S. Supreme Court Reports 19 Howard, 
(1857), the official decision; it was widely reprinted at the time; Hurd, Law of 
Freedom and Bondage, 2 vols. (1858-1862), reviews with much learning the legal 
status of slavery' ; Tyler, Memoir of Taney (revised ed., 1872); Biddle, Constitu- 
tional Development as Influenced by Taney (in Rogers, Constitutional History 05 
Seen in the Development of Law, 1889) ; Curtis, Constitutional History of the United 
States, 2 vols. (1896) ; and Corwin, The Dred Scott Decision in the Light of Con- 
temporary Legal Doctrin'-s {Am. Hist. Review, 191 1). 

On the John Brown Raid much has been written, but most of it is partisan. 
A full bibliography is in Villard, /o//« Brown, A Biography (1910), the best of 
Brown's biographies. See also The Report of the Senate Committee to Investigate tlie 
Late hivasion (the "Mason Report"), 36 Cong, ist ses. Rept. Com. No. 278. 

For Independent Reading 

Forney, Anecdotes of Public Men, 2 vols. (1873, 1881); Trent, Southern States- 
men of the Old Regime (1897); James Freeman Clarke, Antislavery Days (1883); 
Davis, Recollections of Mississippi and Mississippians (1889); Conwaj', Auto- 
biography, 2 vols. (1904) ; Abbott, Henry Ward Beecher (1903) ; Morse, Abraham 
Lincoln, 2 vols. (1893); Tarbell, Life of Lincoln, 2 vols. (ed. 1900). 



CHAPTER XXIV 

THE OUTBREAK OF THE CIVIL WAR 
War or Peace? 

Although the Gulf states furnished the ablest leaders of the South 
in the critical situation of i860, South Carolina, the home of Calhoun 
and nullification, was fully abreast with the secession 
movement. In this respect she was ahead of Virginia, ^°"*!^. 
which was not a cotton state, and whose ancient Southern secedes, 
leadership was now little more than a name. The Carolina 
legislature still elected presidential electors, and was in session when the 
telegraph flashed the news that Lincoln was to be president. It im- 
mediately called a convention to consider the state's relation to the 
union. Thus it happened that a convention at Columbia on December 
20, i860, declared in solemn manner the dissolution of "the union now 
subsisting between South Carolina and the other states, under the 
name of the 'United States of America.'" 

Now appeared in all other Southern states two parties, secessionists, 
mainly Breckenridge democrats, and union men. The former were 
the stronger in the Gulf states, where the rank prosperity 
of the preceding half century had produced a vehement V^^ ^"'^ 
and overconfident civilization. In these states the union Follow, 
had not the same force as in the northern tier of Southern 
states, and it was natural that the first victories of secession should be 
won here. The arguments that prevailed were the evident danger to 
slavery from a republican administration and the assertion that the 
South could make better terms out of the union than in it. It cannot 
be doubted, however, that most of the secessionists hoped for a perma- 
nent separation, thinking this the only safe way of preserving Southern 
institutions. By February 4 secession was declared in six states, 
South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida, 
and on that day a convention at Montgomery, Alabama, established 
a provisional constitution for "The Confederate States of 
America," chose Jefferson Davis its president and ^^erat"""' 
Alexander H. Stephens its vice-president, and invited the states of 
other slave states to join it. Texas at this time had America." 
submitted secession to the people, who ratified it on the 
23d. With these seven states in repudiation of the union the move- 
ment for secession halted for a time. 

511 



512 THE OUTBREAK OF THE CIVIL WAR 

Meanwhile, all eyes turned to President Buchanan, a state rights 
man, a democrat, and long in declared sympathy with the South. 
Three members of his cabinet, Cass, Black, and Holt, urged 
Attitude*" ^ ^"^^ ^^ ^*^^'^ troops to hold the forts in the South. Three 
others, Cobb, Thompson, and Floyd, all Southerners, be- 
lieved in secession as a right and exercised a strong influence over the 
president. They told him, and it was probably true, that to reenforce 
the Southern forts would alarm the South and drive the ether Southern 
states into secession. For a time they had their way, with the result 
that Cass resigned from the cabinet. The president's annual message 
showed that he was at heart with the Southerners. It argued 
against the right of secession, declared that he would act strictly on 
the defensive, and made it clear that the aggression of the South would 
not be disturbed as long as the existing administration was in office. 
At the same time the New York Tribune, and abolitionists generally, 
were asserting plainly that the North could not conquer the South and 
that the South, if it so wished, should be allowed to "depart in peace." 
From this situation the secessionists took much comfort. It seemed 
that the stars were for them. 

These bright hopes dissolved at last before the problem of the dis- 
posal of the eight forts in the seceding states. Six of them were with- 
. out garrisons, and were easily occupied by the secessionists. 

South. "^^^^ other two were Pickens, at Pensacola, and Sumter, at 

Charleston. In Sumter was Major Anderson with 84 
men all told, and he showed such a spirited desire to protect the place 
that the sympathy of the North was aroused for the first time in many 
weeks of irresolution and delay. South Carolina, however, was arm- 
ing her citizens, and during the rest of Buchanan's administration 
each side lay on its arms, neither wishing to strike the blow which 
would precipitate war. 

One half-hearted attempt was made to reenforce Major Anderson. 

January 5, 1861, the Star of the West, a merchant vessel, sailed 

from New York with supplies and 204 men and officers for 

Vl! i^r* Sumter. Although efforts at secrecy were made, her de- 

0/ the West. '^ • r^^ ^ 11 

parture was known at once m Charleston, and she was 
received on her arrival with a fire by the confederate batteries 
at the harbor entrance. Anderson could have silenced the batteries 
from Sumter, but he had not been informed of her departure, and hesi- 
tated to open fire. The result was that after coming within a mile 
and a half of the fort without receiving aid from that quarter she 
turned back to New York. This effort having failed, the policy of in- 
action went on until the coming of the new administration. Mean- 
while, Fort Pickens, with a garrison of 48 men, remained in federal 
hands. 

The anxiety to avoid an overt act of force was largely due to a desire 
that a compromise should be prepared by which the South would 



EFFORTS FOR A COMPROMISE 513 

consent to abide in the union. This hope was reflected in congress, 
which created a senate committee to report a plan of- compromise. 
Five of the thirteen members were republicans, two were 
from the cotton states, three were from border slave ^^°^^ *° 
states, and three were Northern democrats. They were peace. 
among the best men in public life, were desirous of peace, and 
showed their seriousness by agreeing in the beginning that they would 
accept no scheme which a majority of the republican members would 
not support. Many resolutions were referred to them, the most notable 
being a set known as "the Crittenden Compromise." It suggested a 
constitutional amendment excluding slavery from all territory north of 
the parallel 36° 30', and establishing it with federal protection in all 
territory south of that line. Against this proposition the republicans 
were a unit. It was their principle, and they said so frankly, to agree 
to nothing which would admit slavery into another territory. For this 
reason the proposition failed. The senators from the cotton states 
voted against it as a matter of form, but it is known they would have 
accepted it if their republican colleagues had done the same. Other 
suggestions of compromise were made, but none came as near acceptance 
as Crittenden's. Here, as in the preceding political campaign, the 
antislavery and the proslavery forces had come to the irreconcilable 
stage of the "irrepressible conflict," and the committee of thirteen 
could only report on December 28 its inability to come to an agree- 
ment. We shall see later what part Lincoln took in bringing the re- 
publican committeemen to their determination to yield nothing. 

But Crittenden did not despair. He was the successor of Clay, as a 
Kentucky senator, and he worked hard for compromise. January 3, 
1 86 1, he asked the senate to order the sense of the people to 
be taken on the resolutions which had been rejected in com- Crittenden 
mittee, and Douglas supported him in a masterly speech. ^°^^ ^^ ^^^ 
Could the vote have been taken, many republicans would People. 
undoubtedly have voted for it. All the Northern demo- 
crats and the Bell and Everett men would have gone the same way, so 
that it would have carried the North. In all the slave states which had 
not seceded the result must have been the same ; and before this over- 
whelming approval the republicans in congress must have given way. 
But the proposal never came to a vote in the senate. The republican 
senators delayed its consideration so long that the cotton states se- 
ceded, and then it was not thought worth while to press the matter 
further. That the compromise, if adopted, would have brought har- 
mony temporarily seems true, but it is doubtful if it would have solved 
the problem permanently. Lincoln opposed it on the ground that it 
would have been followed by attempts on the part of the South to ac- 
quire territory in Cuba and Mexico, and that the old threats of dis- 
union would have recurred if the North had objected to such expansion 
of the proslavery interest. 



514 THE OUTBREAK OF THE CIVIL WAR 

One other effort at compromise was to be made. February 4, at 
the call of Virginia, delegates from 22 states assembled in Washington 
to hold a peace convention. Ex-president Tyler, a Vir- 
Convention. S^^^^ delegate, presided, and the debates were secret. 
Threshing over the old straw, they at last advised a con- 
stitutional amendment somewhat less favorable to the South than 
Crittenden's. It was opposed by Virginia and other Southern states. 
As no one thought it would either satisfy the slave states still in the 
union or conciliate those which had seceded, the recommendations 
came to inglorious defeat in the senate. Thus ended the period of 
hesitation and doubt between the election and the inauguration of 
Lincoln. Buchanan, indecisive by nature, brought up to believe in 
the theory of state rights, bound to the South by long years of political 
and personal association, and unwilling to shoulder the responsibilities 
of a situation which his enemies had created, came at last to the end of 
his term without an actual resort to force. His successor, whose elec- 
tion had precipitated the crisis, must decide what the future would 
bring forth. 

Lincoln and Secession 

The actuality of secession alarmed the business interests and con- 
servative men of the North ; and many republicans, who flouted the 

threat of secession in the preceding November, now felt 
Pq^j^qjj^ they had gone too far. Such persons turned to Seward, 

whom they considered the real republican leader. They 
thought Lincoln inexperienced, and were pleased when it was said that 
Seward would be secretary of state. Thus, powerful influences worked 
to make the senator from New York think that he alone could save the 
country. He was not an idealist, and he seems to have concluded that 
he must invent some plan by which the South would be conciliated and 
the seceding states brought back. 

But Lincoln had a firm conviction about the situation. He would 
not accept the Crittenden compromise or retreat from any position 

occupied during the campaign. To do so, he said, would 
Firauiess ^^ ^^ abandonment of principle, would not satisfy the 

slave power, and would destroy the republican party. He 
gave no intimation of yielding on the main question, the exclusion of 
slavery in the territories ; but he said clearly that he would not inter- 
fere with it in the states in which it existed. This did not satisfy the 
proslavery men. They believed that once the free states gained as- 
cendency in the senate progressive restrictions of slavery would follow. 
They knew, also, that at no moment could secession be so well 
carried in the South as at the present, when the popular terror at a 
republican administration was greater than it would ever be again. If 
a Southern confederacy was to be attempted, now was the best time to 
launch it. 



LINCOLN AND FORT SUMTER 515 

All the country, North as well as South, awaited anxiously the ad- 
vent of March 4. Would the inaugural address announce conciliation 
or would it defy secession ? To those who heard it de- 
livered it seemed to do neither. It began with an assur- J^^ . 
ance that slavery in the South was safe, and that fugitive Address, 
slaves ought to be restored to their masters, and it asserted 
that the union was perpetual and secession impossible. There was, 
also, much benevolent argument against the wisdom of secession. Lin- 
coln's strongest trait, perhaps, was his loving-kindness, and he seems 
to have meant to envelop his opponents in it so that he might win back 
to the union all who were not past the reach of reason. As to the forts 
and customhouses he said they must be held by the government, but 
he promised he would not needlessly irritate the Southern people 
by sending strangers into their communities to fill the various 
federal ofhces. This tone of remonstrance and evident reluctance 
to use force was interpreted by the secessionist as a sign of weak- 
ness. 

March 5 Lincoln was shown a letter from Major Anderson, in Fort 
Sumter, saying that his provisions would be exhausted in a few weeks 
and that the confederate works around Sumter were so 
strong that 20,000 men would be required to maintain the su^iter 
post. Two of the cabinet wished to hold and strengthen 
the place, Blair unconditionally and Cha.se if it could be done without 
civil war. The others were for withdrawal, Seward taking the lead. 
He would avoid war, leave the seceding states to think over their posi- 
tion, and use the slave states still in the union as an influence to bring 
the wanderers back. Lincoln withheld his decision, but sent confiden- 
tial messengers to South Carolina, who reported that there was no 
union sentiment in the state worth speaking about. Anderson himself 
favored evacuation, and General Scott, head of the army, held the 
same view. 

Meanwhile, three agents of the confederate government were in 
Washington to negotiate for the recognition of independence, the sur- 
render of the forts, and an adjustment of monetary losses 
to the federal government through the surrender of federal Confeder- 
property in the South. Opinions were exchanged between f^VasT-^ 
them and Seward, who saw them at least once. With his ington. 
policy of conciliation in view he suggested they delay an 
attack on Sumter, and they agreed on condition that the existing status 
in Charleston be not disturbed. They were not officially received, but 
on being assured through a third party that Sumter would be evacu- 
ated, they decided to remain in Washington. Their withdrawal would 
have been followed by an attack on Sumter. They waited until the 
end of March, and when at that time they saw no evidences of evacua- 
tion, they began to be uneasy. Rumors reached them of an expedition 
to succor the forts. To their remonstrances Seward said, through an 



5i6 THE OUTBREAK OF THE CIVIL WAR 

intermediary, "Faith as to Sumter fully kept; wait and see." Next 
day, April 8, ships for the relief of Sumter began their journey from 
New York and the confederate commissioners broke off their negotia- 
tions. 

Seward had not intentionally deceived the confederates. All he did 
was in pursuance of his policy of delay. His assurances as to Sumter 
were given on his own responsibility. They failed be- 
O "er'^i cause at this time Lincoln had come to a decision that the 

Seward. authority of the union must be asserted at all hazards. It 
was he who gave the order to succor the fort, overriding 
Seward's scheming and teaching him and the country that Lincoln was 
a real president. Had the secretary had his way a shifty policy would 
have been followed, the confederacy would have been established, prob- 
ably beyond the possibility of overthrow, and the union sentiment of 
the North would have been so dissipated that war would have become 
an impossibility. In this sense the civil war was Lincoln's war, and 
the preservation of the union was Lincoln's act. 

When the confederate president knew that provisions were coming to 
Sumter he held a long and anxious cabinet meeting. To fire on Sumter 
would precipitate war and unite the North in defense of union. The 
cooler advisers felt that the hope of secession lay in avoiding war. 
Lincoln said he would only land supplies and not men if the fort was 
not attacked. The more hot-headed advisers thought that the pos- 
session of a federal fort in the limits of the newly established confeder- 
acy was not to be tolerated. This view prevailed, and the order was 
given to reduce the works. More than 5000 troops lay in 
on Sumter ^^^ Strong batteries around the place waiting for the order 
to fire. Anderson offered to surrender in three days if not 
provisioned or overruled by his government. From the confederate 
standpoint the offer should have been accepted, but rash counsels 
prevailed, and just before dawn on April 12 a solitary mortar gave the 
signal for the attack. The bombardment which followed lasted 34 
hours, at the end of which time Anderson surrendered and marched out 
with the honors of war. Not a man on either side was killed, but the 
fort was badly wrecked from a fire which destroyed the barracks and 
exploded some of the magazines. The confederates expressed their 
admiration for the heroic defenders in loud cheers ; and Anderson 
saluted his flag with fifty guns before he transferred his men to the 
relief ships which had arrived during the bombardment but were unable 
to reach Sumter. About this time Fort Pickens was reenforced.. and it 
was held throughout the war. 

Preparations for War 

Firing on the flag dispelled the last doubts of the North. Stephen 
A. Douglas issued an appeal for his friends to rally to the defense of 



THE BORDER STATES 517 

the union. Bell and Everett whigs were equally loyal, and within a 
month the whole North was holding mass meetings in which thousands 
of speakers aroused the men to take up arms. April 1 5 Lin- 
coln called for 75,000 volunteers, and three weeks later for p'^*^^^°'^ 
42,000 more. He also ordered the enlistment of 23,000 ad- Arms, 
ditional regulars and the increase of the navy by i8,oco men. 
To these demands the response was more than adequate, and by July i, 
he had an available force of 310,000. April 19 he declared the south- 
ern ports blockaded. The ships of the navy were widely 
dispersed by direction of Buchanan's secretary of the navy, Bio^ckade 
but orders were sent to hasten their return, and every 
effort was made to purchase and arm other ships to make the blockade 
effective. In this way, though with much confusion, the machinery of 
government was set going by the master hand in the great process of war. 
In the South, meanwhile, was a similar state of activity. President 
Jefferson Davis was a West Point graduate ; he had rendered distin- 
guished service in the Mexican war, and no one doubted his 

energy and earnestness. He called for 100,000 volunteers, .u^c^lu 
11 11 • r mi 1 "le south. 

and hastened the preparations for war. Ihe attack on 

Sumter showed the slave states still in the union that they must fight 
for or against the confederacy, and four of them quickly joined the 
seven which had already seceded. They were : Arkansas, May 4 ; 
Virginia, May 17 ; North Carolina, May 20; and Tennessee, June 24. 
Strong Southern feeling existed in Maryland, Kentucky, 
and Missouri, and for a long time they hung in the balance, ct^f^J^^ ^' 
while Lincoln used his utmost tact to save them for the 
union. If the war were fought to destroy slavery, they would go with 
the South, but if slavery were not threatened, they would not secede. 
Lincoln was very tactful by nature, and succeeded in calming the appre- 
hensions of the border state slaveholders. Time worked in his behalf ; 
for as the seriousness of the struggle became apparent, secession became 
less popular in these states. Thus the crisis passed peaceably in Ken- 
tucky and Maryland. But Missouri was temporarily in convulsions. 
Jackson, the secessionist governor, refused to furnish troops at the 
call of the president and made preparations to carry the state over to 
the side of the South. Friends of the union, however, led 
by F. P. Blair, Jr., raised four regiments, which were ac- 
cepted by the federal authorities and placed under the command of 
General Lyon. Then followed four months of commotion, during 
which the people flocked to Lyon's standard and enabled him to seize 
the city of St. Louis and call a state convention which declared against 
secession and deposed the governor. Thus the danger passed in the 
third of the border states ; but from each many volunteers joined the 
confederate armies. At Gettysburg an important part of the field 
was contested between two bodies of Maryland troops, one in blue and 
the other in gray. 



Si8 THE OUTBREAK OF THE CIVIL WAR 

Let us consider for a moment the relative strength of the two sides 
in the war about to begin. In population the North was greatly- 
superior. Her 22,000,000 inhabitants confronted 9,000,000 
Relative j^ the South, 3,500,000 of whom were blacks. But the 
Northfand blacks were a factor in the war, although they did not 
South. count man for man with the whites. They remained on the 

farms and produced the supplies for the army. Counting 
two of them as worth one white man in their contribution to the 
struggle, the numerical force of the North was to that of the South as 
twenty-two to seven. The South realized this inferiority in population, 
but expected to overcome it by what she considered the superior fight- 
ing ability of her soldiers. An arithmetic published in the South 
during the war stated the problems in terms like these : "If one con- 
federate soldier can whip seven federal soldiers, how many federal 
soldiers can nine confederate soldiers whip?" 

In the beginning of the war the Southerners seemed to fight better 
than their opponents. They were used to outdoor life, they were 
fighting on their own soil, resisting what they considered 
F hti^^ an "invasion," and they were well acquainted with the 
Ability. country in which they operated. Moreover, they drew 

the minor officers from the planter class, men accustomed 
to command and trained to exercise influence over their poorer neigh- 
bors, who now made up the privates. Thus the Southern volunteers 
took up the soldier's life more readily than their opponents, and the 
Southern army was more quickly drilled into veterans. The union 
troops awoke slowly to their task ; it took a long time to develop eflS- 
cient lower officers, but at last all was achieved, and then it was not 
possible to discover any notable difference in the fighting ability of the 
two armies, the capacity of the generals and the numbers being equal. 
In material resources the North had a great advantage. Her 
people had all the facilities for manufacturing arms, ammunition, com- 
. fortable clothing, and the other necessary supplies. Be- 

Resources sides this, the markets of the world remained open to her 
during the struggle. The South had no manufactures 
and very few trained mechanics, her supplies were cut off by the 
blockade, and, spite of strenuous efforts to make what was needed, her 
troops suffered greatly through lack of clothing, medicines, and the 
munitions of war. In the beginning she derived much benefit from 
arms taken in the forts she seized, and in Harper's Ferry; but this, as 
Rhodes points out, only gave her about the part of the national supply 
of arms which she felt rightfully belonged to her as a part of the old 
government. 

The Bull Run Campaign 

July 4 Congress met in extra session. Lincoln reported what had 
been done to meet the emergency and asked for approval. The 



"ON TO RICHMOND" 519 

response was all he desired. He was authorized to raise the army 
to 500,000 men, to borrow $200,000,000, and to issue $50,000,000 in 
treasury notes. The tariff was raised as much as it was 
thought the industry of the country would stand, and other "^^^ ^xua. 
taxes were levied. Four months earlier the country q^^°^^° 
seemed to prefer disunion to war, but through the tactful juiy 4, 
measures of the president all doubts were now dispelled, and 
a war policy was approved in the house with only five dissenting votes. 

By this time 30,000 men under General McDowell were assembled 
south of Alexandria, while 22,000 more under General Patterson were at 
Martinsburg,in the northern end of the Shenandoah valley. 
Opposing each force was a confederate army. One of ^^ ^^~ 
23,000 under Beauregard was at Manassas, and another of Richmond 
9000 under Joseph E. Johnston was at Winchester, in the 
valley. The whole North rang with a demand for an advance on 
Richmond, since the secession of Virginia the confederate capital, 
and Lincoln ordered McDowell to make such a movement. He also 
ordered Patterson to keep Johnston engaged so that the troops of the 
latter should not join Beauregard at the critical movement. July 
18 the armies of McDowell and Beauregard came into proximity with 
one another some miles northwest of Manassas. The confederates 
were drawn up behind Bull Run, their left holding the stone bridge 
by which the road from Alexandria crossed the stream and their right 
extending toward Manassas. Beauregard appealed to his govern- 
ment for reenforcements, and Johnston was ordered to join him. Obey- 
ing instantly, he moved toward Patterson to deceive him, 
which proved an easy task ; for that officer most unaccount- ^°^*p°" °' 
ably moved his whole army northward until it was 22 miles federates, 
from Winchester. Johnston then turned backward, and 
at noon, July 20, joined Beauregard with 6000 men, leaving most of 
the rest of his army, 2300, to approach as fast as they could. 

Meanwhile, McDowell made an excellent plan of battle. All his 
force was in position on July 20, and the attack was fixed for the next 
morning. While the main army rested on Bull Run in 
readiness to cross, Hunter's division was ordered up the McDowell s 
stream to turn the enemy's left. The movement was exe- Attack, 
cuted very successfully. At ten o'clock, while Beauregard 
expected an advance across the stream, Hunter's regiments suddenly 
struck his right, forced it back with hard fighting until the fords and 
the stone bridge were uncovered, and by noon the whole union army, 
pouring across the stream, threw itself on the confederates, who by 
much exertion were brought into line to hold a small plateau 
just east of the bridge, known as the Henry plateau. At ?®^^*^® °^ 
this point the battle raged fiercely. Thomas J. Jackson, piateau. 
commanding a confederate brigade, held it so firmly that 
General Bee, another confederate, exclaimed: "Look at Jackson! 



520 THE OUTBREAK OF THE CIVIL WAR 

There he stands like a stone wall !" and thus originated the name 
"Stonewall Jackson." But Jackson's firmness was overcome; his 
men were driven from the plateau by the federals, whom McDowell 
brought up with great rapidity. The confederates rallied and retook 
the place, but were themselves driven off by their opponents. At 
three o'clock it seemed they would not return, and McDowell believed 
the field was his. At this moment Kirby Smith with a large force of 
fresh confederate troops arrived, joined their repulsed 
Arrival of brethren, and reopened the battle. It was the remnant of 
Smith. Johnston's valley army, 2300 strong, who had hastened to 

the field, guided by the firing of cannon. Through the tired 
union ranks, exhausted by five hours of fighting on a hot summer day, 
ran the murmur, "Johnston's army has come," and panic was created. 
Seasoned troops would have held the ground or retreated in order. 
The new levies under McDowell did neither. They quickly fell back 
to the stone bridge — crossed it, and at nightfall were retreating in 
a confused mass to Washington. No efforts of the officers 
f sedM'b " ^o^^^ ^^'^y them, and before morning the routed army was, 
as McDowell said, "a confused mob, utterly demoralized." 
The battle was well planned and well fought until three o'clock, but 
the untrained soldiers could not stand the shock of a repulse. Their 
terror was unfounded ; for the confederates, themselves exhausted and 
off their guard, did not pursue. Had they followed promptly, they 
might have occupied the capital with little resistance. The union loss 
was 1584 killed and wounded and 131 2 captured ; the con- 
federates lost 1982 killed, wounded, and missing. The 
defeat at Bull Run nerved the North to renewed efforts ; it gave the 
South greater confidence in ultimate success. Both sides realized the 
need of long and patient drill in order to make soldiers out of the volun- 
teers. 

Meantime important developments occurred in the western counties 
of Virginia. The people of this region were generally non-slaveholders. 
For a long time they had been at odds with the people east 
The West- of the mountains, claiming that the latter, led by the slave- 
tie° 0°"°' holders, ruled the state, built railroads, and filled the offices 
Virginia. in the interest of the East. The Westerners opposed seces- 
sion and began to denounce it in mass meetings as soon as 
the convention at Richmond declared for the confederacy. Soon after 
hostilities began, they were in arms for the union, and, joining with a 
federal army under McClellan, drove out in a series of small battles 
the forces which the confederates sent to hold this region. Then was 
carried through a movement for a new state. The federal constitu- 
tion provides that a state shall not be divided without its consent, and 
witb this in view a convention at Wheeling, May 13, representing 26 
counties, declared that by secession all the Virginia officials had for- 
feited their oflSces ; and it called on the people to select a convention to 



THE GOVERNMENT AT ALEXANDRIA 521 

reestablish a lawful government. The result was that June 11, 1861, 
delegates from 40 counties met in convention, took the oath of loyalty 
to the union, declared themselves the convention of " re- 
stored Virginia," and having purged the state of treason yi^^^g^^' 
ordered an election of a governor and other ofificials over 
all Virginia. Accordingly, F. H. Peirpoint was chosen governor, and a 
newly elected legislature filled the places vacant by the withdrawal of 
the recent senators. The appointees were given seats in the senate. 

August 6 the convention reassembled to take up the question of a 
new state. It was ordered that a popular vote be taken on the sub- 
ject, with the result that the proposition prevailed by a 
vote of 18,408 to 781. Then a constitution was framed jJ^^ ^^^\ 
for the proposed "State of West Virginia," the 39 west- 
ern counties. It said nothing about slavery, but in the election the 
people expressed in an unofficial vote an overwhelming opinion against 
the institution, and thenceforth they were assured of the support of 
congress. The next thing was to get the consent of Virginia. To that 
end Peirpoint's "restored" legislature met, and went through the form 
of sanctioning the division of the "Old Dominion." Then the appli- 
cation went to congress, which duly declared that Virginia having 
consented to the act of division, the state of West Virginia was ad- 
mitted to the union. The act of admission was approved by Lincoln, 
December 31, 1861. The proceedings were most irregular, but it was 
a time when the rules of peace were not strictly considered. The 
people of Virginia have ever considered the rending of their common- 
wealth an unconstitutional and malevolent action. 

By cutting off from his government the western counties, Peirpoint's 
"restored" Virginia was limited to the counties around Alexandria, 
Fortress Monroe, and Norfolk — places all held by union 
arms. Over these he kept up the formality of an adminis- V^.^ Aiexan- 
tration until the end of the war, living safely within the ernment. 
union lines at Alexandria. His "state" was a farce, but 
Lincoln wished it kept alive in the hope that it would furnish the 
nucleus for reconstructing Virginia when her resistance should have 
been overcome (see page 601). 

Relations with Great Britain 

From the beginning Europe took much interest in the war. As 
England was most intimately related with the contestants, France 
and other European powers let it be known they would 
follow her lead. Her ruling classes, chiefly the landed the South'^ 
gentry, merchants, and manufacturers, felt much friend- 
liness for the South, some of them because the South was supposed to 
be aristocratic, and others because the South, having no factories of her 
own, was expected to purchase freely of England. The confederates 



522 THE OUTBREAK OF THE CIVIL WAR 

understood this feeling and hoped for much from it. They, also, 
thought that since the English cotton factories depended on them for 
raw material, English ships would come to America, break the Southern 
blockade, and establish an outlet for the great Southern staple as well 
as an inlet for the supplies which were so much needed. To prevent 
this became the chief item of the foreign policy of Lincoln's govern- 
ment ; and for this purpose he discovered a most excellent agent in 

Charles Francis Adams, son of John Quincy Adams, 
Charles whom he sent to London as minister. Adams was persist- 

Adams. ^"^ ^^^ fearless, and spite of the evident unfriendliness of 

Palmerston, the prime minister, and Earl Russell, the 
foreign secretary, he succeeded in preventing by his vigilant protest 
many acts of assistance to the South. He found his chief support in 
the fact that the confederacy fought to preserve slavery. John Bright, 
Richard Cobden, and W. E. Forster, champions of any reform that 

made for social betterment, worked mightily to arouse the 
the^No^rth"^ middle classes in favor of the union. Their influence was 

great, and the ministers did not dare antagonize this senti- 
ment in order to open a market for the merchants and manufacturers. 
Three incidents arose over which the two nations nearly came to a 
rupture of friendship. 

1. The recognition of the confederacy as a belligerent. As soon as 
the government was organized at Montgomery, confederate agents in 

London began to ask for the recognition of confederate in- 
states of dependence. The request was not granted, but the queen 
^if^'^^dl:"*^^ issued. May 13, 1861, a proclamation of neutrality in 
Confeder- which each side was given the rights of belligerency within 
ates. British jurisdiction. Adams landed in England the day 

the proclamation was issued, and the action of the ministry 
was considered discourteously precipitate. It also violated Lincoln's 
theory that the confederacy had not the status of a power, but repre- 
sented only a group of insurgents. The confederates too were dis- 
appointed ; but consoled themselves with the reflection that belliger- 
ency gave their privateers a standing in foreign ports, and they hoped 
that future successes would compel the recognition of independence. 

2. For a time the union papers were full of recrimination for Eng- 
land, and November 8, 1861, the feeling burst forth when the American 

ship, San Jacinto, Captain Wilkes, seized Mason and 
Affair'^*"^ Slidell on the British mailship, Trent. These two con- 
federates were bound for Europe, one to represent his 
government at London and the other at Paris. They had escaped 
through the blockade to Havana and there taken the British steamer, 
Trent, ior Southampton. The seizure was on the high seas, and was by 
force. News of it put the North into a delirium of joy, Wilkes was 
hero wherever he went, and congress and the secretary of the navy- 
extended him their thanks. Lincoln and only one member of the 



CONFEDERATE CRUISERS 523 

cabinet, Postmaster-general Blair, regretted the occurrence. They 
foresaw that Great Britain would demand a disclaimer, and believed 
that in the excited state of the public mind war might occur. They 
promptly informed England that Wilkes had acted without instructions, 
and awaited her further procedure. 

In all Britain was great indignation, for the flag had been violated 
at sea. A large fleet was assembled, and 8000 troops were sent to 
Canada, embarking, it is said, to the tune, "I wish I were in Dixie." 
The government prepared an offensive demand for the surrender of 
the confederates. The Prince Consort, then suffering from a fatal 
illness, saw the dispatch, and suggested softer expressions, by which it 
was possible for the American government to accept the demands, 
Mason and Slidell were released, but no apology was made. 
In a long reply Seward stated the American position. S^-^^°,rc"^ 
Had Wilkes seized the Trent and sent her before an ad- render, 
miralty court he would have been within his right. As it 
was, he had exercised the right of search, something the American 
government had ever opposed. Thus ended the Trent affair at the 
very close of 1861. 

3. The other irritating incident was fitting out cruisers for the 
confederacy, certainly a violation of the neutrality England had 
so hurriedly announced. In March, 1862, the Florida, 
built at Liverpool, was allowed to depart for Nassau, in 1"*^® ^°°" 
the Bahamas, where she was libeled for violation of neu- shins* * 
trality. But a court ordered her release, and she sailed on Florida. 
a career of destruction as a confederate ship. 

Meanwhile, a more powerful ship was being built at the same place 
— evidently for the same purpose. June 23 our minister, Adams, 
asked for an inquiry to see if she ought to be held. A 
superficial investigation was made by the Liverpool authori- /^i^i,ama. 
ties, who were in sympathy with the South and who re- 
ported that no evidence was found that the ship was destined for that 
country. Still Adams persisted, securing undoubted evidence, which 
was referred to Sir John Harding, Queen's Advocate. Harding was 
on the verge of a mental collapse, and the papers lay unopened by 
him for five days before they came to other hands, and were so reported 
that the order to detain the ship was given on July 29. But the step 
was too long deferred ; for on the same morning the steamer got out 
to sea for a trial trip and did not come back. She went to the Azores, 
where she took on her armor and a confederate crew and began her 
momentous career as the commerce destroyer, Alabama. Ten years 
later an arbitration court at Geneva declared that England had not 
used due diligence in enforcing neutrality in regard to these two ships. 
Early in 1863 it became known that three other powerful ships were 
under construction at Liverpool, but the government prevented their 
departure. The Florida and the Alabama, with some smaller ships. 



524 THE OUTBREAK OF THE CIVIL WAR 

constituted the confederate navy. They were not able to meet the 
ships of the union, and contented themselves with destroying unarmed 
merchantmen, of which during the course of the war they took 285, 
at a total loss of about $15,000,000. 

These three incidents, so full of possible misfortune for those who 
struggled to preserve the union, thus ended favorably to the North. 

The South found herself disappointed in her hope of foreign 
The Results ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^le war settled down to a long-drawn out assault 
North, ^^ ^^^ section against the other. The point on which the 

decision of England and France turned was slavery. 
Spite of all that the Southerners said, the real question was the per- 
petuity of slavery, and the world abroad was not prepared to support 
the side which upheld it. 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

The general works are : Rhodes, History of the United States, 7 vols. (18Q2-1907) ; 
Schouler, The United States latder the Constitution, 6 vols. (1880-1897); Chadvvick, 
Causes of the Civil War (1906) ; Hosmer, The Appeal to Arms (1907) ; von Hoist, 
Constitutional History of the United States, 8 vols. (ed. 1899) ; Greeley, The American 
Conflict, 2 vols. (1864), valuable for extracts from documents; Draper, History 
of the Civil War, 3 vols. (1871) ; Ropes, Story of the Civil War, 2 vols. (1899), un- 
finished but continued by Livermore, two vols., announced in 1913 ; and Reed, 
Brother's War (1905), a recent Southern book. 

For works and biographies of leading men see : Nicolay and Hay, Abraham Lin^- 
coln, a History, 10 vols. (1890) ; Ibid., edr.. Complete Works of Lincoln, 2 vols. 
(1904) ; Baker, edr., Seward Works, 5 vols. (1853-1884) ; Autobiography of Seward 
(1877); Bancroft, Life of Seward, 2 vols. (1900); Mr. Buchanan's Administra- 
tion on the Eve of the Rebellion (1866), Buchanan's own defense; Moore, edr.. 
Works of James Buchanan, 12 vols. (1908-1911); Curtis, James Buchanan, 2 vols. 
(1883); Coleman, Life of John J. Crittenden, 2 vols. (1871) ; Welles, edr., Diary 
of Gideon Welles, 3 vols. (191 1); John Sherman, Recollections of Forty Years, 2 
vols. (1895); Julian, Political Recollections (1884); McClvtxe., Lincoln and Men of 
War Times (ed. 1894) ; Black, edr., Essays and Speeches of J. S. Black, with a Bio- 
graphical Sketch (1885) ; Alfriend, Life of Jejferson Davis (1868) ; Johnston and 
Browne, Alexander H. Stephens (1878); Avary, edr., Autobiography of Alexander 
H. Stephens (1910) ; Pendleton, Alexander H. Stephens (1907); Wise, Seven Dec- 
ades of the Union (1881) ; Trescott, Negotiations between South Carolina and Presi- 
dent Buchanan (Am. Hist. Review, 1908) ; and Hart, Salmon Portland Chase (1899). 

On this brief period the important public documents are in : Richardson, Mes- 
sages and Papers of the Presidents, 10 vols. (1896-1897) ; The Congressional Globe, 
for the debates; War of the Rebellion, Official Records, very full for military affairs 
North and South ; Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies; and Poore, 
Descriptive Catalogue of Government Publications, 17J4-1881 (1885). Of great 
value are the newspapers and periodicals of the times, especially the Tribune, 
Evening Post, and Times, of New York, the Boston Advertiser, the Springfield 
Republican, the Albany Evening Journal, the Chicago Tribune, the Philadelphia 
North American, the Richmond Enquirer, the Charleston Mercury, and the Wash- 
ington Union. 

On the struggle in the border states see : Harding, Missouri Party Struggles 
(Am. Hist. Assn. Reports, 1890); Snead, Fight for Missouri {1S86) ; Woodward, 
Nathaniel Lyon (1862); Brown, Baltimore and April ig, 1861 (1887); and Mc- 
Carthy, Lincoln's Plan of Reconstruction (1901), for the creation of West Virginia. 

Many books of personal observations have appeared, among them the following 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 525 

of much vr.lue : Russell, My Diary North and South (1862), by an intelligent cor- 
respondent of the London Times; Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary, 2 vols. (1866); 
Gurowski, Diary from March 4, 1861, to November 12, 1862 (1862); and Pike, 
First Bloivs oj the Civil War (1879). 

On the fall of Fort Sumter see: Crawford, Genesis of the Civil War (1887); 
Doubleday, Reminiscences of Forts Sumter and Moultrie (1876) ; and Roman, 
Military Operations of General Beauregard, 2 vols. (1884). 

Books in sympathy with the South are : Jefferson Davis, Rise and Fall of the 
Confederate Government, 2 vols. (1881) ; Stephens, War between the States, 2 vols. 
(1867) ; Curry, The Southern States in Relation to the United States (1894) ; Fowler, 
Sectional Controversy (1S65) ; Du Bose, Life of W. L. Yancey (1896); and Wise, 
Life of Henry A. Wise (1899). 

For Independent Reading 

Russell, My Diary North and South (1862); Reuben Davis, Recollections of 
Mississippi and Mississippians (1900) ; Wilmer, Recent Past from a Southern 
Standpoint (1900) ; Clayton, Wliite and Black under the Old Regime (1899) ; Morse, 
Life of Lincoln, 2 vols. (1893); Riddle, Recollections of War Times (1895); and 
Forney, Anecdotes of Public Men (1873). 



CHAPTER XXV 

THE WESTERN CAMPAIGNS 

A Bifurcated Invasion 

The task of the North was to enter Southern territory, suppress re- 
sistance, and restore the authority of the union : that of the confeder- 
acy was to resist conquest. The Northern invasion was a bifurcated 
movement, one part operating on the east and the other on the west 
of the Appalachian mountains. It was hoped that each would roll 
back the confederate resistance and, by uniting below the southern 
end of the mountain system, give the finishing stroke to the confeder- 
acy somewhere in northern Georgia. As it fell out, the union ad- 
vance was checked by Lee's army in the East, but it was steadily suc- 
cessful in the West. The Mississippi river and all of Tennessee were 
gradually secured, and by the middle of 1864 northern Georgia was 
occupied by a strong and victorious army. The western division had 
done its allotted task, and now turned northward to help the Eastern 
troops complete the capture of Richmond. The present chapter will 
describe as a whole the Western movements and the succeeding chapter 
will deal with the operations in the East. 

Three Preliminary Operations, 1861 

The conquest of the West began properly in 1862, but in 1861 
there were three important preliminary episodes : i . While the people 
of western Virginia were busy creating a new state a union 
virgi^a army under General McClellan drove back the confederate 
forces which came from the east to maintain the Virginia 
authority. In several sharp engagements McClellan's fame was es- 
tablished, and he was called to Washington to command a greater 
army. In the western counties he was succeeded by Rosecrans, who 
had Robert E. Lee for an opponent. Lee's force was inadequate, and 
was forced over the mountains, and it was not until he had won his 
brilliant victories in the campaign around Richmond in the following 
year that the Southern people forgot his present ill fortune. 2. The 
^ ,-. . success of the unionists in preventing secession in Missouri 

2 JVLlSSOllFi 

(see page 517) was followed by a determined confederate 
effort to retake the state by arms. At first it seemed successful, and 
the federal General Lyon was killed. But he was avenged by General 

526 



THE ADVANCE ON NASHVILLE 527 

Pope, who with a strong force drove the confederate army out of 
Missouri. Late in 1861 Halleck was given command on both sides of 
the Mississippi, with headquarters at St. Louis. He well understood 
the art of war, but proved slow in execution. Under him, however, 
served several brilliant generals, and affairs in his department pro- 
gressed favorably. 3. The confederates wished to make 
the Ohio river their line of defense, although they had not ^Z q^'"^ 
troops enough to hold Kentucky. But in September, 
1S61, General Grant, then acting under Fremont, defeated this plan 
by seizing Paducah and Cairo. The result was that the enemy estab- 
lished his lines from the Mississippi at Island No. 10, New Madrid, and 
Columbus, thence eastward to Forts Henry on the Tennessee and 
Donelson on the Cumberland, and after that at Bowling Green, Ken- 
tucky, a place nearly due north of Nashville, with which it was con- 
nected by sixty miles of railroad. To the eastward a small force oc- 
cupied central and eastern Kentucky, where union sentiment was 
strong ; but a federal force drove it back in January, 1862. By these 
three preliminary movements the border states of Missouri and Ken- 
tucky, which Lincoln's tact had kept from secession, and the new state 
of West Virginia, were saved from the confederate arms. From that 
time the fiercest field of western operations was Tennessee. 

Grant's Campaign on the Tennessee, 1862 

Late in January Grant formed a plan to cut the confederate line at 
Forts Henry and Donelson, only eleven miles apart. Receiving per- 
mission from Halleck he moved up the Tennessee with 
17,000 men and seven gunboats. The confederates did not cantured^^ 
allow themselves to be surrounded , and surrendered the place 
after most of its defenders had withdrawn to Fort Donelson (February 
6), which Grant lost no time in attacking. He sent his gunboats back 
to the Ohio and up the Cumberland, while he marched overland to 
Donelson. Here the first attack of the boats was repulsed, and they 
retired for repairs. Then Grant threw his force around the fort on the 
land side and was in a position to starve or storm it. For such a fate 
the occupants would not wait. At dawn on February 15 they at- 
tacked and drove back the union right, so that for a few hours the road 
was open. Grant was four miles away, and rode hurriedly 
to the danger point. Learning that the knapsacks of the Sun-ender 
captured confederates were filled with food, he divined Donelson. 
that an escape was intended, and ordered an assault along 
all his line. It was delivered with great spirit, the confederate de- 
fenses were penetrated, and retreat was made impossible. During the 
night the generals in the fort, Floyd, Pillow, and Buckner, decided 
that surrender was necessary. Floyd had been Buchanan's secretary of 
war, and feared to be taken prisoner. He handed over the command 



528 THE WESTERN CAMPAIGNS 

and escaped across the river in a skiff under cover of darkness. Two 
small steamboats arrived at dawn, and on them Pillow and some troops 
escaped. A body of cavalry under Forrest, who was soon to be a noted 
leader of light-horse troops, escaped along the river bank. The rest 
of the confederates, nearly 15,000, were surrendered by Buckner. In 
this action the union army numbered 27,000. 

The situation in Tennessee now shifted rapidly. Albert Sidney 
Johnston, in chief command of the confederates, hurriedly withdrew 

the force from Bowling Green to Nashville, and Buell, 
Fdis back ^^° ^^^ ^^^" watching it, followed leisurely. If he and 
to Corinth. Grant united their armies, the story of Fort Donelson would 

be repeated at the state capital. Johnston was too wise to 
be caught in a trap, and continued to retreat, spite of the censure of the 
Southern press. He finally halted at Corinth, Mississippi, important 
because it commanded the railroad from Chattanooga to Memphis. 
While he collected supplies and reinforcements his opponents leisurely 
overran western Tennessee. 

March 17 Grant, following the Tennessee river, arrived at Savannah 
with 45,000 men. Buell, with 35,000, was approaching from the 

northeast, and the plan was that the two forces should 
Confident Unite and crush Johnston, who had only 40,000. Grant 
Approach. thought his opponents could not take the offensive, and 

carelessly placed five divisions at Pittsburg Landing, on 
the west side of the river, twenty-three miles from Corinth, holding 
Lew Wallace's division at Crump's Landing, five miles north of that 
point. He failed to intrench, though ordered to do so by Halleck, 
and had his headquarters at Savannah, eight miles north of his main 
force and on the opposite side of the river. He was daily expecting 
Buell, who, in fact, reached Savannah April 5, where he was allowed to 
halt. 

Johnston was an able general, and was anxious to fight before Buell 
came up. Moving out of Corinth, he fell on the union force in the 

early morning of April 6. Grant heard the firing, and 
of Shiloh. hastened to the scene by boat. To his surprise, he found 

a heavy battle in progress, and his men fighting for their 
lives. He ordered Wallace and Buell to come up, and calmly watched 
the fray. Throughout the whole day the fighting continued, the 
federals being driven back, and Shiloh Church, the key of the field, 
was taken by Johnston, who, fighting with great courage, was struck 
in the leg as he led a regiment into a hazardous charge. He had pre- 
viously ordered his surgeon to attend to the wounded elsewhere, and 
bled to death before aid could be found. His death discouraged his 
men, who, however, at nightfall held the ground the union force 
occupied in the morning and had forced their foe to take protection 
under the fire of the union gunboats. In the night Grant received 
20,000 fresh troops from Wallace and Buell, and next morning renewed 



WEST TENNESSEE RECOVERED 529 

the battle. After eight hours of fighting on this day, the confederates 
withdrew to Corinth. The total union loss was 13,000 killed, wounded, 
and captured. The total confederate loss was 10,700. 
Johnston fought to crush his opponent and to drive him 
from his advanced position in the heart of the confederate southwest, 
and since that object was not achieved, the battle of Shiloh, as it is 
called, was a confederate defeat. Halleck now came to Pittsburg 
Landing in person, and after raising the army to 100,000 men, moved 
cautiously on Corinth. When he was ready to besiege it, the confed- 
erates withdrew and allowed him to have it without endangering their 
safety. 

The campaign on the Tennessee river left exposed the confederate 
posts on the upper Mississippi. Columbus was abandoned, New 
Madrid and Island No. 10 were invested and taken by 
Pope in March and April with more than 7000 prisoners, f/**^^^^ °° 
Gunboats then passed down the river, and June 5 and 6, gj-.j^ 
a week after Corinth was taken, Fort Pillow and Memphis 
were in union hands. Meanwhile, a naval expedition under Farragut, 
aided by Porter, had appeared in the lower Mississippi. After 
futilely bombarding the forts on the river for five days, Farragut with 
great daring ran past them safely, and April 25 New Orleans fell into 
his hands, receiving a garrison of 2500 men under Benjamin F. Butler. 
The forts then surrendered to Porter. 

Confederate Counter-Movement in Tennessee and Kentucky 

After the capture of Corinth, Halleck remained inactive, while the 
confederates recruited their armies and prepared another movement. 
They placed Bragg, with 35,000 men, in Chattanooga, 
the key of southeastern Tennessee, and Buell was ordered Sf^^^/^ 
to operate against him. This union general collected his Louisville, 
force at Murfreesboro, 35 miles southeast of Nashville, 
protecting the latter place from Bragg. Before he could move farther 
Bragg left Chattanooga, August 28, and dividing his army -turned 
Buell's left and marched into Kentucky. Lexington was seized, and 
Louisville and Cincinnati were in a paroxysm of terror lest they should 
be taken before succor arrived. Buell meantime gave up all thought 
of Chattanooga, and hurried back to Louisville. Bragg was ahead of 
him, and probably could have taken the city, but he became dis- 
couraged when the Kentuckians did not join him, as he expected, and 
allowed his opponent to reach the goal. Buell thus recruited his 
force to 58,000 and turned backward to face his foe. 
Seven days later, October 8, the two armies fought at pgnrvUle 
Perryville, 65 miles southeast of Louisville. Neither side 
was entirely concentrated, but after fighting until dark Bragg with- 
drew his force and reached Chattanooga safely. At Perryville he lost 



530 THE WESTERN CAMPAIGNS 

3400 men, and his opponent 4200. Buell was ordered to follow Bragg 
and hold east Tennessee, but he thought he could not support his 
men so far from his base and took position at Nashville. For doing 
so he was removed from command and Rosecrans took his place. 

The new general was ordered "to take and hold east Tennessee," 
but like Buell he refused to attempt it. He remained in Nashville 
for weeks, and Bragg quietly came back to Murfrees- 
Battle of boro, where he intrenched. Finally, on December 26, 
Stone's 1862, Rosecrans moved on his opponent, and on the 31st 

Murfrees- ^ great battle was fought at Stone's river, three miles 
boro. from Murfreesboro, by which name the action is some- 

times known. Each general proposed to attack the 
other's right; but Bragg moved at dawn, while the union attack was 
ordered for 7 a.m. The confederate onset led by Hardee drove back 
the union right, which was only saved by the immovable center under 
Thomas. After a hard day's fight darkness closed the struggle. 
Rosecrans seemed beaten, but would not retreat. January 2, Bragg 
renewed the attack, but was beaten off and retired to Chattanooga. 
The casualties were a union loss of 13,000 out of a total force of 
43,000, and a confederate loss of 10,000 out of 38,000. The southerners 
carried off 28 captured guns and claimed the victory ; but they had 
failed to drive away Rosecrans and to rescue Tennessee from union 
control. The net result of the war in the West for 1862 was that all 
of Kentucky and western and central Tennessee as well as a large 
part of the Mississippi river were wrenched from the confederacy. 

ViCKSBURG Captured 

After losing Memphis and New Orleans the confederates fortified 
Vicksburg most carefully ; for it was the one strong position left them 
on the river. If it were taken, the trans-Mississippi region 
^fVicksbux would be cut off, the importation of light supplies through 
o ic s urg. jyj-g^j^Q would be made difficult, and a fertile source of 
food for the armies would be lost. For the same reasons that the 
South wished to hold it the North wished to take it. 

In the summer of 1862 Halleck was called to Washington to aid 
the president in the chief command of the army, and Grant was 
left in command of the great army at Corinth. For weeks he remained 
inactive, and the confederates, taking heart, tried to retake Corinth, 
but were easily beaten off. For this delay he was bitterly criticized 
by the press. His incaution at Shiloh was recalled, and rumor ran 
that all his dilatoriness was due to the intemperate use of liquor. 
But Lincoln stood faithfully by Grant. 

This confidence was justified by a double expedition against Vicks- 
burg, which got under way late in 1862. Sherman with 30,000 men 
and a fleet of gunboats was sent down the river from Memphis, 



GRANT OUTPLAYS PEMBERTON 531 

while Grant, with the same number, started forward along the rail- 
road for Jackson, Mississippi, whence he would approach Vicksburg 
from the east. The advance of the land column was soon 
checked when the confederates cut its communications at ^^^^^ 
Holly Springs. Sherman's force reached Vicksburg and take'vicks- 
attempted to land on the high ground north of the town. burg. 
Here the Yazoo bottoms must be crossed in the face of a 
destructive tire, and Sherman withdrew after satisfying himself that 
Vicksburg could not be taken from the north. 

Then Grant determined to land south of it and approach by the 
high ground between the river and Jackson. His first idea was to 
cut a canal through a bend of the river on the west bank 
in order to take his supply ships past the confederate _g^°t"Qn ^ 
batteries. After weeks of digging, a March freshet de- 
stroyed the canal, and Grant determined to run the batteries. It 
seemed a hazardous thing, but was made by the supply boats in the 
night and with slight loss. The army marched down the west bank 
and was set across the river by the boats several miles below Vicks- 
burg, and April 30, 1863, Grand Gulf was captured. The confederates 
had not supposed a federal army would begin its operations in this 
quarter, and the place was weakly defended. 

Two hundred miles south of Vicksburg was Port Gibson, above 
which the union gunboats could not go. Banks had been ordered 
to take the place and open the way for a fleet supporting 
Grant's army ; but his advance was delayed and Grant 2^^y^ ^^ 
learned that he could expect no aid from the southward strategy, 
at the same time that he heard that confederate troops 
were concentrating on Jackson, Mississippi. His position was un- 
comfortable. If Pemberton's 40,000 men in Vicksburg were joined 
by the 15,000 J. E. Johnston was leading up by way of Jackson, the 
43,000 men at Grand Gulf would fare badly. In the face of this 
difficulty, Grant's action was admirable. Abandoning his base, he 
quickly seized Jackson before Johnston could reach it, thus placing 
all his force between the divided enemy. Pemberton was a cautious 
general, and remained a few days in his stronghold, although ordered 
out by Johnston. Then he changed his mind, and moved out with 
about 30,000 men. Johnston had turned northward, hoping to get 
into Vicksburg. Pemberton should have gone in the same direction 
to meet him, but with a strange fatality he turned southward to cut 
Grant's communications with Grand Gulf. He soon learned that the 
union commander had abandoned his base and was living on the coun- 
try. Then he tried to get back to the North, but Grant was in between. 
Johnston realized that he could not unite with Pemberton, 
and was forced to leave the latter to his fate. Then Be™ege^°° 
Pemberton stood still for battle, first at Champion Hill 
and then at the crossing of the Big Black river. In each action he 



532 



THE WESTERN CAMPAIGNS 



Vicksburg 
Taken. 



was defeated, and May i8 he retired within his intrenchments at 
Vicksburg. Grant followed and established his lines of siege from the 
high banks of the Yazoo 
to the Mississippi below 
Vicksburg. He thus 
came again into commu- 
nication with the union 
fleet, and supplies were 
now landed and reen- 
forcements were sent 
from the North, so that 
he soon had 75,000 men, 
enough to finish Pember- 
ton and beat ofif any 
army which could be sent 
to raise the siege. 

The confederates re- 
turned to Vicksburg 
much dis- 
couraged, but 
they repelled 
firmly two assaults on 
their position. Then the 
problem became one of 
starving out the defend- 
ers. While the siege cannon and mortars played continually, and 
the sappers and miners brought Grant's lines ever nearer to 
those of the confederates, the work of King Hunger went on. The 
confederate authorities needed every available man to hold back 
Rosecrans at Chattanooga, and reluctantly left Vicksburg to its fate. 
In June the rations began to fail. On the 28th the soldiers were on 
the point of widespread desertion and themselves suggested surren- 
der. July 3 Pemberton asked for an interview with Grant, and next 
morning the articles of surrender were signed. The confederates 
were liberated on parole, 29,491 in all. They gave up 170 cannon and 
50,000 small arms. This event, coming the day after the 
Tl^® . . . battle of Gettysburg, made the national holiday a day of 
Opened.^^^ rejoicing. It was followed by the fall of Port Hudson, and 
union gunboats now held the entire course of the great 
river. These operations placed Grant beyond the cavil of his critics, 
and the nation generally recognized in him its greatest general. 




The Campaign for Chattanooga 

While Grant moved against Vicksburg, Rosecrans with an army of 
70,000 remained in Nashville, his eye on Bragg, who was charged with 



ROSECRANS AGAINST BRAGG 533 

the defense of Chattanooga. Unwilling to begin one important cam- 
paign while another was in progress, he remained inactive until 
Grant's success was assured. Meanwhile, Bragg advanced 
to Shelbyville. But late in June Rosecrans took the field, Rogg^r^ns 
and flanking cleverly forced him back into Chattanooga 
without a battle. The place was very strong. It lies on the east 
bank of the Tennessee, a bold stream, and is surrounded by moun- 
tain ridges. To the south the country is quite rough. It is more 
practicaljle to the north, and Bragg thought his opponent would 
approach from that direction. The idea seemed supported by the 
fact that Burnside had just moved with a strong column from Ken- 
tucky into East Tennessee, and was at Knoxville in a position to move 
southward in cooperation with the expected flanking movement 
across the river. As Burnside did not move at once, Bragg concluded 
an attack was not imminent. He thus allowed himself to be surprised 
in another quarter. 

Rosecrans determined to approach by the south. It was a hazard- 
ous movement, but it was unexpected by Bragg, and it threatened 
the communications with Atlanta. The union commander 
did not know the country beyond the river, and was opportunity 
floundering about for more than a week in the discon- 
nected valleys, his right and left wings sometimes nearly three days 
march from his center. Had Bragg been alert, he must now have 
beaten his opponent in detail. But he dallied too long, and when on 
September 18 he offered battle at Chickamauga Creek, twelve miles 
south of Chattanooga, Rosecrans was concentrated before him. It 
was a period of inactivity in the Virginia campaigning, both sides 
resting after Gettysburg ; and Longstreet had been sent to aid Bragg, 
who was also reenforced by Buckner's army, which Burnside had driven 
southward from Kentucky. The confederates were thus in superior 
numbers, having about 66,000 to their opponents' 58,000. In mak- 
ing the detour to reach their opponents they had so moved that Rose- 
crans was between them and Chattanooga. 

Behind the union position was Rossville Gap, penetrated by the 
road into Chattanooga. Bragg wished to seize this pass and isolate 
his opponents. Withholding his own left, he struck hard 
against the federal left, where Thomas commanded. 2^"'j^^°^ 
This brave commander stood firm, but the rest of the line mauga. 
was weakened to send him reenforcements. At noon, 
September 20, by mistake, a division was moved from the union center. 
Longstreet, just opposite and waiting the word to charge, saw the 
movement and sent eight brigades through the breach. They crushed 
the union center, threw the left into confusion, and threatened Thomas 
on the right. Both parts of the line retreated in great disorder. 
Rosecrans tried in vain to rally his men, but could only follow them 
through Rossville Gap into Chattanooga. He thought the day lost, 



534 THE WESTERN CAMPAIGNS 

and sent orders to Thomas to protect the rear as well as he could. 
But Thomas was not beaten. Surrounded on three sides, he repelled 
charge after charge until night came, and then withdrew to the Gap, 
where he took a strong position and held Bragg in check until ordered 
to join the rest of the army in Chattanooga. This important engage- 
ment was fought on September 19 and 20. It resulted in the loss of 
19,500 killed, wounded, and captured on the confederate side, and 
16,000 on the union side. Thomas's heroic fight saved the union 
army from a complete rout and won for him the title of "The Rock 
of Chickamauga." 

After the battle of the 20th the federal forces kept within Chat- 
tanooga- Bragg following and fortifying himself on Missionary Ridge 

and Lookout Mountain, east and south of the town. As 
osecrans Lookout Mountain commanded the railroad, Rosecrans 

could not bring his supplies by railroad farther than Bridge- 
port, whence they must be carried by wagons over wretched roads 
around the great bend of the river, a distance of sbcty miles. A 
month later the army faced starvation or retreat. Lincoln was 
alarmed and took vigorous steps. Sixteen thousand men under 
Hooker were sent from Virginia, and Sherman with many more was 
ordered up from Vicksburg. Thomas was placed in command of the 
army, succeeding Rosecrans, whom the situation seemed to demoralize ; 
and Grant was put in command of all the West but New Orleans, and 

ordered to Chattanooga. October 2 7. he arrived and 
Grant immediately took steps to open the railroad between 

Bridgeport and the army. Throwing Hooker across the 
river, the road from Bridgeport was seized in a safe place four miles 
from Chattanooga. A new road was then constructed by Brown's 
Ferry, which was operated without molestation, and the danger of 
starvation was averted. 

The next task was to drive Bragg away from the height above the 
town, and Grant decided to make the attempt as soon as Sherman 
arrived. The confederate line extended from the northern end of 
Missionary Ridge along the crest to Rossville Gap, thence across the 
valley of Chattanooga river to Lookout Mountain. Bragg thought 
it very strong, and not anticipating an early attack weakened it by 
withdrawing Longstreet from its center to strike Burnside at Knox- 
ville. He thought Longstreet would return before his services were 
needed at Chattanooga. He underestimated the energy of Grant, 
and Longstreet was far away when on November 24, Sherman 
ha\'ing arrived, the battle began. 

Grant's plan was to turn the confederate right on the extremity 
of Missionary Ridge, and for this purpose he selected Sherman. 
Lookout \Vhile this movement was being made he proposed to 
Mountain, keep the enemy in position with a strong feint by Thomas 
in the center and Hooker on the union right. November 24, Sherman 



EAST TENNESSEE RECOVERED 535 

crossed the Tennessee in the early dawn, and drove the confederates 
some distance along the top of the ridge they defended. At the same 
time Thomas approached nearer to the base of the Ridge at the 
center, and Hooker, starting to skirt Lookout Mountain, changed his 
course, carried its steep sjope, and finally placed the union flag on the 
top of the tall peak which adorns its crest. This spectacular achieve- 
ment, though not very difficult, greatly heartened the soldiers. On 
the morning of the 25th the confederates were still in strong position 
on Missionary Ridge, and Sherman took up again the work of clearing 
it by hard fightng. To aid him. Grant directed Thomas to advance 
and take the works on the lower slopes. The order was executed, 
but the soldiers found themselves exposed to a hot fire from the crest 
of the Ridge. Without orders, and even against orders, they started 
for the top, 400 feet above them. Grant, watching the battle, ex- 
claimed, "By whose orders is this?" "By their own, I fancy," 
replied Thomas at his elbow. But the line went steadily forward. 
At the crest was a brief struggle and then victory. Thirty guns were 
taken, and Bragg hastily withdrew to Ringgold. The confederate 
loss in killed, wounded, and captured was 6500, and that of the 
federals, 5500. Hooker's engagement high up on Lookout was called 
"the Battle above the Clouds." 

Meanwhile, Longstreet had begun operations against Bumside at 
Knox\dlle. To his surprise he found the inhabitants loyal to the 
union. He made no headway, and after the battle of Chattanooga 
returned to Virginia. Thus all Tennessee was safely restored to the 
union, and a victorious army held the key to Atlanta and the Georgia 
uplands. 

The Camp.aign ag.\inst Atlanta 

After Chattanooga, both armies were exhausted and went into 
winter quarters, the confederates at Dalton, Georgia, and the federals 
in the city they had taken. Bragg was removed from 
command. He had been severely criticized in the South, ^i'^*^^^^' 
and only Jefferson Davis's warm friendship had kept Johnston, 
him so long in a position he clearly was not able to fill. 
His successor, Joseph E. Johnston, was able and vigilant in defense, 
but he was curt to his superiors, and early in the war aroused the ill- 
vnll of Da\'is. Grant once said he feared Johnston more than any 
other general he faced. The confederate general began his campaign 
of 1S64 with 53,000 men, but was soon reenforced until he had 75,000. 
The hope of the southwest was in the defense of Atlanta. 

February 29, 1864, congress revived the rank of lieutenant 
general, and the position was given to Grant, who thus became com- 
mander under Lincoln of all the union troops in the field. He im- 
mediately assumed the direction of operations in Virginia. The 
force in Chattanooga, 99,000 strong, thus went to Sherman. Under 



536 THE WESTERN CAMPAIGNS 

him served Thomas, commanding Rosecrans's old army, McPherson 

with the troops which Sherman had brought from Vicksburg, and 

Schofield with the forces which formerly operated at 

Sherman Knoxville. The material in each army was excellent. 

fltiQ his • • • 

^ Political appointees had been weeded out, tried officers 

of all ranks had come into responsible position, and the 

soldiers, seasoned by two years of hard fighting, were veterans of the best 

quality. The hilly country over which they must operate abounded 

in good defensive positions, which Johnston knew how to utilize. 

The critical feature was the railroad from Chattanooga 

to Atlanta — serving as a means of communication for 

each army. As Johnston fell back he destroyed it, but Sherman had 

efficient engineers who repaired bridges and tracks so rapidly that the 

confederate rear guard usually could hear the whistle of the locomotive 

which accompanied the federal advance. 

It was Sherman's habit to take the initiative, and early in May 
he appeared before Dalton. Finding the confederates strongly placed, 
he moved around their left and threatened so much the 
Progress by j-aiiroad at Resaca that they hastily fell back to that posi- 
Movements. tion, while he gained twelve of the 120 miles between 
Dalton and Atlanta. Again Johnston offered battle in 
strong intrenchments, but Sherman was too wise to accept it. He 
waited a few days, and once more flanked by the left, only to be again 
confronted by Johnston in a strong position. This kind of campaign 
continued until, at the end of June, Johnston was strongly fortified at 
Kenesaw Mountain, 25 miles from Atlanta. At this point Sherman 
abandoned caution and determined to accept battle. Selecting what 
he thought the weakest point in Johnston's line he delivered a power- 
ful assault with the hope of breaking through. But the 
Mmmtahi confederates held firm, and the attack was repelled with 
a loss of 3000 federals and only Soo confederates. Thomas, 
whose steadiness frequently tempered the impetuosity of Sherman, 
was asked if he thought the assault should be repeated. He replied 
that "one or two more such assaults would use up this army" ; and 
he added that he did not favor "butting against breastworks twelve 
feet thick and strongly abatised." His advice was taken, another 
flank movement was made, and Sherman on July 9 reached the north 
bank of the Chattahoochee, his opponent retiring in good 
order to the south bank. At this place the union troops 
On the ^gj.g within six miles of Atlanta. During this campaign 

hooch^e. of two months, although no great battle had been fought, 
there had been continuous skirmishing and two or three 
sharp affairs, with the result that the union loss was 16,800 and that 
of the confederates 14,500. 

In falling back on Atlanta, Johnston merely did as Lee was then 
doing before Grant from the Wilderness to Cold Harbor. If he 



NORTHERN GEORGIA RECOVERED 



537 



fought less, it was because Sherman advanced more cautiously than 
Grant. But Southern opinion was not equally considerate of the 
two leaders, and Johnston was severely criticized. July 
17 he was replaced by General J. B. Hood, a man who command 
would fight. Sherman crossed the Chattahoochee, the 
same day, and rejoiced when he knew he had a new opponent. He 
believed there would be fighting, and thought his numerical superiority 
would give him the victory. Within eleven days Hood fought and 
lost three battles, — ^ Peach Tree Creek, July 20; Atlanta, July 22; 
and Ezra Church, July 28. His total loss was 10,841 and Sherman's 
was 9719. But for all this, Atlanta was not taken. Then Sherman 

threw his columns out to the 
west and south, enveloping the 
city and threatening its com- 
munications with the South 
and East. This movement re- 
quired a month, during which 
the North began to despair of 
his success. It was, said the 
doubtful ones, but a repetition 
of Grant's costly campaign, and 
after it a siege, the result of 
which no one could foretell. 
But Hood did not allow him- 
self to be besieged. 
September 2 he Atlanta 
evacuated Atlanta, 
and next day it was 
occupied by the 
union forces. The news occa- 
sioned great joy in the North, 
for it was the first decided 
success of a year of hard fight- 
ing and heavy sacrifice. By 
the very exultation of his 
friends, Sherman could see how necessary it was that he should retain 
what he had captured. 

But his situation was not altogether safe : he was in the midst of a 
hostile country, and his line of communication was a single railroad 
held by strong garrisons, but liable to be cut by a large 
and efficient column. Hood realized this situation and 
tried to utilize it. He first moved westward and fell on 
Allatoona, a railroad station 45 miles north of Atlanta. 
It was firmly held, and the attack was beaten off. Had it 
succeeded, Sherman must have recovered Allatoona or suffered serious 
consequences. Then Hood made a detour still farther westward, 




0^ Atlanta 

rnntiCo.. N.T 



Captured 
September 
3, 1864. 



Hood 
Threatens 
Sherman's 
Base. 



538 THE WESTERN CAMPAIGNS 

going as far as Decatur, Alabama, on the Tennessee river. The place 
was no miles south of Nashville, with which it was connected by rail. 
Here he halted, hoping that the union leader would become fright- 
ened and hasten back to Nashville. 

But Sherman was not alarmed. Thomas was sent to Nashville 
with the veterans who had served under Buell and Rosecrans, and 

reenforcements were hurried to him from various quarters 
of Thomas until he had nearly 60,000 men, quite enough to beat off 

the attack of Hood, who had only 54,000. As long as 
Hood was near the Chattanooga railroad, Sherman followed him ; 
but when the confederate commander's plan was revealed by his 
crossing of the Tennessee, October 20, Sherman ceased to follow and 
concentrated at Atlanta a well-seasoned army of 60,000 men. He 
had for weeks been asking his superiors for permission to strike for 
the seacoast, and Grant now reluctantly consented. Nothing could 
show better the exhaustion of the South than the possibility that its 

opponents could divide their western army into two 
Bofd'piaif columns, each of which was larger than the total force 

the confederacy could muster in that region. Sherman 
had before him no opposition worthy of the name, and he felt confident 
that Thomas could deal with any force Hood could gather. 

Let us first follow the movements of Hood. He was a good fighter, 
but he had lost Atlanta, and his soldiers, regretting the removal of 

Johnston, were not in good spirits. Delayed for three 
Battle of weeks in southern Tennessee to collect supplies he could 
Ncmsmber ^°*- ^o^e until November 21, which gave his opponents 
30. time to prepare for him. Across his path was Schofield 

with 29,000 men, instructed to retard his advance and 
fall back. The confederate commander should have surrounded this 
force, but, although he sought it most vigorously, he lost his oppor- 
tunity through the carelessness of a subordinate. Schofield was hard 
pressed when he arrived, November 30, at Franklin, on the Harpeth 
river, to find the bridge partly wrecked and his trains in great danger. 
He intrenched hastily, and while the bridge was being repaired Hood 
arrived and assaulted with great ardor. Each side fought most 
desperately from four o'clock in the afternoon until dark, but the 
union line held firm, and by morning Schofield was across the river 
and proceeded unmolested to Nashville, 20 miles away. He had lost 
2326 men, while his opponents, who fought recklessly and without 
cover of breastworks, lost 6000. Hood followed more leisurely, and 
took position on the hills south of the city, his army reduced by fight- 
ing and marching to 23,207. It was the last hope of the confederacy 
in Tennessee, and its chances seemed slender in the presence of the 
union force of more than 50,000. 

Thomas was deliberate by nature and would not fight until ready. 
As he remained inactive day after day the country, and even Lincoln 



THE LAST OF HOOD'S ARMY 539 

himself, became impatient, lest Hood should escape. But Grant, who 
once said that if Thomas came to a furrow he would stop to intrench, 
showed most concern. All his telegrams did not bring on 
a battle, and December 9 he ordered Thomas to hand over ^^ Nashville, 
the command to Scho field, but on consideration the 
order was suspended. At last Thomas was ready, and December 15 
he moved on the enemy, driving him back about four miles by hard 
fighting. The battle was renewed on the i6th, the confederates stand- 
ing at bay for a life and death struggle. All their valor was unavail- 
ing. Surrounded and broken, they had no chance, and at last fled 
southward in whatever formation they could maintain. December 
27, when they crossed the Tennessee river, they numbered less than 
15,000 infantrymen. Many had been killed, many others were cap- 
tured, and some had gone home under the impression that the war 
was over. Nine thousand of the survivors were later sent to North 
Carolina under Joseph E. Johnston to oppose Sherman. But from 
this time the task of the western army was accomplished. Mobile 
and a few posts held out, but nowhere could the Northern arms be 
resisted between the Ohio and the Gulf. 

Sherman's March through Georgia and the Carolinas 

November 15 Sherman began from Atlanta his celebrated march 
to the sea, burning before he started the machine shops in Atlanta 
and destroying the railroad to Chattanooga. The tele- 
graph wires were cut, and for nearly a month his govern- f!?™. 
ment only knew of his movements from the newspapers savannah, 
of the confederacy. His army marched along parallel 
roads covering a zone sixty miles wide. It had supplies for twenty- 
five days and was ordered to "forage liberally." In describing his 
purpose before he set out Sherman himself said he would "make 
Georgia howl." In his report of his movements he said : "I estimate 
the damage done to the state of Georgia and its military resources at 
$100,000,000 at least $20,000,000 of which has inured to our advan- 
tage and the remainder is simply waste and destruction." The misery 
thus inflicted on the non-combatants was as great as it was unneces- 
sary. December 10 he was before Savannah, having accomplished 
his progress of 360 miles without serious opposition. Hardee, who 
was holding the town with 15,000 men, would not allow himself to be 
besieged and withdrew on December 20. 

The military results of Sherman's bold step were very important. 
It encouraged the North and discouraged the South, showing both 
sides plainly that the war was near an end. It cut off _ . 
supplies from Richmond and reduced the area of the 
confederacy to the Carolinas and a part of Virginia. But all these 
results might have been secured without the wanton destruction that 



S40 THE WESTERN CAMPAIGNS 

was inflicted on the country. The people of Georgia and South 
Carolina were to remain Americans, and good policy, as well as humane 
warfare, demanded that they should not be so dealt with that the 
national flag should be remembered as a symbol of calamity. 

Sherman remained in Savannah from December 20 until February i, 
and then started northward, his march impeded by storms and 
wretched roads. No opposition could be made by Hardee, 
^''°™ and pillaging was more severe than in Georgia. South 

Columbia. Carolina's initiative in secession made her especially dis- 
liked by the federal army, officers and privates, and there 
was slight effort to restrain them. "The whole army," wrote Sher- 
man to Halleck, "is burning with an insatiable desire to wreak ven- 
geance upon South Carolina. I almost tremble at her fate but feel 
that she deserves all that seems in store for her." He gave orders 
against plundering private dwellings, but they were not well enforced. 
Reaching Columbia, the capital, he found in the streets 
Bm-ned'* the smouldering remains of cotton. The soldiers of the 
advance guard obtained liquor, broke from the control of 
their officers, and during the entire night the streets were a scene of 
riot. Bands carrying torches marched through the streets firing the 
houses. In the morning a town which had sheltered 8000 inhabitants 
was in ruins. A heated controversy arose over the question, "Who 
fired Columbia?" One side claimed the fire started from the cotton 
fired by the retreating confederates, and it is possible some buildings 
might have been thus destroyed ; for a strong wind sprang up in the 
evening and fanned the smouldering cotton into flame. But it seems 
undoubted that most of the damage was the result of the action of 
the uncontrolled soldiery, many of whose officers appear to have been 
Httle inclined to restrain them. It was the culmination of that bitter 
feeling which the entire army had shown up to this point, and which 
a more magnanimous commander would have restrained in the be- 
ginning. To the people of the North the devastation of this army 
was very pleasing. Even Phillips Brooks exclaimed: "Hurrah for 
Columbia ! Isn't Sherman a gem?" * 

The occupation of Columbia forced Hardee to evacuate Charleston. 
He hastened to North Carolina in order to place his army before that 
of the conqueror. March 11, Sherman reached Fayette- 
^^N^tiT ^^^^^' "^^^''^ ^^ destroyed an arsenal, but spared the town. 
Caromia. ^^ ^^^t, he made efforts to limit the pillaging in this state, 
and the inhabitants, although sorely distressed by soldiers 
and " bummers," fared better than those of South Carolina and Georgia. 
By this time Joseph E. Johnston had been placed in command of the 
confederate troops in the Carolinas. Gathering all the soldiers he 
could he stood before Sherman on March 16 at Averasborough, thirty 
miles north of Fayetteville. Beaten back, he made another stand 
three days later at Benton ville, but the result was the same, although 



TASK OF WESTERN ARMY COMPLETED 541 

for a few hours it seemed that he might throw into confusion the 
union left, which marched incautiously. Proceeding thence Sherman 
came, March 23, to Goldsboro, 160 miles south of Rich- 
mond, against which Grant was about to complete his r-^,^\. 

• /-n 1 !• 01/-1111 • 1 Goldsboro. 

operations. Iwo days earlier Schoneld had arrived at 

Goldsboro with 20,000 men, coming by way of Wilmington, which 
had been taken in January, and Newbern, which had been in union 
hands since 1862. But Sherman was not needed before Richmond. 
After a two weeks' halt at Goldsboro he learned that Lee was retreat- 
ing toward the mountains and turned westward in order to intercept 
him. Before him Johnston slowly withdrew to Raleigh and then to 
Greensboro, where, as we shall see, he at last gave up the contest in April. 
Thus ended in triumph the work of the Western army. Some of 
its contests were drawn battles, but none resulted in retrograde 
movements. From Forts Henry and Donelson to Shiloh and thence 
to Corinth, in withstanding Bragg at Perryville and Murfreesboro, 
in the operations against Vicksburg, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, and 
Atlanta, in all these important movements there was steady and hard- 
won success. How well the confederates used their inferior resources 
is shown in the long series of losses they inflicted on the victors. They 
were exhausted, and collapsed utterly before the vast power that was 
brought against them. 

The War beyond the Mississippi 

While Grant, Sherman, and their assistants made the grand three 
years' movement through Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia to the 
sea, severe campaigning occurred west of the Mississippi. 
Texas saw but little fighting, attempts of the confederates ^^^souri 
to secure New Mexico came to naught, and western Louisi- Arkansas, 
ana was too much isolated by the fall of New Orleans in 
May, 1862, to become a scene of serious opposition to the union cause. 
But in Missouri and Arkansas the case was otherwise. When the 
union men in the former of these two states flocked to Lyon's stand- 
ard and enabled him to save St. Louis to the union, the secessionists 
assembled under General Sterling Price, disputing all that Lyon did 
and precipitating a state of civil war. 

Both leaders showed resourcefulness, but Lyon had the initial 
advantage. He moved rapidly, and at Booneville, on June 17, dis- 
persed the confederate force. It soon reassembled in 
larger numbers, and at Carthage beat off an attack by Confeder- 
Sigel, one of Lyon's lieutenants. Price was now reenforced pg^ed^rom 
by troops from Arkansas, so that his army was 10,000 Missouri. 
strong. His opponent had only 6000, but risked battle at 
Wilson's Creek, August 10, 1861. The result was union defeat, Lyon 
being killed. His army was forced back into northern Missouri, and 



542 THE WESTERN CAMPAIGNS 

there came a pause while both sides recruited. Fremont, who now 
commanded the union forces in Missouri, soon had 40,000 men, but as 
he was about to attack he was removed, and Hunter, his successor, 
gave up the plan of offensive movements. Soon Hunter was removed, 
and Halleck, who succeeded him, sent forward a force under Curtis, 
before whom Price retired into Arkansas. Van Dorn was now placed 
in command on the confederate side and met Curtis in a decisive 
battle at Pea Ridge, Arkansas, March 7 and 8, 1S62. Although the 
confederates brought 16,200 men against 10,500, they were beaten, 
and withdrew from the field. The confederates in Tennessee were 
now hard pressed and the force under Van Dorn was so weakened that 
Arkansas was at the mercy of Curtis, who gradually extended his area 
of authority until at the end of 1862 most of the state was in union 
hands. Schofield superseded him in 1863, but although he had 50,000 
men he could not complete the task assigned him. 

The center of confederate power here was the Red River valley, 
which the confederates held with 25,000 men under Kirby Smith and 

"Dick" Taylor, his lieutenant. Along the river were 
The Red great stores of cotton which the federals wished to seize, 
pedition. ^^ ^^^3 Banks at New Orleans was ordered to move on 

this region, but he refused because of the low stage of water 
in the river. Early next year he got under way, with a land force 
of 27,000 men and a fleet of gunboats under Commodore Porter. 
His objective was Shreveport, at which place he was to be met by 
15,000 men from Arkansas. His progress was slow, the country being 
very difficult. At Sabine Cross Roads, April 8, when in two days' 
march of Shreveport, he was repulsed by Taylor and was glad to 
escape with a loss of several of his gunboats. The net result of the 
expedition was to deprive Sherman of a valuable body of troops for 
the operations against Johnston between Chattanooga and Atlanta. 
Kirby Smith continued to hold the country around Shreveport until 
the end of the war. He surrendered at Baton Rouge, May 26, 1865, 
his force being 17,686. 

One other western campaign remains to be noticed. In September, 
1864, General Price marched into Missouri from Arkansas with 15,000 

men. The war had reached such a stage in the West 
Price's that large movements were not to be undertaken by the 

MTssouri* confederates, but they had enough troops to made destruc- 
1864. ' tive raids, like those of Forrest and Morgan on the east 

bank of the Mississippi. Price's objective was St. Louis, 
which he approached rapidly. Finding its defenses too strong to 
carry he turned off to Jefferson City. By this time the union forces 
in the state were concentrating rapidly. Price must fight them at 
several places, and moved so swiftly and fought so vigorously that he 
was not surrounded. But he failed to inflict serious injury on his 
opponents and was glad to escape to Arkansas after four weeks of 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 543 

campaigning. He carried with him most of the guerrillas, who had 
infested the state up to that time, and thenceforth Missouri was free 
from confederate troops. 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

The general history of the war is ably treated in Rhodes, History of the United 
States, 7 vols. (1892-1907). See also : Schouler, History of the United States, 6 vols. 
(1880-1897) ; Wilson, History of the American People, 5 vols. (1902) ; Hosmer, The 
Appeal to Arms (1907) ; Ibid., Outcome of the Civil War (1907) ; Burgess, The Civil 
War and the Constitution, 2 vols. (1901) ; Greeley, The American Conflict, 2 vols. 
(1864) ; and Draper, History of the Civil War, 3 vols. (1871). 

Of the many military histories, see : Dodge, Bird's-Eye View of the Civil War 
(1897), very useful in connection with a larger work ; Ropes, Story of the Civil War, 
2 vols, (i 894-1898), unfinished at the death of the author but continued by Liver- 
more, two volumes of whose work are promised for 1913 ; Count of Paris, The Civil 
War in America, 4 vols, (trans., 1875-1888) ; The Campaigns of the Civil War, 13 
vols. (i88i-i89o),mostlybygenera]s who participated, important but not impartial; 
Fletcher, The Civil War in America, 3 vols. (1865); Wood and Edmonds, The 
Civil War in the United States (1895) ; and Henderson, Tlie Science of War (1905), 
by an excellent English authority, five chapters relate to our civil war. Fox, 
Regimental Losses (1889), and Livermore, A^/(w6fr5 a«rf Losses {\()oi), are also valu- 
able. The Southern side is presented in : Evans, edr., Confederate History, 12 
vols. (1899), a cooperative history by states; Pollard, The Lost Cause (1867) ; and 
Wood, The Confederate Handbook (1900). 

The leading biographies and memoirs on the Northern side are : Nicolay and 
Hay, Abraham Lincoln, a History, 10 vols. (1890), a storehouse of information 
but always commendatory of Lincoln ; Cox, Military Reminiscences, 2 vols. (1900), 
a good book ; Grant, Personal Memoirs, 2 vols. (1895) J Badeau, Military History of 
Grant, 3 vols. (1868-1881); W. T. Sherman, Memoirs, 2 vols. (1886); Sheridan, 
Personal Memoirs, 2 vols. (1902); Schofield, Forty-six Years in the Army (1897); 
Schurz, Reminiscences, 3 vols. (1907-1909) ; Woodward, Nathaniel Lyon (1862); 
Coppee, George H. Thomas (1893); and Lew Wallace, An Autobiography, 2 vols. 
(1906). AH of these relate to men who served in the West. On the Southern side 
see : Joseph E. Johnston, Narrative of Military Operations (1874) ; Johnston, Life of 
Albert Sydney Johnston (1879) '■> Hood, Advance and Retreat (1880) ; Polk, Leonidas 
Polk, 2 vols. (1893) ; Taylor, Destruction and Reconstruction (1879) ; Wheeler, 
Wheeler and His Cavalry (1899) ; Lee, Memoirs of General Poidlclon (1893) ; Wyeth, 
N. B. Forrest (1899) ; and Roman, Pierre G. T. Beauregard, 2 vols. (1884). In this 
connection one must mention Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, 4 vols. (1888), 
reminiscences of participants, interesting and valuable. 

The sources are embraced in several collections published by the national and 
state governments. Of these the greatest is The War of the Rebellion, a Compilation 
of the Records of the U nion and Confederate Armies, 6g vols, in 128 books, with an atlas. 
It contains the reports of ofiftcers in both armies with other matter relating to military 
operations. A companion work is Official Records of the Union and Confederate 
Navies, 22 vols. (1894-1908). An important source of information is the Reports 
of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of t lie War, 8 vols, (passim). Most of the states, 
North and South, have published regimental histories and muster rolls. Moore, 
Rebellion Record, 13 vols. (1861-1868), is a compilation of contemporary utterances, 
an interesting mine of personal incidents, war poetry, speeches, etc. Applcton's 
Annual Cyclopedia (beginning in 1861) is also important. See Photographic History 
of the War, 10 vols. (191 1), for photographs. 

On army experiences, see : Boynton, Sherman'' s Historical Raid (1875) ; McClure, 
Lincoln and Men of War Time (1892); Hosmer, The Thinking Bayonet (1865); 
Browne, Four Years in Secessia (1865), by a war correspondent; Boynton, Chat- 



544 THE WESTERN CAMPAIGNS 

J rhirh .»,nnan ("7801) • Nichols, The March to the Sea (1865) ; McCarthy, 
n7T/;^iS7rSiir'5 L^^^ Goss, Recollections of a Private (1890) ; 

Detailed MimaicB oj a :>oiaitr s i.ijt\i<}u^i , ' i^oq^\ r»n tVip Snnthprn side- 

feVsmede 4 f "/l^f ^^^^^^^^ I Wilson, Life in theConfederacy (1885) ; 

HSS^4 SSieJ Fa.n7. (1888) ; and Headley, Confederate Operations ^nCanada 
and New York (1906). the use of negroes as soldiers is described in Wilhams, 
History of Negro Troops (1888). 

For Independent Reading 

Chestnut, Diary from Dixie (1905) ; Gay, Life in Dixie during the War (1892) ; 
^^gS A Blockaded Family (1888) ; Smedes ^ Southern P\<^^^f('^99); Morse, 
T-rJi- 7 . „^ic (■,<ir.-,\- Tarhell Life of Lincoln, 2 vols. (ed. 1900), Irent, 

interest in mili?ar; history the memoirs of Grant, Cox, and Joseph G Johns on 
wiirbfii"eSstin7 Rhodes's History is probably the most mteresting story of the 



CHAPTER XXVI 

THE WAR IN THE EAST, 1862-1865 
McClellan's Peninsular Campaign 

The most striking feature of the story of the union armies in the 
East is the efforts to find a successful general. From the beginning 
of the war until March, 1864, six commanders were tried 
and rejected. Then the task was confided to Grant, whose ^'^^ f'®™- 
successes at Vicksburg and Chattanooga indicated that 
he was the long-sought leader. Under his direction the struggle was 
conducted to its close. The confederates, however, were as fortunate 
in this respect as the federals were unfortunate. Their first leader, 
Joseph E. Johnston, was an excellent commander ; and when he was 
incapacitated, his successor was Robert E. Lee, the equal of any Ameri- 
can soldier. 

The first of the union commanders was McDowell, who fought a 
well-planned battle at Bull Run and lost it because of no fault of his 
own. But failure damaged his prestige with the army, 
and he was followed, July 27, 1861, by McClellan, fresh 
from victories in West Virginia (see page 526). McClellan was a 
man of good address, and soon had the devotion of his soldiers. His 
unusual ability as an organizer quickly improved the efficiency of the 
army. But he displayed some unfortunate personal qualities. He 
overestimated the strength of his opponents ; he was sensitive of 
interference by others ; he quarreled with General Winfield Scott, 
until October 31, 1861, the commander of the army, and McClellan's 
superior; and he openly criticized the war department for political 
appointments. On the other hand, it must be remembered that 
McClellan was a good general, and his irritation at the meddlesomeness 
of the politicians was natural. In politics he was a democrat, and 
the open hostility of Stanton, the secretary of war, was supposed to 
arise from an unwillingness to enhance the popularity of one who 
might in the future be a formidable presidential candidate. The 
McClellan controversy is still a matter of dispute. 

By the end of October, 138,000 men were under arms near Wash- 
ington, and public opinion demanded an advance, but McClellan was 
not ready. October 21, at Ball's Bluff, 2000 men, who had 
been incautiously thrown across the Potomac, were sur- j^^h' 
rounded and half of them lost. One of the slain was 
Colonel Baker, of California, an officer of much promise, whose death 
2N S4S 



546 THE WAR IN THE EAST 

was deeply regretted. The blow caused profound sorrow in the North, 
but McClellan did nothing to retrieve it. The weather was fine 
through November and most of December, but still he kept his camp. 
Then he fell ill of typhoid fever and was prostrate until the middle of 
January. Finally Lincoln, who was generally patient with McClellan, 
issued an order for an advance by all the armies. East and West, on 
February 22. The order was impracticable and was ignored. 

But McClellan's plan was made. He proposed to take the army 
to Fortress Monroe, and from that point to reach Richmond up the 
, "Peninsula," between the James and York rivers. By 
Plan ^ ^^^ this plan he would have support from the navy and main- 
tain his communications by water. To the objection 
that he would thus leave Washington exposed, he replied that Washing- 
ton was safe as long as his army kept the confederates busy near their 
own capital. Lincoln did not wholly approve the plan, but consented 
to it on condition that enough troops be left at Washington to secure 
it from danger. After McClellan was well on his way, he learned 
that McDowell with 40,000 men, on whom he had counted, was to be 
retained on the Potomac. He complained bitterly, but Lincoln held 
that the retention of McDowell was in keeping with his agreement. 
Early in April McClellan had 100,000 men at Fortress Monroe 
and began to advance cautiously. The confederates made a show 
of opposition at Yorktown, stretching a thin line across 
^is the Peninsula, at that place thirteen miles wide. It 

the^cwcka*- could have been carried easily, but McClellan thought it 
hominy. required siege operations. He brought up his heavy guns, 
constructed intrenchments, and after a month's delay was 
ready to open fire when the enemy quietly left their position. At 
Williamsburg they fought a rear-guard action in which they lost 1570 
men to their opponents' 1866. But they still retreated, and were 
closely followed. The fleet with the supply ships passing up the York 
seized White House Landing, twenty miles from Richmond, and made 
it a base of supplies for the army, which was thrown out to the Chicka- 
hominy, ten miles from the city. This was the situation on May 16. 
The federal advance into the interior made Norfolk unsafe for the 
confederates, and they evacuated it, destroying the ram Virginia 
(Merrimac), which they could not remove. This left the 
Opened. '^^'^ federal fleet without opposition in these waters, and it 
ascended the James to Drury's Bluff, six miles from Rich- 
mond. Here it encountered strong batteries, beyond which it did not 
go. A cooperating land force could have taken this position, but 
McClellan was on the York, which allowed him to keep his army 
between the confederates and Washington. 

Meanwhile, the confederates clung to Richmond, and Lincoln, losing 
his fears for Washington's safety, ordered McDowell to Fredericksburg, 
and thence to the aid of McClellan. Six days later, May 24, the order 



JACKSON IN THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY 547 

was reversed on account of unexpected developments in the Shenan- 
doah valley. This region furnishes a safe approach to Harper's Ferry, 
sixty miles from the capital and seventy-five from Balti- 
more. Stonewall Jackson was in its lower part with 1 7,000 Jackson's 
men, watched by Banks with ig,ooo near Strasburg, and ,„ th"'°° 
Fremont, with 15,000 in the mountains to the westward valley. 
— all within easy distance. Besides these, there were 
7000 men at Harjjer's Ferry. Milroy, under Fremont, stood with 
3500 men at McDowell, 25 miles west of Staunton, so that if Jackson 
advanced on Banks, Milroy might close in on his rear. 

The approach of McClellan to Richmond made it advisaljle for 
Jackson to create a diversion, so as to draw off McDowell, and he began 
a brilliant campaign which well illustrates what an inferior force, when 
well handled, may do in conflict with a divided opposition. First he 
fell unexpectedly on Milroy and defeated him, and pursuing him 
northward threw Fremont into such terror that he was not a factor 
in the situation for several days. Then returning to the valley, he 
moved swiftly on Banks at Strasburg, whose force had just been 
weakened by sending 10,000 men under Shields to help McDowell 
in his movement to the aid of McClellan. Jackson was nearly on 
Banks before his approach was known. The latter was too weak to 
fight, and hastened northward, the confederates in hot pursuit. At 
Winchester, May 25, they overtook Banks, charged him at dawn, 
and sent his force beaten and demoralized toward the Potomac, 
which the fugitives crossed the next day, Jackson stopping at Haq^er's 
Ferry. This unexpected movement created consternation in Wash- 
ington, which, the authorities thought, was Jackson's objective. It 
was on this account that McDowell was ordered to turn 
away from Fredericksburg. Lincoln hoped to throw him ^^^j 
into the valley south of Jackson's position, to bring Fre- jackson. 
mont from the west into the same position, and thus sur- 
round and capture Jackson. Orders to this effect were given ; but 
Jackson knew his danger and began a retreat as rapid as his advance. 
He barely slipped into Strasburg before Shields and Fremont reached 
them from opposite directions, and, when they tried to follow him 
down the valley, hurled them back in two sharp battles. In a month's 
campaign he had captured many prisoners and vast supply trains, 
which he safely sent off from Port Republic, and he had drawn 
McDowell so far westward that he was worth nothing to McClellan, 
who must fight Johnston unaided. 

But McClellan was not in danger. He had nearly 120,000 men, 
and his pickets were in sight of Richmond, within which Johnston 
could muster but 63,000. The union army was in five corps,_ two 
of which under Keyes and Heintzelman were south of the Chicka- 
hominy, then swollen by rains, and the others under Porter, Sumner, 
and Franklin were north of it to protect the railroad to White 



548 THE WAR IN THE EAST 

House Landing and to touch hands with McDowell, who was expected 
up to May 24. Johnston saw his opportunity and fell on the two 

isolated corps of Keyes and Heintzelman on May 31 at 
The Ba;tle Seven Pines, or Fair Oaks. He fought hard and drove 
P'neT^^'^ back his opponents, but they were not crushed, and late 
May 31. in the day Sumner crossed the river and saved the battle 

ere dark. Next day other troops were thrown over, and the 
united army drove back the confederates to their position in the 
beginning of the action. At sunset on the 31st, Johnston was severely 

wounded, and June i Robert E. Lee succeeded him. Two 

o^l!^»„^ roads ran from this region into the city, and across them 
Command. . Y i 1 i • 1 1 • 1 i • 

he began to throw up breastworks, behmd which his army 

was placed. Rain for two weeks made the ground impossible for 
artillery, and Lee was thus able to finish his defenses before they 
could be assailed. 

McClellan has been criticized for not assaulting, but he had an- 
other plan of battle. He was strong in artillery and proposed to plant 

it advantageously and force the confederate lines by ap- 
Siege proaching in siege fashion, — a slow but sure method for a 

Planned. superior force. Davis and Lee both admitted that it 

would be successful. Not daring to await such an attack, 
they planned a movement around the federal right. Jackson, still 
in the Shenandoah valley, was to elude McDowell, and march to the 

north of McClellan's lines, while Lee, coming out of his 
Confederate intrenchments, would join Jackson at the right moment. 
Attack. c^^ McClellan's communications, and surround and capture 

him, or send him in confusion back to the York river. The 
danger in this was that Jackson's cooperation might be ill-timed or 
that McClellan might penetrate Lee's lines when they were weakened 
and occupy Richmond. Lee knew both his lieutenant and his foe. 
He did not believe the former would fail him, nor that the latter had 
enough enterprise to strike for Richmond at the critical moment. In 
both conclusions his judgment proved good. 

Jackson cleverly got out of the valley and, marching with that 
rapidity which won for his men the name of "foot cavalry," was 

north of Richmond on June 26. Here Porter's corps, 
Mechamcs- ^};)q^i 25,000 strong, protected the federal right at Me- 
26.^' "°^ chanicsville, the only federal troops north of the Chicka- 

hominy. At this moment Lee ordered out A. P. Hill's, 
Longstreet's, and D. H. HUl's divisions to unite with Jackson and 
crush Porter. The former moved at the appointed hour and fought 

a vigorous battle at Mechanicsville, June 26 ; but Jackson 
Gaines's ^^^ Yia,\i a day late and Hill's attack was beaten back. 
June 27. In ^^^ night the four confederate lieutenants united their 

forces and faced Porter with 55,000 men. The latter 
was badly placed, and by the orders of his superior fell back to Gaines's 



McCLELLAN'S ESCAPE 549 

Mill, where he received and checked the first confederate charge 
about noon of the 27th. All through the afternoon he fought desper- 
ately, but at sunset his lines were broken by a general assault and his 
defeated corps, numbering with reenforcements 31,000, was forced off 
the field and sought safety south of the river. During this day 
McClellan had over 60,000 men south of the river, between Lee and 
Richmond, in which were only 25,000 defenders. He might well 
have overcome this force arid taken the city, but his 
overcautious mind thought at least 100,000 confederates McCieilan's 
were in Richmond, and he thought this was proved by opportunity, 
the fact that Lee did not hesitate to leave the place for 
operations against Porter. 

The capture of the north bank of the Chickahominy placed Lee 
across the communications of the federal army. He believed the 
federals would either fight their way back or retreat down 
the peninsula to Fortress Monroe. On the morning of ^'535^^°^® 
the 28th clouds of dust to the east seemed to show they 
had taken the latter course, and he made arrangements to follow. 
It was not until next morning that he learned he was mistaken. 
McClellan had determined to shift his base to the James and was 
rapidly executing that movement, much benefited by the twenty- 
four hours' start Lee unwittingly gave him. He was followed with 
haste on the 29th, but held his own in a hard fight at 
Savage's Station, and again on the 30th in a still harder Savage's 
encounter at Frayser's Farm, or Glendale. July i he was p*^**g°j., ^^^ 
on the bank of the James, marching southeastward to parm, June 
Harrison's Landing, where the anchorage was good. 29 and 30. 
He took a strong position at Malvern Hill, overlooking the 
river, and for a moment the confederates hesitated to attack. But 
Lee believed he had defeated most of the federal army at Gaines's 
Mill, and thought his opponents so demoralized that they 
could not make a successful resistance. He ordered the g.jj j^jy ^ 
assault, and his forces were received with well-directed 
artillery and infantry fire and defeated with heavy loss. It is conceded 
that the battle of Malvern Hill was an error on the part of the con- 
federate commander, due to his underestimation of the strength and 
condition of the federals. 

The Seven Days' Battles, June 26 to July i, comprised five en- 
gagements in which McClellan lost 15,849 and Lee 20,135. The 
result was a union defeat in the sense that Richmond was j^^g^j^g 
not taken. But McClellan at Harrison's Landing was 
only twenty miles from Richmond, and had a safe base of operations. 
His army, though exhausted and dispirited, was not demoralized, and 
might have taken the offensive again after a short period of rest. 
He himself had no thought of giving up and called for reenforcements. 
But the confidence of the government in the general was undermined. 



5SO THE WAR IN THE EAST 

reenforcements were not sent, and after ten days of hesitation it was 
determined to recall him to Washington and move his army to north- 
ern Virginia. The controversy that arose over his treatment is his- 
toric. Personally he was arrogant, and his letters to Lincoln were 

full of bitter reproaches. The president's replies are 
M*ci always in the kindest terms, and it cannot be doubted 

Controversy. ^^^^ ^^ supported his unpopular general as long as the 

country at large would have it. But spite of his faults, 
McClellan was a safe campaigner of the deliberate kind, and if he had 
been given his way, he would probably have hung on at Richmond 
until he stormed it into surrender. It is in his favor that the city 
finally fell before a nine months' siege in which Grant approached 
from practically the same quarter that McClellan selected in the 
beginning of the war. 

Pope and Second Bull Run 

July II, ten days after Malvern Hill, Halleck was recalled from St. 
Louis and made commander of all the union armies with headquarters 

in Washington. For the success in the West his subordi- 
and Pope nates were chiefly responsible, but this was not as clear 

then as later. He became, in fact, military associate with 
the president and the secretary of war, who, since January, 1862, was 
the strong-willed Stanton. The armies of Fremont, Banks, and 
McDowell were consolidated, in all 43,000 men, and Pope, victor at 
Island No. 10, was placed in command. He was an aggressive general, 
but incautious. He issued a proclamation to his new army contain- 
ing these words, and others of similar import: "I have come to you 
from the West, where we have always seen the backs of our enemies ; 
from an army whose business it has been to seek the adversary and 
to beat him when he was found. ... I presume that I have been 
called here to pursue the same system." This overconfident spirit 
offended the officers and privates, who were sensitive about their 
recent defeats. In an unlucky moment he said, by common report, 
that his headquarters would be in the saddle, a phrase which set his 
soldiers laughing at his expense. Early in July he mobilized his 
army in front of Washington and turned its face southward along the 
line of railroad that ran to Manassas, arriving undisturbed at Cul- 
peper. He was much under the influence of Stanton and other radical 
politicians whose interference frequently created difficulties for Lin- 
coln and the generals. 

At Culpeper, Pope threatened Gordonsville, where the railroad 
from the north crosses another from Staunton going eastward. To 
protect it Lee sent forward Jackson with nearly 24,000 men, who 
reached Gordonsville and turned northward, while Banks, followed 
at an interval by Sigel with Fremont's old army, was hurrying 



JACKSON IN POPE'S REAR 551 

southward. August 8, Jackson struck Banks, whose force was only 
8000, at Cedar Mountain. The federal troops remembered the valley 
campaign and fought desperately, but they were outnum- 
bered two to one and were forced back on Sigel late in the Jackson 
afternoon. Then Jackson halted for the arrival of Lee, ^^^^ 
who, at last satisfied that McClellan's army was withdraw- cedar 
ing from Harrison's Landing, was moving rapidly on Gor- Mountain, 
donsville. McClellan's men were then marching overland 
to Yorktown and Fortress Monroe to embark for Acquia Creek, on 
the Potomac, whence they would undoubtedly be sent to strengthen 
Pope ; but as this movement would require two weeks Lee hoped by a 
quick concentration to crush Pope before reenforcements reached Cul- 
peper. But Pope displayed unexpected caution. From a captured dis- 
patch he learned Lee's plan and fell back behind the Rappahannock 
and was 35 miles from Acquia Creek, where troops were already land- 
ing. There was much confusion in high circles in Washington, but 
Pope was ordered to hold the Rappahannock at every hazard, and 
it was believed that a forward movement would follow a federal con- 
centration. 

All this came to naught through a brilliant movement, probably 
conceived by Stonewall Jackson. It was, in brief, to send Jackson 
with 25,000 men well around Pope's right to cut the rail- 
road by which the union supplies came up. Pope, it pI'^'Ji^o^^'**^ 
might be expected, would fall back and fight Jackson, Attack, 
who must manage to beat him off for a short time, while 
Lee, making a still wider detour to the west, would come up as Pope 
fought, take position by Jackson's side, and complete the work of 
federal demoralization. It was a hazardous measure, but Lee felt 
he could risk something in the presence of a general so unwary as 
Pope. The result showed that his confidence was well founded. In 
fact, the plan worked better than was anticipated ; for Jackson was 
able to elude his enemy until Lee was actually at hand. 

The start was made August 25, and twenty-five miles were covered 
that day in safety. Pope heard that a large body of troops was march- 
ing on his right and should have occupied the passes in that 
direction, but he thought the confederate army was moving p^^^^^°^ 
into the Shenandoah valley by Fort Royal, and neglected Pope's Rear. 
to protect his rear. Eight miles north of the Rappahan- 
nock a range of hills, the Bull Run mountains, runs away north- 
ward, broken sixteen miles west of Manassas by Thoroughfare Gap. 
Passing beyond these hills, which screened his movements, Jackson 
halted before the Gap on the night of the 26th, and next morning 
passed through it, moving rapidly eastward. In the late afternoon 
he reached Bristoe Station, cut the telegraph lines, broke the rail- 
road track, and sending a portion of his force to Manassas destroyed 
a vast depot of federal supplies after appropriating all his troops 



552 THE WAR IN THE EAST 

could consume or carry with them. In this process he spent all of 
the 27th, throwing out detachments north and south to save 
his main force from surppse. 

About 8 o'clock on the 26th, Pope learned the confederates were in 
his rear. He did not think they were divided, but thought they 

could not have gone further than Warrenton and that the 
Pope's demonstration at Bristoe was only a feint. He gave 

rograde ^ orders, therefore, to concentrate at Warrenton, where he 
Movement, expected to offer battle. But riding to Bristoe late in the 

day he discovered that Jackson was resting at Manassas and 
gave sharp orders for a concentration at that point. McDowell had 
divined the true situation and occupied the approaches to Thorough- 
fare Gap, by which Lee must come up. If he had held them, the 
force at Manassas must have been isolated and badly handled. But 
he obeyed orders, and on the 28th withdrew just as Longstreet, com- 
manding the other half of Lee's army, approached it from the west. 
He moved toward Manassas, where Pope arrived at noon of the same 
day. To the surprise of Pope his prey had gone in the night. No 
one knew just where, but it was said he went to the northeast. Pope 
supposed the confederates were trying to reach Alexandria and 
gave orders to move northward. Jackson's departure to the north- 
east was only a feint. He soon doubled back toward Thoroughfare 

Gap and took a strong position on the heights of Groveton, 

??nT° ^^° ™^^^^ "^^^^ °^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ -^^^ battlefield. He con- 
Battle, cealed his force as well as he could through the night and 
next forenoon, August 29, and awaited news from Long- 
street. On the same morning the supporting column cleared the Gap, 
and Jackson, hearing the good news, revealed his position and opened 
fire on union columns moving along the roads toward the north. 
Longstreet, hearing the guns, hurried his steps, and arriving at noon 
found his friend warmly engaged, the union brigades coming up 
rapidly and forming line of battle as they arrived. Longstreet placed 
himself on Jackson's right, before which Porter's corps had taken 
position. Pope was determined to fight a battle, and ordered Porter 
to turn Jackson's right ; but Porter, finding masses of infantry before 
him, refused to sacrifice his men, and reported the situation. Pope 
paid no attention to this information, for he still thought Longstreet 
beyond the Bull Run mountains. He therefore assaulted Jackson's 
center, and renewed his orders to Porter to turn the confederate left. 
Again Porter refused to attack, action for which he was cashiered and 
removed from command, only to be completely exonerated by con- 
gress after many years of discussion. At nightfall the confederates 
were still in position, the union assaults in the center had been beaten 
off, and Pope's army was dispirited. 

But the general, who six weeks earlier had talked so confidently of 
victory, could not make up his mind to fall back as he should have 



POPE DEFEATED 553 

done. He remained in his tracks, and on the morning of the 30th re- 
sumed the battle. Moving Porter from the left he sent him against 
Lee's center. This gallant officer, stung by criticisms of 
the previous day, now showed the greatest bravery ; but g ^y'^ r 
his best efforts were in vain. Then Lee took the offensive, Manassas, 
charging the federals persistently, forcing them back to 
the Henry House, on the battlefield of the preceding year — where 
by a desperate stand the confederates were held at bay until the 
demoralized federals had crossed Bull Run and blown up the famous 
old bridge behind them. The army marched on toward Washington, 
Lee sent Jackson in a pursuit which ended on September i, when the 
pursuers were barely defeated at Chantilly, where gallant Phil 
Kearny lost his life. In this campaign Pope lost 14,000 out of 
80,000 men and Lee lost 9000 out of 54,000. 

Thus ended Pope's campaign. In the flood of unpopularity which 
came upon him the country forgot his good qualities. He was as 
hard a fighter as Hood, who impetuously wore himself out 
fighting Sherman and Thomas. But, like Hood, he was commander 
arrayed against very able generals. He was deceived by 
Jackson's remarkably rapid march and by Lee's audacious tactics. He 
lost his self-control when he found himself cut off from his base and 
gave orders in utter distraction ; but when once the enemy's position 
was revealed he turned and fought bravely. It is due him, also, to 
say that he was much hampered by his superiors. Halleck assumed 
to direct his movements, kept him in ignorance of the plans of cam- 
paign being made in Washington, and left him ignorant of the move- 
ments of reenforcement which had been promised. But the disaster 
at second Bull Run destroyed Pope's influence over his army, and his 
removal became a necessity. 

The Campaign of Antietam 

Lee was not strong enough to besiege Washington, and foresaw that 
to wait at Manassas would invite a federal countermove, before which 
he must fall back with a loss of prestige. He concluded 
to proceed at once into Maryland, hoping the people there J'®® 
would join his army in numbers. His plan was to march Maryland, 
to Hagerstown, where he would force a battle with the 
union army, and beating it to threaten Harrisburg and probably Bal- 
timore. As it was just at this time that Kirby Smith and Bragg 
were operating successfully in Kentucky (see page 529) it was hoped 
that such an impression might be made on European opinion that 
recognition of the confederacy would follow. September 4, less than 
a week after Pope's crushing defeat, his advance under Jackson 
crossed the Potomac twenty-five miles above Washington, and by 
the 7th the rest of his army was in Maryland. Reenforced by the 



554 THE WAR IN THE EAST 

troops he had left in Richmond he had hardly 60,000 men. Septem- 
ber 6, Jackson reached Frederick, where the now repudiated Barbara- 
Frietchie incident was said to have occurred. To his surprise the 
farmers drove off their cattle and would not sell their 
Han)er's grain. Then Lee decided to open a line of supplies 
Captured. through the Shenandoah valley, at the entrance of which 
was Harper's Ferry with a garrison of 12,500 men. To 
remove this obstacle he sent Jackson on the loth, with orders to com- 
plete his task and rejoin his commander as quickly as possible. To 
divide his army thus in the presence of the enemy was ordinarily bad 
generalship ; but he knew his opponents were slow and he believed 
no harmful results would follow. Jackson's march was swift, as 
usual, and on the 14th he occupied the hills which encircle the place, 
and the garrison, with many valuable stores, was surrendered with- 
out a battle. 

But let us return to the army of Pope, marching on September 5 
hopelessly back to Washington. Near the city the vanguard was 
met by McClellan with orders to take command. In a 
McClellan moment the spirit of the soldiers changed, and shouts of 
mand. J^y welcomed him as he rode past the regiments. Pope 

was assigned to other duties in Washington. The same 
day orders were given to enter Maryland and follow Lee, but it was 
not until the loth that McClellan had reorganized the army, and the 
12th before he reached Frederick, through which the confederates 
had passed a few days earlier. Here he was handed, at 6 p.m. on the 
13th, an order from Lee to D. H. Hill, recently found by a private, 
which revealed the plans of the confederate commander. It showed 
him that his opponent's army was divided, and he decided to place 
himself between its two parts. Twelve miles west of him were the 
South mountains, with two gaps in them, beyond which the roads 
connecting the two confederate forces were no more than eight miles 
away. Had he marched in the night he might have 
His Slow occupied these passes, but he waited until daylight, and 
to Lee. when he reached them found they were held by the con- 

federates. By hard fighting the gaps were both carried 
on the 14th, but the loss was severe. By this time Lee had learned 
the fate of the lost order and was falling back from Hagerstown. He 
stopped at Sharpsburg, threw up intrenchments in a strong position 
with Antietam creek on his front, and waited Jackson, who on the 
morning of the 15th received the surrender of Harper's Ferry and 
immediately set out to rejoin Lee, fifteen miles away. From Lee's 
position to the South mountains was only nine miles, and McClellan 
easily covered them by noon of the 15th. If he had fought in the 
afternoon he would have had half the confederate force at his mercy ; 
but he chose to wait while his army recuperated. Next morning 
Jackson's men were coming up rapidly, but the last divisions did not 



INVASION OF MARYLAND 555 

arrive until the following morning, the 17th. Yet McClellan was idle 
on the 1 6th. Nothing could better show how little he was capable 
of seizing upon a favorable situation. 

There was skirmishing late on the i6th, but it was not until dawn 
of the 17th that the battle was opened. Three corps, Hooker's, 
Mansfield's, and Sumner's, had approached Lee's left on 
the i6th, showing him where to expect attack. He Battle of 
drew back his lines and strengthened the point threatened. September 
In the early morning Hooker came up most vigorously. 17, 1862. 
As he struggled for the high ground in front of him, Mans- 
field came up and joined in the battle. But the latter officer was 
killed, Hooker was severely wounded, and soon afterwards their corps 
fell back out of the deadly fire. Then Sumner advanced on the same 
position unsupported. He received the concentrated fire of Lee's 
left wing, and was so cut up that he had to withdraw with severe loss. 
Thus by one o'clock the fighting on Lee's left ended in a repulse. It 
was immediately renewed on his right, where Burnside's men pressed 
against lines which had been weakened to meet the charge on the 
left. They carried the battle before them and seemed about to seize 
the high ground which commanded this part of the field when A. P. 
Hill's division of Jackson's corps rushed up, completing an eighteen- 
mile march from Harper's Ferry. Without orders from Lee they fell 
on the advancing union line and drove it back with bloody effect to 
its original position. Then night came, and the battle of Antietam 
was over. Lee's army of 60,000 had repelled the attack with a loss 
of 11,000 killed and wounded. McClellan with 87,000 lost 12,400. 

Next morning each army was in position, but McClellan did not 
renew the battle. Lee's advance into Maryland was checked, and 
nothing was left but to recross the Potomac, which was 
only two miles behind his position. This he did on the ^/fjl^'*^ 
19th without interference from his unaggressive adversary. Battle. 
September 17 was the bloodiest single day in the war. 
The union soldiers fought splendidly, and justified the confidence of 
their commander. The nation received the news with joy ; for al- 
though the confederacy was not destroyed, the union army's prestige 
was reestablished and the North was relieved from invasion. McClel- 
lan 's failure to impede the confederate retreat again brought his 
serious failing into prominence, and for this he was removed, the 
command going, November 5, to Burnside. 

The Battle of Fredericksburg 

Burnside did not wish to lead the army, but the appointment came 
as an order, and he obeyed it. The whole situation demanded a move 
on Richmond. Indeed, it was for not moving that McClellan was dis- 
placed. Two railroads ran from the Potomac southward ; one from 



Ss6 THE WAR IN THE EAST 

Washington by way of Manassas, through a rolling country in which 
the rivers are narrow, the other from Acquia Creek through Fred- 
ericksburg to Richmond, crossing rivers comparatively 
C^and!° ^^osid. Along the former both McDowell in 1861 and Pope 
in 1862 had operated. If the country was more prac- 
' ticable than that to the eastward, it gave a longer approach to Rich- 
mond. Burnside, weighing all advantages and disadvantages, con- 
cluded to move by Acquia Creek and Fredericksburg, and 
f Ad *" Lincoln, after some hesitation, accepted the plan. Lee 
was then at Culpeper with Longstreet, and Jackson was 
far away in the valley. Burnside ordered pontoons, and eluding Lee 
moved quickly to the Rappahannock opposite Fredericksburg, hoping 
to cross the river and hold the heights south of it before Lee could 
arrive. But his pontoons were not ready promptly, and when they 
arrived Longstreet held the southern heights and Jackson was coming 
up rapidly. Burnside had 113,000 and Lee, with Jackson at hand, 
had 78,000 men. 

The ground adjoining the river on the south is a plain from a mile 
to a mile and a half wide, covered by Burnside's guns on the north 
bank. Behind it rise hills, on the crest of which Lee took 
Battle of position. His left was held by Longstreet and his right 
Fredencks- ^y Jackson, who arrived there on the 12th and was not 
cember 13, well intrenched on the day of the battle. Burnside 
1862. divided his force into three grand divisions under Hooker, 

Franklin, and Sumner. The first remained in reserve on 
the north bank, but the second and third he threw across the river 
on the 12th, where they remained safely on the plain. Franklin con- 
fronted Jackson, and Sumner, protected by the streets of Fredericks- 
burg, was before Longstreet. Burnside by this time showed that the 
problem on his mind overwhelmed him. He displayed little decision, 
and his lieutenants were full of misgivings. Early on the 13th Frank- 
lin received an order which might mean to carry the works before 
him or to make a reconnaissance in force. The former was Burn- 
side's intention, but Franklin in some doubt sent forward Meade's 
division, and some time later supported it with Gibbons's 
On the division. The former went forward with great courage, 

Right. found a weak point, and penetrated Jackson's line, but 

he was not well supported, and was driven back with 
heavy loss by the confederate commander. With this, fighting 
ceased on this wing. 

In the town Sumner had been held in restraint, but 
On the j^Q^y came on to assault Longstreet. It was a murderous 

Marye's ' task; for here the confederate position was exceedingly 
Heights. strong. Its center was Marye's Heights, well defended 
at the top by artillery and at the bottom by an infantry 
line behind a stone wall. Across the plain by which it was reached was 



LEE AGAINST HOOKER 557 

an old canal, which would impede a charge, and the whole plain was 
so well covered that a confederate engineer remarked that it would 
be impossible for a chicken to live on it, once the confederate guns 
opened fire. Sumner's brigades, however, were thrown six times 
across this deadly spot, each time recoiling with enormous loss. 
Hooker, who had come over the river, rode hastily back to Burnside, 
on the north bank, to urge that the assault cease, but the general 
would not relent until 8000 of his men lay on the fatal slopes. The 
total loss in that day's fighting was 12,653 federals and 5377 con- 
federates. December 15, under cover of night and a violent storm, 
the union army withdrew to the north bank. Grief and . 

despair reigned in army and nation. Burnside himself command, 
was crushed, some of his highest officers were at open feud 
with him, and he asked for their dismissal or the acceptance of his 
own resignation. January 26 he was removed, and the command 
went to Hooker, chief of Burnside 's critics. 

The Battle of Chancellorsville 

Hooker was a good fighter, and the soldiers liked him. His ap- 
pointment to command them restored the broken spirits of the men, 
and by April they were anxious to meet their foes. Re- 
cruiting had brought the numbers up to 130,000, while g^^^^Jj^^ 
Lee in Fredericksburg had only 60,000. April 27, Hooker initiative, 
broke up his camp opposite Lee, sending three corps thirty 
miles up the river. Here they crossed and turning eastward on its 
right bank approached Chancellorsville, nine miles from Fredericks- 
burg. On the 30th another corps crossed the river and joined the 
other three, so that Hooker by clever marching was in good position 
beyond the river with 40,000 men and on Lee's left flank. While 
this was going on, Sedgwick with 20,000 men had crossed the Rappa- 
hannock south of Lee's position and threatened his rear. May i, 
Hooker moved a short distance toward the enemy, but when he 
suddenly met them coming toward him, eager for battle, his confidence 
forsook him, and he fell back to Chancellorsville against 
the advice of his generals. Here he selected a position ^bandons 
with his back to the river, near a ford, and awaited at- offensive, 
tack. Since he far outnumbered Lee, it would have been 
better to have made the attack. Part of his line lay in the "Wilder- 
ness," a region covered with small trees and chaparral 
and difficult for marching troops. His officers and sol- Battle of 
diers were disgusted that he so quickly relinquished a ^^g"*^j!^"*'"' 
promising offensive and accepted a careful defensive. May ^ ^ ^^^^ ^^ 
2, Lee was before him ready to attack, spite of his nu- 1863. 
merical inferiority. Jackson is said to have suggested 
the plan of battle which was adopted. While the confederate line 



555 THE WAR IN THE EAST 

made feint after feint along the union front, he made a detour of 
fifteen miles, until at five o'clock in the afternoon he fell unexpec- 
tedly on Hooker's extreme right, routing Howard's corps and badly 
demoralizing the corps next to it. Then darkness closed down, and it 
seemed that the coming of dawn would witness a renewed and suc- 
cessful light by the terrible Jackson. But his end was at hand. In 
the twilight he rode past his own sentinels to reconnoiter in the en- 
emy's rear. Half an hour later a group of horsemen galloped back 

on the sentinels and received a volley, after which a voice 
Jackson °^^ °^ ^^^ '^''^'"^ called : "Boys, don't fire again : you have 

hit General Jackson !" They carried him through lines 
of his own awe-stricken men to a hospital, and May lo he died. Had 
he been at Gettysburg, as Lee truly said, the story of the battle would 
have been different. 

May 3 the battle was renewed, and by lo o'clock the field belonged 
to the confederates. Hooker, dazed by the effects of a cannon ball, 

which struck a column against which he leaned, drew back 
Comoieted^ toward the river. Sedgwick now approached behind Lee, 

after driving off Early with 9000 men, whom Lee left at 
Fredericksburg. Lee believed Hooker was past active resistance, and 
turned his back on him to crush Sedgwick. He found him on the 
river's edge, five miles from the camp of his superior commander, and 
pressed him so disastrously on the 4th that Sedgwick crossed to the 
north bank during the night. Then Lee turned again on Hooker's 
80,000, who stood not to fight, although they would have done it 
with a better general, but withdrew to the north bank by the morn- 
ing of the 6th. Through three days of fighting at Chancellorsville 
the losses were 17,287 on the union side and 12,463 on the confederate 
side. It was the last great confederate victory. 

The Gettysburg Campaign 

Lee's motives in invading the North were three : i . He wished to 
transfer the war to enemy's territory. 2. It was becoming evident 
that Vicksburg would fall, and he wished to counteract its 
Motives effect by a victory of his own equally decisive, i.e. by tak- 
ing Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Baltimore, or even Wash- 
ington. 3. He knew the North was tiring of the war, that the terms 
of enlistment of her soldiers were expiring, and he thought a great 
defeat now would tend to make her accept peace on the basis of 
Southern independence. Calling to him Longstreet's corps, which was 
_. p. not in the battle of Chancellorsville, he had nearly 80,000 

men, while his antagonist could hardly muster more until 
the new levies could be assembled. The rest of his army was in two 
corps : Jackson's old corps, now commanded by Ewell, and another 
commanded by A. P. Hill. To Ewell was given the van, and he 



LEE IN PENNSYLVANIA 559 

started June 10 for the Shenandoah valley, which he easily cleared of 
union troops. June 15 he began to cross the Potomac, whence he 
moved to Hagerstown, Maryland. A few days' march behind him 
went Hill, and after him Longstreet, so that by June 26 the three 
corps were across the Potomac. So well did Lee's cavalry screen his 
movements that these initial stages of his campaign were accom- 
plished without revealing his intentions to Hooker. But in the last 
days of June its leader, Jeb Stuart, made one of his daring 
raids, passing between Washington and the federal army V^^ 
into Pennsylvania. He reached York after Early had left cavalry, 
it, went on to Carlisle, to find Ewell was not there, and only 
arrived at Gettysburg on July 2, his horses so exhausted that they 
were not fit for service. At Hanover, on his march, Stuart had a 
sharp battle with the federal horse, an arm which Hooker had brought 
to a high state of efficiency. His absence from Lee's immediate front 
gave the federal commander an opportunity to observe the confeder- 
ate movements, and the result was a more rapid union concentration 
than Lee had expected. 

Meanwhile, Ewell marched rapidly toward Harrisburg. June 27, he 
reached Carlisle and sent Early's division eastward to York, which 
was forced to pay a contribution. Early tried to seize 
the Columbia bridge over the Susquehanna, so as to ap- fY®^^'^ 
proach the state capital from the east ; but a retreating Harrisburg. 
militia regiment had the forethought to burn the bridge, and 
this point marked the limit of Early's eastern advance. At the same 
time Ewell, halting at Carlisle, prepared to attack Harrisburg with 
his main force. His cavalry, in fact, reached the Susquehanna oppo- 
site the town, but on June 29, Lee, who with Longstreet and Hill had 
reached Chambersburg, ordered him back with all his corps, and the 
Pennsylvania capital was no longer in danger. 

Lee's order to Ewell was due to an unexpectedly rapid concentra- 
tion of the union army. Hooker, who was at cross purposes with 
Halleck, was forced to remain in Virginia as long as Lee . 

was there. When at last he crossed the Potomac to command. 
Frederick, he had been so hampered by his superiors that 
the union columns were widely separated. In despair of getting them 
together, he proposed to resign. The offer was accepted, and thus it 
happened that on June 27 General Meade was placed in command. 
He was an able general, of the McClellan school, and he could get 
on with Halleck. He hastened northward to place himself between 
Lee and Baltimore, entering Pennsylvania June 30. Lee 
was at Chambersburg when he learned he was being po^centrat- 
pursued. Hill and Longstreet with him. The former he Gettysburg, 
sent to Gettysburg at once, and ordered the latter to fol- 
low, while Ewell was directed to move from his advanced position 
to the same place. This convinced Meade, then at Taneytown, 



S6o THE WAR IN THE EAST 

Maryland, that Lee sought a battle, and he selected the ground he 
would take at Pipe Creek, just south of the Maryland line — about 
13 miles from Gettysburg. To delay Lee, he sent Reynolds forward 
to Gettysburg with three corps, expecting they would fall back as 
they were pressed. Ahead of them marched Buford's cavalry, which 
arrived at Gettysburg June 30, in the night. 

Three roads from the south and southeast converge on Gettys- 
burg, from Emmitsburg, Taneytown, and Baltimore. Along them 
on the morning of July i marched the union troops from 
Battlefield ^^'"^ ^° thirty miles away. Of the several roads on the 
west and north, one leads from Chambersburg, and along 
it were marching Hill and Longstreet, while another approaches from 
Carlisle, and along it came Ewell. Just south of the town in the 
sharp angle between the Emmitsburg and Taneytown roads is a hill 
on whose top was the town cemetery. The ground rises to it gently, 
and from its southern edge a ridge runs away for a mile or more, 
beyond which is a small hill, Little Round Top, and a much larger 
one, Round Top. East of the cemetery is a slight depression, beyond 
which is another elevation. Gulp's Hill. Taken as a whole it offers 
an ideal battlefield for an army fighting on the defensive. Its gentle 
slope gives good play for artillery. Stone walls and bowlders on its 
crest furnish cover for the infantry, its outward curve makes its in- 
terior lines short and easy, and the hills at either extremity protect 
it against flanking movements. 

Past this strong position rode Buford when he entered the town, 
Reynolds's infantry a few miles behind him. He well knew the con- 
federates were approaching, and early in the morning 
The Battle nioved out on the roads by which they marched. Across 
July I. ^^^^ Chambersburg pike, three-quarters of a mile from 

Gettysburg, he posted his men on a wooded height known 
as Seminary Ridge. At nine o'clock Hill's van came in sight, halted, 
formed a line of battle, and opened fire. Every moment the line 
grew stronger, and about eleven Buford was about to be driven back 
when Reynolds's force arrived and the fight continued, brigades on 
each side being thrown into the battle line as fast as they arrived. 
Just before noon Reynolds was killed. His men were discouraged, 
but held their position until 3 o'clock, when Ewell's corps was coming 
up from the north. They formed on Hill's left and enveloped the 
union right so that it fell back, lest it be surrounded. Hill now ad- 
vanced and held Seminary Ridge, while Ewell pushed his line through 
Gettysburg to the town's southern limits, five hundred 
L t O^ yards from the cemetery on the hill. This quiet spot was 

portunity. ^^^ scene of much confusion as the union columns reached 
it. Cannon were not in position for defense, and the men 
were too tired to make a spirited stand. If Ewell had advanced with 
his relatively fresh troops, he must have carried the hill and forced 



A THREE DAYS' BATTLE 561 

the union troops to concentrate at Pipe's Creek. But Ewell let the 
opportunity go, and Hancock, who had just arrived to take Reynolds's 
place, recognizing the strength of the position, intrenched as rapidly 
as possible, placed his guns in position, and sent messengers urging 
Meade to bring up all the troops. By dark they were arriving rapidly, 
and at one o'clock in the morning Meade arrived and confirmed Han- 
cock's decision to fight at Gettysburg. By dawn Cemetery Ridge 
was well defended. 

By this time Lee's army was at Gettysburg, or in easy distance. 
Hill lay on Seminary Ridge, stretching away to the southward. Ewell 
was on Hill's left, his own left going as far east as Gulp's 
Hill, and Longstreet, who at nightfall of the ist was on J^JJ^ck^^^*'^ 
the Chambersburg Pike in Hill's rear, was ordered to juiy2.' 
move at dawn as quietly as possible to Hill's right, and 
seize Little Round Top, from which batteries, as Lee saw, could sweep 
the whole union line. Had the order been given to a Stonewall Jackson, 
it would probably have been executed ; but Longstreet did not favor 
forcing the battle and wished to flank Meade out of his strong posi- 
tion. He did not get his force into position until the afternoon, and 
when he charged against the hill it had been occupied by a federal 
force, and the assault was driven back. But just north of the hill 
Longstreet encountered Sickles's corps, thrown out beyond the ridge, 
and against it he delivered a severe battle. Meade sent division after 
division to stem the tide, and by six o'clock the attack here was re- 
pelled, although Sickles, severely wounded, was driven back to the 
top of the ridge. During the afternoon, but later, Ewell 
made an attack on Meade's right. At Gulp's Hill he ^JJ^"j^^ 
carried all before him, and when his advance was stopped jyjy 2.' 
by darkness, his troops were within dangerous proximity 
to the union rear. That night Meade held a council of war. He had 
been pushed back on both wings, and the losses were heavy ; but it 
was decided to stand another day and fight the battle to a finish. 
To Gibbon, commanding the union center, Meade remarked: "Your 
turn will come to-morrow. To-day he has struck the flanks. Next, 
it will be the center." 

July 3, the attack came, most dramatically. Early in the morning 
there was severe fighting around Gulp's Hill, but the federal lines held. 
The rest of the forenoon the two lines lay quietly on their 
arms, a mile or more apart. At i o'clock came the sharp The Attack 
crack of two rifled cannon, the signal for a cannonade center 
from the confederate guns : 80 union cannon, all that juiy 3.' 
would bear on the scene, opened in reply, and for an 
hour and a half the heavens reverberated in a mighty symphony. 
At 2.30 P.M. the federals ceased firing, because their ammunition was 
running low. Their adversaries then slackened fire, and the word 
was passed to the infantry to charge the union center where Hancock 
20 



562 THE WAR IN THE EAST 

commanded. Pickett's division, numbering 5400, stood in front of 
Cemetery Ridge, a mile away, with orders to penetrate the opposing 
line, supported by 10,000 men from Hill's corps. Stuart's cavalry 
was made ready to follow and cut up the federals when they should 
be pressed back. Longstreet was Pickett's superior. He said that 
no 15,000 men could take the position, but his orders were explicit, 
and he directed the advance. The charging column started as steadily 
as on parade. For a quarter of a mile it was protected by a little 
swale; but as it reached the crest the union guns reopened with 
deadly effect. At 600 yards came canister, making great gaps in the 
advancing column, which did not waver. At closer range the guns 
were silent, and thick ranks of infantry, hitherto lying down behind 
the batteries, rose, advanced before the guns, and poured a withering 
fire into the fast diminishing column. But its approach was not 
halted until it struck the union infantry, carried them back beyond 
their own guns, where a new line met and checked it. For a brief 
space, some said twenty minutes, but no man could count the minutes 
in such a time, it held its advance ; but Hancock, still fighting though 
severely wounded, threw out regiments to take it in flank, and the 
assailants were either shot, captured, or driven back across the deadly 
plain by which they approached. Hancock said: "I have never 
seen a more formidable attack." Lee's army was badly shattered, 

and he prepared to receive the countercharge he thought 
^®® would surely come. But Meade's plans were defensive, 

Virginia. ^^^ the Confederates were allowed to remain undisturbed 

in their lines. All night and all the next day they remained 
in camp, and on July 5 they withdrew to the south, Meade making 
no serious effort to strike them ere they crossed the Potomac on 
July 13. The losses in the three days' fight, killed, wounded, and cap- 
tured, were 23,003 federals and 20,451 confederates. 

The battle of Gettysburg was a very hazardous undertaking from 

Lee's standpoint. With an army of 70,000 he invaded enemy's terri- 

, tory and fought an aggressive engagement against an 

eraiship*°' intrenched and well-placed army of 93,500. His attack 

could only be justified on the ground that his opponents 
were much worse fighters than his own men. Ordinarily he was 
cautious, but he had beaten his opponents so often that he had come 
to underestimate them. Pope's, Burnside's, and Hooker's campaigns 
failed because of bad generalship, not because of an incapable sol- 
diery. Lee assumed in his invasion that the leadership of Hooker 
would continue. In Meade a better type of commander opposed 
him, and at a time when the confederate general undertook a more 
serious task than ever before. Meade was not a brilliant general, 
but he showed no serious faults at Gettysburg, and he had in his 
great battle the confidence of his army, officers and privates, as well 
as the entire support of the war department, advantages not enjoyed 
by either Pope, Burnside, or Hooker. 



GRANT FIGHTING AND FLANKING 563 

From the Wilderness to Petersburg 

After Gettysburg, the two armies remained inactive in Virginia. 
There was some maneuvering by which Lee managed to keep Meade 
in northern Virginia, but neither general risked a battle 
during the autumn. It was in this autumn that Bragg ^^^^^ ^ 
was being forced out of Chattanooga l)y Rosecrans and arations. 
Grant, an operation which demanded the best efforts of each 
government. In March, 1864, Grant, as we have seen (page 535), was 
made lieutenant general and took command of all the union armies. 
Meade was left in actual command of his army, but Grant joined 
it and directed its movements. During the winter it lay north of the 
Rapidan on the railroad that ran through Manassas, Lee's army just 
south of the same river. Grant had 122,000 men well drilled and 
amply equipped ; his adversary had about half as many, and they 
lacked many of the necessities of war. 

May 3, Grant moved forward by his left, crossing the Rapidan into 
the dense thicket known as the Wilderness. Lee was very vigilant, 
and May 5 confronted the federals in this tangle of under- 
growth, whose roads he knew well. Grant's plan was to ^® ^^ 
go ahead by sheer hard fighting, and he threw his men on ^^y 5 and 6. 
Lee's lines without hesitation. In such a place his su- 
periority in artillery was of little use, and the two days' fighting was a 
severe contest of infantry against infantry (May 5 and 6). The 
result was a check for each army ; for, the battle ended, each force 
stood in its tracks. Grant had thought Lee would fall back. Dis- 
appointed in this, he determined to flank still further to the enemy's 
right, and May 8 reached Spottsylvania Court House, twelve miles to 
the southeast. His movement was observed by Lee, whom he found 
across the road well intrenched. Should it be an attack or 
a flanking movement? Grant chose the former. Time Spottsyl- 
after time he assaulted or skirmished, thinking to break ^^^^^ ° 
the lines by sheer weight of superior numbers. At every May 8-21. 
point he was repulsed. May 12, the fighting and losses 
were heaviest ; for on this day the union loss was 8500. At last the 
commander gave up his attempt to break through, and flanked again 
by the left. From May 5 to 21, his total loss was 34,000. It was 
at Spottsylvania that he wrote the dispatch in which he said: "I 
propose to fight it out on this line, if it takes all summer." 

May 23, Grant reached the North Anna, only to find Lee on its 
south bank so well fortified that even Grant did not assail. The 
result was another flank march to the east, Lee always 
anticipating the maneuver. By this means the two Cold Harbor, 
armies reached by May 28 the ground McClellan occupied 1864.^' 
in May, 1862. June 2, after heavy skirmishing, they 
faced one another at Cold Harbor, six miles from the fortifications of 



564 THE WAR IN THE EAST 

Richmond. Grant wished to crush the confederate army before it 
entered these defenses, and gave orders for an attack all along the line. 
It was delivered at dawn, June 3, in a grand assault by So,ooo men. 
Officers and privates were confident it would fail, but they did not 
flinch. No troops could withstand the heavy fire they encountered, 
and in twenty-two minutes the assault failed with a loss of 7000. 
Hancock's corps alone lost 3000. The space between the lines was 
covered with the dead and wounded, but Grant would not ask for a 
truce to remove them, and for four days they were neglected. The 
confederate loss was about 600. For his indifference to human life 
at Cold Harbor, Grant was severely criticized. He himself later de- 
clared the assault an error. The result convinced him that Lee was 
not to be crushed in battle, and he moved for the James river in order 
to lay siege to Richmond. From the Rapidan to the James his total 
loss was 54,929. Lee lost about 19,000. 

The End of the War 

June 14, Grant crossed the James at City Point. At Bermuda 
Hundred, five miles to the west, Butler with a strong force lay inactive. 

Two months earlier he had moved up the James, with 
First 30,000 men, to take Petersburg, commanding Richmond 

agatnst ^ from the south. But so soon as he left his base at City 
Petersburg. Point, Beauregard, commanding the confederates, had 

threatened his communications, beaten off his assault on 
the Richmond defenses at Drury's Bluff, and "bottled him up." 
To him came Grant on June 14 with orders to attack Peters- 
burg at once. Butler did not move promptly, and next day Smith, 
leading Grant's advance corps, was ordered to take the city, then 
very weakly defended. He advanced, took the outworks, but 
halted. Had he gone forward that night, he might have succeeded. 
But next day troops were sent to oppose him, and all hope of 
surprising Petersburg was lost. June 18, Lee, at last convinced 
that his enemy was south of the river, moved his army to Peters- 

burg. Grant wasted 10,000 lives in trying to carry 

it by assault, and then settled down to siege operations. 
July 30 a great mine was sprung under the confederate works, 
and for a moment an open road existed into the rear of their 

position ; but here also was mismanagement. The troops 
Crater " which ought to have poured through hesitated — probably 

through fault of their division commander, and the con- 
federates, rallying, were able to drive back with great slaughter the 
assaulting column. This bloody affair of "the Crater" cost Grant 
4000 lives without any compensating advantage. 

These misfortunes created great distress throughout the North. 
Grant, it was whispered, was drinking again, and all his costly sacri- 



THE BITTER LESSONS OF WAR 565 

fice of men, at this time 75,000 since he crossed the Rapidan, had not 
given him the confederate capital. But his work was not lost. Lee 
had been greatly weakened, and his exhausted government 
was not able to send him reenforcements. Through- Depression 
out the autumn and winter the union army worked stead- f" Hope 
ily with pick and spade, and every week it became more North, 
and more evident that ultimate success was certain. 
July I, while the siege progressed, Lee sent Early with 17,000 men to 
drive the federal forces from the Shenandoah valley and to threaten 
Washington. The confederates moved rapidly, driving Sigel's weak 
opposition before them. They crossed the Potomac and turned east- 
ward. At the Monocacy Lew Wallace delayed them a day with a 
weak force, but they put him to flight, and July 11, in the afternoon, 
were at the doors of the national capital. Had Early continued his 
advance the place might have been taken, but he delayed until morn- 
ing and was repulsed by troops which had arrived during the night 
from Grant's army. Early then fell back, and by good management 
escaped his pursuers to Strasburg, Virginia. Four days later he again 
moved north, defeating a union force at Kemstown and sending a 
column into Pennsylvahia, where Chambersburg was burned because 
it did not pay a contribution. This action was not justifiable. 

To drive Early from the Valley, Grant now sent Sheridan with 
40,000 infantry and 15,000 cavalry. Lee also sent reenforcements 
before which Sheridan retired to the Potomac. But Lee 
was in dire need at Petersburg, and withdrew the succor Shendan 
he had sent. Sheridan then assumed the offensive with ^jjg vaiiey. 
twice his opponents' strength. In two battles — Win- 
chester, September ig, and Fisher's Hill, September 22 — • he drove his 
opponent far southward with severe loss on both sides. Then Sheridan, 
with Grant's permission, adopted a policy of devastation. Barns, 
mills, and even residences were burned, grain, cattle, horse, and agri- 
cultural implements were taken or destroyed, and the rich valley was 
left so denuded of supplies that, as Sheridan said, "a crow flying over 
the country would need to carry his rations." It was the very frenzy 
of war, and was defended on the ground that it made it impossible for 
a confederate army in the future to operate by this way against 
Washington. 

In the South a sharp cry for vengeance arose, and Lee again sent 
reenforcements to Early, who took the offensive. Following the fed- 
erals, he came upon them at Cedar Creek, October 19, when 
their commander was absent. The attack at dawn on front 5*^*^® °' 
and flank was a surprise, and seemed a complete success, creek. 
Only the sixth corps stood firm, but it fell back four miles 
trying to rally the fugitives as it went. Had Early concentrated 
his force on this splendid body, he might have had complete success. 
Sheridan slept the preceding night at Winchester, twenty miles from 



566 THE WAR IN THE EAST 

his army. Riding leisurely southward in the morning he learned of 
the situation at front and rode rapidly to the scene. At noon he was 
at the head of the sixth corps, had rallied the fugitives, and was 
marching confidently against Early, who believed himself the victor. 
Though taken unawares, the confederates fought courageously, but 
were swept off the field by the superior numbers of the union forces. 
At nightfall they were in flight before Sheridan's cavalry, and they 
were never again a menace to Washington. 

The first weeks of 1865 saw the confederacy in imminent danger of 
collapse. Hood was crushed in Tennessee, Early was driven from the 

Valley, federal cavalry rode at will throughout all of 
Hampton Virginia north of the James, and Sherman marched with- 
Roads Qy^ opposition through the Carolinas. Lee's army in 

February 3,' Richmond, poorly fed and clothed, was no more than 50,000 
1865. ' men, and Johnston, who sought to check Sherman, had 

only 37,000. Southern defeat was so clearly inevitable 
that it was believed the confederate government must accept peace 
if it was offered. Under these conditions private individuals secured 
a meeting of commissioners on each side at Hampton Roads, Feb- 
ruary 3, 1865. Lincoln attended on the part of the North. He 
offered to end the war if the South would accept emancipation and 
submit to the authority of the union. He also promised to ask 
congress to pay the slaveholders for the slaves, but he frankly 
said he could not promise that congress would accept the sug- 
gestion. 

The negotiation failed because Jefferson Davis insisted that the 
independence of the South should be the basis of any agreement. 
Had he been less blindly persistent, an armistice might have been 
arranged, during which Lincoln could have brought congress to some 
form of compromise by which much of the turmoil of reconstruction 
days would have been avoided. 

As spring approached. Grant before Petersburg threw his left out to 
reach the Petersburg and Lynchburg railroad, one of the two lines by 

which supplies were carried into Richmond. To oppose 
Tak"^°" him, Lee must extend his own line, which by reason of 

his inferior numbers became very thin. April i, Sheridan 
was sent against the extreme confederate right at Five Forks and 
won a success. It was nine at night when Grant heard the result, and 
he immediately ordered an assault at dawn along his entire front. 
This also resulted favorably, the confederate works being penetrated 
at two points. April 3, he proposed to press his advantage and throw 
his left still farther around Petersburg. Threatened thus with a 
complete envelopment, Lee decided to evacuate Petersburg during 
the night and concentrate his troops, scattered around Richmond, 
on the southwest of the city, so as to escape along the line of railroad 
to Danville. To this end he gave Davis notice at 10.40 a.m., on the 



A GENEROUS CONQUEROR 567 

2d, in order that the confederate officials might escape from the 
doomed city. April 3, his army was marching along four roads which 
converged at Amelia Court House on the Danville railroad, thirty-live 
miles from Richmond. He hoped in this way to join Johnston, who, 
then near Raleigh, North Carolina, was ordered to Greensboro, fifty 
miles south of Danville. 

Grant sent troops to hold the evacuated city, but lost not a moment 
in jubilation. His object was to bag the quarry before a junction with 
the North Carolina force could be effected. He marched 
by every road available, often fighting when Lee threw out overtaken 
a force to protect the confederate rear. In the morning of 
the 4th, Lee reached Amelia Court House, where he expected supplies. 
None were at hand, and he lost a precious day collecting them. On 
the 5th, Sheridan with the cavalry seized the railroad to Danville, 
which caused the confederates to turn towards Lynchburg. On short 
rations, dispirited, and sick, they were deserting in squads. Sheridan 
followed rapidly, and during the evening of April 8 got in front of Lee 
at Appomattox Court House. At the same time, a large body of 
infantry under Ord, by marching throughout the night, also got around 
and took position behind Sheridan. Next morning, the 9th, Lee or- 
dered his weary troops to disperse the cavalry and march toward 
Lynchburg. As they moved out Sheridan drew off his troopers and 
revealed Ord's solid formation, an obstacle the confederates could not 
overcome. It was the end of the chase. 

Lee now raised a white flag and met Grant at the McLean house in 
Appomattox village. He wore a handsome gray uniform and a 
splendid sword, and was in striking contrast with the victor, 
who was dressed in " a rough traveling suit " with the straps V^^ 
of a lieutenant general. After some friendly conversa- ^pj-ilg^jg^' 
tion Lee inquired on what terms surrender would be re- 
ceived. Then Grant wrote out the conditions, which were accepted. 
Officers and men were to be paroled and not to fight again until ex- 
changed, in consideration of which they were not to be disturbed by 
the federal government so long as they observed the law. Officers 
were to retain their side arms, their horses, when they owned them, 
and their private baggage. Lee, after a moment's hesitation, said that 
many of his cavalrymen and artillerists owned their horses, and Grant 
agreed that they might keep them "for the spring plowing." By 
these terms Lee did not have to surrender his sword, a generous cour- 
tesy on Grant's part which endeared him to Southern people. A touch- 
ing farewell of Lee to his own soldiers, reduced by his march and deser- 
tion to 26,765, completed the tragic event. The broken host in gray 
returned to their homes, and their commander rode back to Richmond. 
Grant's soldiers marched back to the James river, and the northern 
part of the nation broke into paeans of joy that the bitter struggle was 



568 THE WAR IN THE EAST 

Lincoln was at City Point when Richmond was evacuated. On the 
9th he returned to Washington, deeply concerned with the work of 
restoration. To one who said that Jefferson Davis must 
Lincoln be hanged, he replied, "Judge not, that ye be not 

Apr^^iT**^ ' judged." On the 14th he met his cabinet and discussed 
1865. ' a policy of reconstruction. "I hope there will be no 

persecution," he said, "no bloody work after the war is 
over. No one need expect me to take any part in hanging or killing 
those men, even the worst of them. . . . We must extinguish our 
resentments if we expect harmony and union." That evening he 
attended the theater with his family. While the play progressed, 
John Wilkes Booth, an actor who foolishly thought he was redressing 
the wrongs of the South, gained access to the president's box, fatally 
wounded him with a pistol shot, and escaped with a broken leg, by 
leaping to the stage, whence he passed to the street and rode rapidly 
away into Maryland. He managed to escape to Virginia, where he 
was tracked to his lair and shot at bay in a burning barn. One of his 
accomplices wounded Seward seriously in his house. Four conspir- 
ators were hanged, including Mrs. Surratt, who was probably innocent, 
and several others were imprisoned. 

Lincoln lived until 7.22 a.m. on the 15th. His death was a poignant 
blow to the nation. In the darkest hours of the war he had never 

wavered in hope and effort ; in a thousand trying events 
Greatness ^^ ^'^'^ shown good sense and persistent good will ; in 

many a personal attack he had borne himself with patience 
and self-forgetful fortitude ; and in every phase of the war he had 
been the chief support of union. He was great in all the great phases 
of public leadership, but greatest of all in that overspreading con- 
sciousness that all the people, white men and black men. Northern 
men and Southern men, were within the bounds of his responsibility, 
and protection. 

When Lee surrendered, Sherman was at Goldsboro, North Carolina, 
and Johnston was near Raleigh, fifty miles to the west. Hearing that 

Lee marched for Danville, the latter had turned toward 
Johnston'' ° Greensboro, where he stood when he heard the news 

from Appomattox. To him came Jefferson Davis, fleeing 
southward. The confederate president wished the general to march 
to the mountains and carry on the war. Johnston objected, saying 
the soldiers desired peace, and it was agreed that he should ask for 
terms of surrender. April 17 and 18 he met Sherman at Durham, 
North Carolina, where an armistice was agreed to pending the refer- 
ence of certain terms of peace to the president. These terms embraced 
the recognition by the president of the governments of the states then 
in condition of resistance, the reestablishment of the federal courts in 
the South, and the parole of officers and privates of all the confederate 
armies still in existence. Sherman consented to these terms because 



WORK OF THE BLOCKADERS 569 

he thought it would be difficult to bag Johnston and because his army 
did not relish another campaign in the region through which it had 
recently fought. But he had exceeded his instructions, and his terms 
were disapproved by the government in Washington because they 
dealt with civil affairs. Then Johnston accepted the terms offered 
Lee by Grant, April 26, and disbanded his army, numbering 37,047. 
May 4, General Taylor surrendered all the troops in Alabama and 
Mississippi, and May 26, Kirby Smith surrendered his 
department west of the Mississippi river. The total Abandoned 
number of confederates who thus laid down their arms, 
in these momentous two months, v/as 174,223. May 10, Jefferson 
Davis was captured in southern Georgia and sent prisoner to Fortress 
Monroe. Alexander Stephens and other high confederate officers 
were also made prisoners ; but all were eventually released. 

Federal Naval Operations 

The work of the navy during the civil war resolved itself into three 
spheres of activity: (i) the blockade, (2) cooperation with the army 
in land operations on the coast, and on the rivers, and (3) chasing 
down and destroying the small number of commerce destroyers the 
confederacy was able to place on the sea. 

The blockade was proclaimed May ig, 1S61, and a dozen ships 
were at once sent to the most important harbors in the South. By 
purchasing merchant ships, and even tugs, and building new 
ships, this number grew steadily until three hundred Bio^i^ade. 
were on the blockading line at the end of the war. They 
were divided into four squadrons, the North Atlantic, from Fortress 
Monroe to Cape Fear ; the South Atlantic, including the coasts of 
South Carolina, Georgia, and Eastern Florida ; the East Gulf, including 
the coasts of Western Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and a part of 
Louisiana ; and the West Gulf, from the mouth of the Mississippi to 
the Rio Grande. Life on the blockaders was monotonous. There 
were days and nights of watching, the ships lying a few miles off the 
harbor during the day and closing in to anchor during the night, 
like sentinels on each side of the harbor's entrance. Occasionally, 
usually in the night, a luckless blockade runner was seized as she tried 
to dart through the opening. Sometimes she stole through so cau- 
tiously as to elude the blockaders, and sometimes she was forced on 
the shallows and burned by her crew in order to avoid capture. The 
blockaders did not dare follow her under the guns of the confederate 
forts which usually commanded the interior channels. 

Early in 1862 the South undertook to break the blockade by con- 
structing heavy ironclads. The first undertaken was named the 
Virginia, though history remembers her as the Merriniac, the name 
she bore as a merchantman before the war began. Her super- 



570 THE WAR IN THE EAST 

structure was removed and a roof of railroad rails took its place 
with heavy guns beneath the roof. March 8, 1862, this dangerous 

craft steamed out of Norfolk harbor and destroyed three 
The federal frigates off Newport News, Next day she reap- 

andMer- peared to complete her work of ruin. She encountered a 
rimac. strange-looking ironclad craft , a hulk level with the water and 

supporting a revolving turret within which were powerful 
guns. It was the Monitor, designed by Ericsson and appropriately 
described as "a raft with a cheese-box on it." A fierce encounter 
followed, at the end of which the Southern ship retired in a damaged 
condition. She did not resume the attempt to raise the blockade. 
The conflict proved the efi&ciency of ironclad ships and opened a new 
era in naval construction. The American government built many 
monitors before the war ended. 

The most important movements of the navy in cooperation with 
the army against harbors and on the rivers were as follows : i . The 

attack on Roanoke Island, August 29, 1861. The navy 
In Eastern seized Hatteras and Ocracoke inlets, in North Carolina, 
Carolina. giving the North command of the entrance to Pamplico 

and Albemarle sounds. In the following January an 
expedition under General Burnside took Roanoke island, lying 
between these sounds, and afterwards Newbern and Plymouth 
on the mainland were occupied. The first intention was by this 
approach to move into the interior of North Carolina and cut off 
supplies for Richmond, but on consideration the project was given 
up as impossible. The expedition was serviceable because it effec- 
tually blockaded this part of the coast. 

2. Operations against Charleston, November 7, 1861. Port Royal, 
South Carolina, was taken, giving the South Atlantic squadron an 

excellent base. Immediately afterwards the sea islands 
In South were seized. From Port Royal in the following April, 
Waters. ^^ expedition took Fort Pulaski, commanding the mouth 

of the Savannah river. As the smaller harbors fell easy 
prey, it happened that by midsummer of 1862 all the Atlantic coast 
was under federal control, except Wilmington, N. C, and Charleston. 
Against the latter a strong fleet of newly constructed monitors was 
sent in April, 1863. It sailed boldly into the harbor, but retired with 
much loss from the fire of Forts Sumter and Moultrie with the aid of 
other shore batteries. In July the attack was renewed, an army now 
landing and moving against the defenses on Morris Island, south of 
the harbor, while the fleet at close range attacked the works on the 
island. Before the line of advance was Battery Wagner — often called 
"Fort Wagner," a work strongly placed and well defended. Two 
unsuccessful assaults were made on it, in the second of which fell 
Colonel Robert G. Shaw at the head of his negro regiment. After 
a seven days' bombardment from the fleet. Fort Sumter was in ruins, 
although a small infantry force remained in it until the evacuation of 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 571 

Charleston, February 17, 1865. By regular approaches Battery 
Wagner was at last taken and Morris Island was in federal hands ; 
a useless achievement, for the harbor was supposed to be mined and 
no further attempt was made against the place for a year and a half. 
Besides the capture of New Orleans, 1862, the most notable naval 
achievement in the gulf region was seizing Mobile bay in 1864. The 
place was an important outlet for blockade runners and was well 
defended by Fort Morgan and several vessels, among them the 
powerful ram, Tennessee. August 5, Farragut, with eighteen ships, 
four of them monitors, ran past the fort and batteries and engaged 
the fleet within the bay. The Tennessee became the target of the 
union fleet. Ship after ship struck her armored sides, desirous of 
sinking her. She withstood their blows, but having a weak engine, 
could not be brought effectively against her opponents. Finally her 
steering gear was disabled and she surrendered. The rest of the con- 
federate ships retired or were destroyed, and the fort capitulated when 
5000 troops had been landed. The city of Mobile was not taken until 
the following spring. 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

For the Eastern campaigns the same general works and sources are available as 
for the Western operations (see p. 543). Of a more specific nature are the following : 
McClellaii's Oivn Story (1887), contains many letters; Swinton, Campaigns of the 
Army of the Potomac (1882); Grant, Personal Memoirs, 2 vols. (1895); Sheridan, 
Personal Memoirs, 2 vols. (1902); Walker, W. S.Hancock (1894); Poore, Ambrose 
E. Biirnside {1882) ; Butler, Butler's Book, 2 vols. (1892) ; Cox, Military Reminis- 
cences, 2 vols. (1900); Bache, George Gordon Meade (1897); Haupt, Reminiscences 
(1901) ; Long, Robert Edward Lee (1886) ; Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox 
(1903); J. E. Johnston, Narrative of Military Operations (1874); Hood, Advance 
and Retreat (1880); McClellan, /. E. B. Stuart (1885); Henderson, Stonewall 
Jackson, 2 vols. (1900); and Alexander, Military Memoirs, (1907). 

On army experiences, besides the authorities mentioned on page 543, see : Noyes, 
The Bivouac and the Battlefield (186;^) ; Townsend, Campaigns of a JSl on-Combatant 
(1866) ; Eggleston, A Rebel's Recollection (1905) ; Maury, Recollections of a Vir- 
ginian (1894); AIcGuire, Diary of a Southern Refugee (1865) ; Sonel, Recollections 
of a Confederate Stajf-Officer (1905) ; Stiles, Four Years under Marse Robert (1903); 
and Taylor, Four Years with Lee (1878). 

On naval history of the civil war see first of all : Official Records of the Union 
and Confederate Navies, 22 vols. (1894-1908). See also Maclay, History of the United 
States Navy, 3 vols. (ed. 1898-1901) ; Scharf, History of the Confederate States Navy 
(1894); Porter, Naval History of the Civil War (1886); Semmes, Service Afloat 
(1887), relates to the Alabama; Wihon, Iron-Clads in Action (1897); Bennett, 
The Monitor and the Navy under Steam (1900) ; Wilkinson, Narrative of a 
Blockade Runner (1877) ; and Mahan, Farragut (1892). 

For Independent Reading 

Khodes, History of the United States, vols. Ill-V (1900-1906), the best general 
history of the war, and it is readable. Other suggested works are : Porter, Cam- 
paigning with Grant (1897); Walker, W. S. Hancock (1894); Eggleston, A 
Rebel's Recollections (1905); Dana, Recollections of the Civil War (1898); Wise, 
The End of an Era (1899) ; Schaff, The Sunset of the Confederacy (191 2) ; Bradford, 
Lee the American (191 2) ; Stiles, Four Years under Marse Robert (1903) ; and Ben- 
nett, The Monitor and the Navy under Steam (1900). 



CHAPTER XXVII 

CIVIL AFFAIRS DURING THE WAR 

Enlisting Troops, North and South 

The first soldiers enlisted on each side were volunteers, furnished 
by the states in response to calls made by the respective presidents. 

They came freely in a period of great enthusiasm, and 
Creating ^ere of the best quality. But ardor eventually cools, 

and by the end of 1862 volunteering in the North was 
nearly at an end. In the South it ceased to be considerable at an 
earlier date. By this time the federal congress realized how serious 
a struggle was being waged, and used its power to enforce military 
service. The result was a law ordering a draft of all men liable for 
military duty. Enrollment districts were created, and drafts were 
held by officers duly appointed. A man drafted might furnish a 
substitute or be exempt on payment of $300. 

The act was attacked by the democrats as unconstitutional, and 
it undoubtedly contravened the principles of state rights to which 

they were bred. Although it was generally enforced, the 
^r^^*. criticism of the democrats found much support with the 

New York, people who were unable to secure substitutes or purchase 

exemption. In New York the Eastside population broke 
into riots. The people were largely foreign-born, and recognized an 
ancient grievance in forced military service. On the second day of 
the draft, July 13, 1863, they broke up the drawings and, joined 
by habitual thieves, looted stores until they ruled in the city from 
Union Square to Central Park. Negroes were beaten and hanged to 
lamp posts, well-to-do citizens were robbed, and the police were 
powerless. The city had been stripped of soldiers to oppose Lee at 
Gettysburg, but at last on July 14 an armed force of more than 
3000 policemen, marines, and citizens were able to check the depreda- 
tions. Next day troops began to arrive, and by the i6th the mob 
was under control, after 1000 persons had been killed or wounded and 
private property worth $1,500,000 had been destroyed. Investiga- 
tion showed that the allotn^ents of the democratic enrollment districts 
were excessive, and when the error was corrected the draft proceeded 
quietly. News that the chief Northern city was resisting the draft 

572 



ENFORCING CONSCRIPTION 573 

gave the confederates a passing hope that the North would not sup- 
port the war. 

After July, 1863, the people accepted the draft as a military neces- 
sity, but it was very unpopular. Out of 470,942 persons drawn in 
two drafts in 1864, July 18 and December 19, those ^ 
failing to report were 94,636. To stimulate enlistment, jump^J" 
large bounties were offered, not only by the federal govern- 
ment, but by the state and county authorities. In New York City 
in 1864 these aggregated $677. The regular pay of a private was 
$16 a month. Two evils now appeared, "bounty-jumping" and the 
activities of substitute brokers. The latter fixed the scale of payments 
for substitutes, and often were able to prevent the acceptance of a 
man as a substitute who did not have their services. They were in 
close association with "bounty-jumpers," men who deserted as soon 
as the bounty was received and enlisted elsewhere under other names. 
A case was discovered in which a man had "jumped "the bounty 
thirty-two times. Serious charges were made in many places involving 
the integrity of ofificers and physicians who conducted enlistments. 
The system was undoubtedly badly administered; but there was 
little disposition to look closely into it as long as it furnished men 
for the defense of union. The early enlistments were the pick of 
Northern manhood, and to the last there was excellent material in 
the new men ; but as the months passed, the proportion of newly 
arrived foreigners and shirkers increased. This gave rise to the 
charge that the armies were recruited from European mercenaries. 
When the war ended there were 1,052,038 men in the army. 

In 1863, after the emancipation policy was adopted, negro troops 
began to be enlisted. Among the prisoners captured in New Orleans, 
May, 1862, was a colored regiment organized by the con- 
federates. This was an example which the antislavery Troops, 
element of the republican party in the North thought 
worthy of imitation. Lincoln, with the opinion of the border states 
in mind, opposed such a step ; but the confiscation act of the summer 
of 1862 gave him authority to use such troops for the defense of the 
union. In the final emancipation proclamation he announced that 
negro volunteers would be accepted. The first regiment of them was 
the 54th Massachusetts, led by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, socially 
and intellectually eminent in Boston. Many persons had predicted 
that negroes would not fight, but the result proved the contrary. 
Though generally used for garrison duty, they exhibited marked 
courage in some severe emergencies. At Fort Wagner Shaw's regi- 
ment charged most bravely and suffered severe loss. Grant, and 
many others in a position to know, declared that the negro troops 
fought well. At the end of the war 183,000 had been enlisted. 

The confederate congress enacted May i, 1863, that white officers 
commanding negro soldiers should when captured be treated as 



574 CIVIL AFFAIRS DURING THE WAR 

persons inciting blacks to insurrection, but there is no evidence 
that the threat was carried into execution. Negro soldiers when 

captured were sometimes killed by their captors, but 
Negro such cases as occurred were due to the feelings of the 

as Wa" privates and not by order of the confederate authorities. 
Prisoners. The most notable case was at the capture of Fort Pillow 

by Forrest, April 12, 1864; but investigation showed this 
was without orders of Forrest, who offered to receive the negroes 
as prisoners of war when he demanded the surrender of the fort. His 
demand was refused, and as no flag of surrender was raised, his storm- 
ing party slew its defenders, white and black, who fought desperately, 
until Forrest himself arrived on the scene and stopped the slaughter. 
When negro prisoners were identified as escaped slaves they were 
returned to their masters. The confederacy was unwilling to exchange 
negro prisoners, and on that ground all exchanges stopped for a while ; 
but from this attitude the confederates retreated early in 1864, only 
proposing to retain those who were known to be fugitive slaves. At 
this time Grant was determined to send no prisoners back to swell the 
ranks of the Southern armies, and no exchanges of any kind occurred 
until January, 1865, when the confederacy was in its last gasps. 

Federal Finances 

Providing funds for war expenses was a mammoth task. When 
congress met in extra session, July 4, 1861, the national debt was 
considered large at $76,000,000. The people, therefore, 
f^seT^^ were startled when they knew that the legislature had 
authorized a loan of $250,000,000 in bonds and interest- 
bearing notes. Additional taxes were laid by which it was expected 
that a total revenue of $75,000,000 would be raised. Two features 
of the plan were a tax of three per cent on incomes over $800, and a 
direct tax. It was believed that these taxes were as heavy as the 
country would stand. The execution of the financial laws fell on Chase, 
who proved himself an able secretary of the treasury. 

But expenses were enormous, and when congress met again, Decem- 
ber 2, there was a deficit of $143,000,000. The war had sorely dis- 
tressed business, bonds were selling slowly, specie had 
The Legal j^gen drawn out of the country, and December 30 the 
of^Februar* banks suspended specie payment, compelling the govern- 
25, 1862. ment to follow their example. Something must be done 
quickly or the war could not go on. The result was the 
law generally known as the Legal Tender Act of February 25, 1862, 
providing for: i. The issue of $100,000,000 in treasury notes, which, 
as well as the $50,000,000 authorized in July, 1861, were to be legal 
tender for all dues except the payment of import duties; and 2. The 
issue of an additional loan of $500,000,000 in six per cent 5-20 bonds. 



NATIONAL BANKS 575 

interest payable in coin. There was much opposition to the legal 
tender feature of the bill, and Secretary Chase hesitated long before 
accepting it. It was passed because it was pronounced absolutely 
necessary in the crisis at hand. At the same time another bill was 
carried through congress to raise import duties and lay other taxes. 
It was so comprehensive that it has been called "an act which taxed 
everything." A proposition to create a national banking system was 
deferred to another date. By the measures here adopted it was 
expected that the funds would be obtained to defray the war expenses 
for a year. The expenditures were then $2,000,000 a day. 

At the beginning of 1863 the treasury was again empty, and clamor 
arose for more legal tender. Congress yielded to the extent of author- 
izing $100,000,000, a measure which Lincoln regretfully 
approved. It also authorized a loan of $900,000,000. JJ^^, 
February 25 it took a more important step in passing a 3^^^° 
national banking act, by which it was designed to charter Act, 1863, 
banks under national authority with the privilege of 
issuing money secured by national bonds. The act as passed 
proved inadequate, and was amended from time to time. The plan 
which resulted may be summarized as follows : i . The comptroller 
of the currency, an official now first provided for, should supervise 
this system. 2. Each bank before beginning business must de- 
posit national bonds equal to one- third of its paid-in capital, but 
the interest on these bonds was to go to the bank depositing them. 
3. It would receive from the comptroller bank notes in amount equal 
to ninety per cent of the market value of the deposited bonds, and 
when signed by the officers of the bank these notes were to be receiv- 
able for all dues to the United States except imports. 4. The capital 
stock of a national bank was not to be less than $50,000. 5. A national 
bank must keep a cash reserve equal to 15 per cent of its circulation, 
but one-half of this might be left with certain specified central banks, 
whose reserves, it was ordered, must be 25 per cent of the circulation, 
and 6. Shareholders were made responsible for the debts of the bank 
above their stock held to an amount equal to the par value of their 
stock. In 1865 an act was passed to tax at 10 per cent, after July i, 
1866, the circulation of state banks. This law impelled state banks to 
change to national banks, with the result that 1634 of the latter existed 
on July I, 1866. The national banks made a market for government 
bonds, and drove out of circulation the currency of the state banks. 

Spite of the measures of 1863 the revenues proved insufiicient, 
and in 1864 import duties, excise, and most internal taxes were raised 
as high as the country would stand. An additional 
loan of $400,000,000 was authorized, and authority was currency, 
given to extend the amount of legal tender to $450,- 
000,000. As a matter of fact, it reached during the year the sum of 
$431,000,000, and went only a million higher in the following year. 



576 CIVIL AFFAIRS DURING THE WAR 

The increase of national bank notes served partly to satisfy the demand 
for treasury notes. The legal tender notes, popularly called "green- 
backs" ceased to circulate at par with specie as soon as they were 
issued. Gold rose until, June 30, 1864, it sold for 250, and when 
Early was before Washington, July 11, it reached 285, the highest 
price during the war. As prices of commodities were expressed in 
legal tender they rose proportionally with gold. Throughout the 
summer of 1864 a paper dollar was worth about forty cents in gold. 
One result was to drive fractional specie out of circulation. "Shin- 
plasters," small private notes from 5 to 50 cents in value, took its 
place, but these were eventually forbidden, and for a time postage 
stamps were used. Their disadvantage was soon evident, and the 
government issued fractional paper currency on its own account. 

Early in the war the national bonds ceased to sell, although 
the interest was 7.3 per cent. The plan of sale was to award the 
bonds at a fixed rate to associated bankers in installments 
Bonds at Qf about $50,000,000, the banks selling at home and 
S b ri - abroad at what profit they could make. In 1863 Secre- 
tion, tary Chase adopted a new method. Selecting a great bank- 
ing firm as his agent. Jay Cooke and Company, he offered 
the bonds to the public in popular denominations. It was an appeal 
to the patriotism of the nation, and was fully justified by the results. 
Two confiscation acts were passed by congress, partly to get rev- 
enue and partly to punish the confederates. The first, August 6, 
1 86 1, authorized the confiscation of property used in 
TwoCon- ^-^ q£ ^Yie confederacy, and the Hberation of slaves em- 
Acts, ployed on fortifications or in other warlike labor. The 
second, July 17, 1862, was more drastic. It fixed death 
as the punishment for treason, but allowed the courts to substitute 
fine and imprisonment, and it decreed that the slaves of all who sup- 
ported the Southern cause should be free. It further provided for 
the confiscation of the property of six classes of persons who sup- 
ported the confederacy, including the higher officials, who were 
believed to be especially responsible for the war. Another provision 
was to authorize the enlistment of negroes in the union armies. This 
second act was urged especially by the radical opponents of slavery, 
and Lincoln would not sign it until congress adopted explanatory 
resolutions, one of which provided that it was not to be used to extend 
the taint of treason to the issue of confederates. So far as its con- 
fiscatory features were concerned, it was very sparingly used during 
the war, partly because Lincoln opposed severe measures, and partly 
because the jurisdiction of federal courts did not in reality extend to 
the vast majority of the Southerners, who were within the confed- 
erate lines. At the end of the war, when federal courts were rees- 
tablished in the South, a policy of conciliation prevailed, and confis- 
cation was not put into operation. 



BUTLER AND THE FUGITIVES 577 



The Progress of Emancipation 

Early in the war the extreme republicans began to urge that 
measures be taken to destroy slavery. The large majority of voters 
in the border states, as well as many persons in the free 
states, opposed this policy, and Lincoln discountenanced I*e™*"^s 
it because he felt that the only means of success was to Radicals. 
make the war solely for the preservation of the union. 
His influence prevailed, and the day after Bull Run, congress passed, 
with only nine dissenting votes in the two houses, resolutions declaring 
that the North did not mean to interfere with slavery, but only sought 
to perpetuate the union. From this position president and congress, 
under pressure of public opinion, were to recede in a little more than 
twelve months. 

When Virginia seceded, May 23, General Butler commanded at 
Fortress Monroe. To him came many fugitive slaves, whose owners 
demanded their surrender. The request was refused by 
Butler on the ground that having worked on confederate 1,3^°*^*' 
fortifications they were "contraband of war." His 
position was not legal, but he was supported by Northern opinion, 
and J.he government did not overrule him. The first confiscation 
act, August 6, 1 86 1, gave freedom to slaves working on confederate 
fortifications and engaged in military operations, but it did not meur 
tion ordinary fugitives, who came to Butler in great numbers. The 
secretary of war was asked to define the status of the second class. 
He replied that they should be received into the service of the United 
States and employed as seemed best, and added that when the war 
was over congress would, no doubt, "provide a just compensation 
to loyal masters." Butler was also ordered to refrain from inter- 
ference with the slaves of peaceful citizens and not to encourage 
them to leave their masters. Nor should he prevent their voluntary 
return unless the public good seemed to demand it. Such instruc- 
tions left wide discretion to the generals commanding in regions 
which could be reached by fugitives. Some of them were less inclined 
to antislavery views than Butler, and surrendered fugitives freely. 
Others gave little help to such masters as came to look for their run- 
away slaves. 

Of those who were most hostile to slavery was General Fremont, 
presidential candidate in 1856. He was popular with the extreme 
republicans, through whose influence he was called home from Europe 
to command the army in Missouri. Arriving at New York early in 
July, 1 86 1, he loitered three weeks in the East, conferring with political 
friends before he repaired to St. Louis, where he was greatly needed. 
His incompetence was soon evident from the manner in which he 
yielded himself to a group of contractors who surrounded and flat- 

2P 



578 CIVIL AFFAIRS DURING THE WAR 

tered him for their selfish ends. Soon followed military reverses, 
and public opinion rose high against him. To regain his popularity 
he issued his remarkable order of August 30, 1861, directing the 
confiscation of the property of all who had taken arms against the 
union, offering freedom to their slaves, and creating a "bureau of abo- 
lition" to supervise the execution of the order. His action aroused 
enthusiasm among the radical opponents of slavery, but alarmed the 
unionists of Kentucky, then trembling in the balance. Lincoln 
first knew of the order from the newspapers, and suggested to the 
author that it be modified. The advice was rejected with scant 
courtesy, and Lincoln coolly directed that the order be modified in 
conformity with the first confiscation act. After some further mani- 
festations of his incompetence, Fremont was removed, and General 
Hunter succeeded to the command. The affair aroused the anger 
of the radicals, who sharply criticized the president for his part in it. 
Yet Lincoln wished to abolish slavery if it could be done in a proper 
way, and was already moving for emancipation with compensation 

in the slave states still loyal. In March, 1862, he sug- 
Emancipa- gested such action to congress, and thought an average 
Compensa- °^ $400 might be given for each slave in Maryland, Ken- 
tion. tucky, Missouri, Delaware, and the District of Colum- 

bia, incurring a total expense of $173,000,000, which was 
less than the cost of the war for 87 days. The suggestion pleased 
neither congress nor the people of the states concerned, and no action 
was taken on it. But April 16 a bill was passed for the emancipation 
with compensation of the slaves in the District of Columbia. 

The second confiscation act, July 17, 1862, gave freedom to the 
slaves of persons resisting the union, forbade their surrender, and 

authorized their "colonization" on the abandoned lands 
Second Qf ^j^q confederates. As the law would not be obeyed in 

Acfandthe ^^^ seceding states, little more was expected from it 
Slaves. than that it might serve to free fugitives who reached 

the union lines. Lincoln, and many others, considered 
it of doubtful constitutionality, and he gave it a mild interpretation. 
For this, also, he received the censure of the radicals. 

May 9, 1862, General Hunter, commanding the recovered terri- 
tory around Beaufort, South Carolina, issued an order declaring 

free all the slaves in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. 
Order'^ ^ ^^ acted on his own authority, but had the approval of 

Chase and the other radicals. Lincoln reversed the order 
at once. But he sought to break the blow by calling on the loyal 

slave states to accept gradual emancipation with compen- 
ti°™Ab°^* sation. In reply, the congressmen from the border states 
doned. signed an address suggesting that congress should act first 

in the matter. July 14 the president laid the matter 
before congress, which did nothing. By this he was convinced 



THE CRITICISMS OF LINCOLN 579 

that nothing was to be hoped from emancipation through compensa- 
tion, and he turned to other means. 

July 22 he read to his cabinet a tentative emancipation proclama- 
tion to apply to the seceding states, justifying his proposed action on 
the ground of military necessity. Blair alone of the 
cabinet objected, as he thought the proclamation would The 
endanger the autumn elections. Seward suggested that tentative 
the announcement ought to wait until the army won a tionProc- 
victory, otherwise the proclamation would be construed lamation. 
as "the government stretching forth its hands to Ethio- 
pia," a confession of weakness. This view prevailed, and the matter 
was laid aside for a favorable opportunity. 

The action of the cabinet was secret, and the radical opponents of 
slavery, ignorant of what was going on, continued their strictures on 
the president. August 20, Horace Greeley, editor of the 
New York Tribtme, summed up this view in an editorial «prayej f. 
entitled, "The Prayer of Twenty Millions." He 
reproached the president for being influenced by "certain fossil poli- 
ticians" from the border states, for repudiating Fremont's and 
Hunter's orders and enforcing an order of Halleck to exclude fugi- 
tive slaves from the union camps, and for failing to execute the pro- 
visions of the second confiscation act touching slavery. Although 
this "Prayer" was addressed to Lincoln, he saw it first in the news- 
papers. He wrote and published in the same medium a reply which 
could not fail to crush his critics in the minds of the impartial people 
of the country. "As to the policy," he said, "I 'seem 
to be pursuing,' as you say, I have not meant to leave R°piy°^ 
anyone in doubt. I would save the Union. I would 
save it the shortest way under the Constitution. The sooner the 
national authority can be restored, the nearer the Union will be 'the 
Union as it was.' If there be those who would not save the Union 
unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with 
them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they 
could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. 
My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is 
not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union 
without freeing any slave, I would do it ; and if I could save it by 
freeing all the slaves, I would do it ; and if I could save it by freeing 
some and leaving others alone, I would also do that. What I do 
about slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to 
save the Union ; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe 
it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I believe 
what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I 
shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct 
errors when shown to be errors, and I shall adopt new views so fast 
as they shall appear to be true views." This letter was widely read 
and had a great influence on public opinion. 



58o CIVIL AFFAIRS DURING THE WAR 

September 17 Lee's invasion of Maryland was checked at Antie- 
tam, and Lincoln on the 23d issued the celebrated preliminary eman- 
cipation proclamation. It announced that the slaves 
^^f^™**^"" would be declared free in all states resisting the union on 
lamation. January i, 1863. It also spoke of compensation for the 
slaves of loyal states. It was a warning to the South, but 
it only elicited jeers from that section, and January i a final procla- 
mation appeared declaring slavery abolished by military authority 
in all the South except Tennessee and the parts of Louisiana and 
Virginia then held by union arms. The proclamation satisfied for a 
time the radicals of the North and strengthened the cause of the 
union in Europe, by showing that the war was fought to put an end 
to slavery. Even the border states could not complain, for they were 
not affected, and it was evident that ample time had been given the 
secessionists to escape emancipation by submitting to the union. 
The proclamation had no basis in the law of civil affairs, as Lincoln 
well knew, but he believed it was within his authority as commander- 
in-chief of the army and navy. 

In the annual message, December i, 1863, Lincoln returned to 
the subject of compensated emancipation for the border states, and 
Comoen- ^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ nature to apply to Missouri passed the house 
sated Eman- and had a conditional approval in the senate. But it 
cipation was opposed by the democrats, mostly border state men, 

again ^j^q thought the South would not be conquered, and, as 

ugges e . gQj^g republicans gave it a very lukewarm support, the 
measure finally failed in the short session. When congress met 
again, the cause of the North was more promising on the battle- 
field, and congress was less inclined to concede anything to slaveholders. 
They were now concerned with an amendment abolishing slavery 
outright. 

Reflection showed that Lincoln's proclamation was of doubtful 
constitutionality. Moreover, it abolished slavery at best in only 
about half of the territory in which the institution existed, 
Amendment '^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^°^ prevent the future reestablishment of bond- 
age by a state. To meet these difficulties, a thirteenth 
amendment was introduced in congress, March 28, 1864. It passed 
the senate, but failed to get the necessary two-thirds majority in the 
house. January 31, 1865, it came up again in the house and passed 
by the necessary majority. With its ratification by three-fourths of 
the states, it became a part of the organic law of the land, December 
18, 1865. Before it was ratified, slavery had been abolished by state 
amendment in Arkansas, January, 1864; Louisiana, September, 1864; 
Maryland, October, 1864; Tennessee, February, 1865; and Missouri, 
June, 1865. February 5, 1865, after the thirteenth amendment had 
passed, Lincoln submitted to his cabinet the draft of a message pro- 
posing to pay to the slave states $400,000,000 in bonds on considera- 



CLASSES OF VOTERS 581 

tion that the war cease by April i. The cabinet thought such a 
measure could not pass congress, and the matter was dropped. Thus 
did Lincoln, whose sympathy for the South never failed, make his last 
effort to save for the slaveholders some portion of their property 
which the progress of the age was going to take away. 



Political Parties during the Civil War 

During the war the Northern voters became divided into four 
classes, i. The regular republicans. They followed Lincoln in a 
mild opposition to slavery, and put the preservation of 
the union above all else. 2. The radical republicans, Qjoypg 
also strong unionists, but in favor of an extreme anti- 
slavery policy, and disposed to deal harshly with the South after the 
war ended. 3. The war democrats, protesting their faith in demo- 
cratic principles, but opposed to secession, and loyal to the union at the 
polls and on the battlefield. They were not well organized as a 
group, but in some cases were of great importance because they coop- 
erated with the Lincoln republicans in important local elections. 
4. The regular democrats, outwardly professing devotion to the 
union, but criticizing the conduct of the war and undermining as much 
as they could the national support of it. Many of the leaders of this 
group were party men who wished to keep their organization intact, 
and whose most evident means of reaching their end was to criticize 
the party in power in whatever way offered. The first, second, and 
third groups usually acted together on the all-important issue of the 
war ; the fourth, always a minority in congress, made vigorous attacks 
on their opponents, but were unable to modify the course of events. 
To many people their efforts seemed little less than treason to the 
union. 

The first notable poHtical contest after i860 was in 1862. It was 
a year of military reverses. McClellan did not take Richmond, and 
Pope was beaten in Virginia. Grant's campaign from 
Fort Henry to Corinth was a steady success, and Lee was p^^^^" 
forced back from Maryland after Antietam, but after each criticized. 
campaign came a period of inactivity. The war was 
begun to crush the confederacy, and the people were discouraged 
because this object seemed indefinitely distant. And so the democrats 
— calling themselves conservatives — pronounced the war a costly 
failure. The emancipation proclamation they also criticized. It was 
arraigned as a violation of the constitution and as evidence that the 
war was not waged to preserve the union but to destroy slavery. 
Out of these two lines of argument was evolved the battle cry : The 
constitution as it is and the union as it was ! 

Other arguments were found which did good service. Military 



582 CIVIL AFFAIRS DURING THE WAR 

arrests began to be made as soon as the war began : they became 
more numerous when campaign speakers fell to discussing the war 
in candid terms. Stanton, who generally ordered the arrests, was 

charged with doing so in order to suppress political dis- 
oi^i8&2^^ cussion. In Ohio several men highly esteemed were thus 

thrown into prison, and the political effect was great. The 
vast expenditures for military supplies led to jobbery and corruption 
on a large scale, as investigation committees in Washington clearly 
showed, and out of this the democrats made capital. Moreover, 
there was a natural reaction from the buoyant war feeling of 1861. 
The result was seen in the elections of 1862. New York, Pennsyl- 
vania, New Jersey, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin chose anti- 
administration state officials, and the house of representatives, 
which in i86i had 42 democrats against 106 republicans and 28 union 
men, had, two years later, 75 democrats against 102 republicans and 
9 "border state men." Since the democrats were opposed to the 
existing method of conducting the war, this meant that their policy 
had gained materially in the house of representatives. 

Within Lincoln's own party there was abundant trouble. The 
radicals though him unequal to the presidency. Men of dignity 

themselves, they could not tolerate his lack of informal- 
Ln**^! °° ^^y' carelessness in dress, and lack of method in business. 

They thought him under the influence of Seward, who 
was avowedly a conservative. Finally a caucus of republican sen- 
ators in December, 1862, resolved that the president ought to dismiss 
those members of the cabinet who interfered with the successful 
conduct of the war. The blow was aimed at Seward, who offered his 
resignation forthwith. In a joint meeting of the rest of the cabinet 
and a committee of the senators, Lincoln cleverly forced Chase, who 
was probably at the bottom of the discontent, to resign also. That 
done, he refused to accept either resignation, and was able to continue 
with a two-sided administration. Chase and the radicals were forced 
to abate their opposition, but events showed that it was not extin- 
guished. 

Meanwhile, " Copperheads " appeared. The epithet was applied by 
their enemies to all democrats ; but it should properly be given only 

to those extreme opponents of the war who went so far as 
h adr' ^^ seem by their agitation to give aid to the South. The 

name came from the habit of wearing as a badge a button 
cut out of a copper cent, on which was the head of the Goddess of 
Liberty. The movement began late in 1862. It was accompanied 
with violent speech-making, and one of its most active leaders 
was Clement L. Vallandigham, of Ohio, bold of speech and sharp of 
tongue. 

Arguments were not wanting to reach men bred in the school of 
state rights. Congress had passed laws giving the president control 



THE COPPERHEADS 583 

over the sword and purse of the nation; slavery was annulled 

by a mere word ; and hundreds of persons were in prison without 

civil trial through military arrest, charged with no 

other offense than words spoken against the government. A'-guments 

The war was a republican war ; it would not have begun heads. 

but for the election of Lincoln, and it was now carried on, 

said the agitators, to preserve the political power of the republicans. 

In the winter of 1862-63, Napoleon HI offered to mediate between 

the North and the South. Lincoln's refusal to accept the offer was 

declared evidence that the war was fought to subjugate a portion of 

the American people. 

After his defeat at Fredericksburg, Burnside became commander of 
the department of the Ohio, where copperheads were most outspoken. 
With a soldier's impatience of defiance, he issued an order, 
April 13, 1863, in which he said, "the habit of declaring ^^f^*?.^ 
sympathy for the enemy will not be allowed. . . ." gham. 
Vallandigham was then a candidate for the nomination 
for governor of Ohio, and was making caustic speeches against the 
republicans. He considered Burnside's order a challenge, and accepted 
it. May i he made one of his customary speeches, although he 
knew he was watched. Four days later he was arrested and sent 
before a military commission which acted without forms of law. 
He was pronounced guilty of "declaring disloyal sentiments" in order 
to weaken the power of the government against its enemies, and the 
sentence was confinement until the end of the war. Approved by 
Burnside, it went at length to Lincoln, who commuted the penalty 
to banishment to the confederacy. The prisoner was sent through 
the union lines in Virginia, and reached Richmond. He was received 
coldly by Jefferson Davis, and escaping through the blockade, arrived 
safely in Canada, from which secure retreat he directed his campaign 
in Ohio. Now a martyr in the eyes of his friends, he was nominated 
for governor, and the immense public meetings which the democrats 
held seemed to indicate certain triumph at the polls. The union 
party was alarmed, and nominated Brough, a war democrat, to oppose 
him. The election came in October, with the result that Brough 
was chosen governor with a majority of 101,099. Probably the 
victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, by showing that the war was 
not a failure, were the chief cause of the unionist success. At the 
same time, other states were carried by the friends of Lincoln with 
large majorities, among them New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and 
Indiana. These favorable results encouraged the republicans, and 
the support of the war did not weaken. 

This difficulty was hardly passed before the radicals began to show 
that they wished to defeat the nomination of Lincoln for president in 
1864. They united on Chase who, spite of the fact that he was in 
the cabinet, showed that he desired the proffered honor. They 



584 CIVIL AFFAIRS DURING THE WAR 

formed a committee with Senator Pomeroy, of Kansas, for 
chairman, and early in 1864 it sent out a circular in behalf 

of Chase. February 25, however. Chase's hopes 
'^^^ fell when Ohio, his own state, declared for Lincoln. 

Cir™ui£u-^ He withdrew his countenance of the movement, but the 
1864. ' radicals continued their opposition, their candidate now 

being Fremont. 
The convention of the national union, or the republican party, met 
June 7. Four days earlier. Grant's bloody campaign against Lee 

came to a halt in the costly sacrifice of life at Cold Harbor, 

J^?Jlt^A and Richmond was still in confederate hands. At the 
nominated. • r>i r r 1 • • 1 • 

same time, Sherman, after many days of skirmishing and one 

fierce battle at Kenesaw Mountain, was still outside of Atlanta. 
To the North, it was the same old story of slaughter, expense, and 
defeat ; and the democratic press denounced bitterly a president 
whose policy resulted only in such losses. But the convention was 
true to Lincoln and nominated him unanimously. For vice-presi- 
dent, it named Andrew Johnson, military governor of Tennessee. 
Lincoln is said to have been responsible for the choice. There was a 
strong feeling that a Southern man should be on the ticket, in order 
to give it a non-sectional character. Lincoln, in his characteristic 
way, said his own nomination came because the convention thought 
''it was not best to swap horses while crossing the river." Now 
followed weeks of utter gloom in the North. Unless the confederacy 
could be crushed before the election, said Greeley, the union party 
would be defeated. Prominent men declared that Lincoln ought to 
withdraw, or be set aside for a stronger candidate. The president 
himself thought his reelection doubtful, and wrote a memorandum 
for his own use to the effect that if defeated be would cooperate with 
his successor-elect to "save the union between the election and the 
inauguration, as he will have secured his election on such grounds that 
he cannot possibly save it afterwards." 

The successor he had in mind was General McClellan, whom the 
democrats nominated at Chicago in August. He was the strongest 
candidate they could have selected, and he would surely 
,® gg°° be popular with the soldiers and the masses of the people. 
The platform demanded the cessation of bloodshed and 
the calling of a convention to restore peace "on the basis of the fed- 
eral union of the states." The stoutest hearted unionists feared the 
result of a political campaign on this issue. Their apprehensions 
were relieved when, on September 3, Sherman entered Atlanta, and 
thus proved that, in one of its most important movements, the war was 
not a failure. It was an argument the democrats could not answer ; 
and cheered by it the union men took up the campaign with such 
spirit that Lincoln, in November, was successful by 212 electoral 
votes to McClellan's 21. 



BROAD PRESIDENTIAL AUTHORITY 585 

It is a noteworthy thing that in the remarkable days of the civil 
war the man elected president in 1864 by a vote so sweeping was, 
at the same time, at variance with a majority of each 
house of congress on the most important civil question cg'ljgj.ess 
then before the public, i.e. the reconstruction of the 
Southern states. Throughout this last winter of war the two fac- 
tions subordinated their quarrel to the task of conquering the South ; 
but no one doubted that, this accomplished, a great struggle would 
occur between the president and the radicals to determine who should 
dominate in reconstruction. From this conflict Lincoln was saved 
by Booth's wicked deed. 

The War Powers of the President 

The constitution provides that congress shall have power to declare 
war and suppress insurrections. The war of 181 2 began with a decla- 
ration by congress. The Mexican war began with a 
declaration by Polk that Mexico had begun war by ?^^^^'f^* 
sending troops into the territory of the United States, -y^^ar. 
To many people it seemed at the time a dangerous thing 
to allow the president to determine, when another nation had begun 
war, since to do so was tantamount to giving him the power to 
declare war. In 1861 the situation was even more urgent. That 
congress, called to meet in July, would recognize the existence of in- 
surrection, was not doubted. To meet the active war measures of 
the confederacy, prompt action on the part of the union was neces- 
sary. Should Lincoln wait for the authority of acts of congress? 
He was too practical a man for such a course, and boldly decided to 
assume that he had necessary powers, and trust that congress would 
by its approval legalize what he had done. He accordingly called 
for troops, organized armies, and proclaimed a blockade of Southern 
ports. In doing so he established a precedent for similar situations, 
if such should arise in the future. 

A more doubtful matter was connected with the suspension of the 
writ of habeas corpus. On this subject the constitution only says, 
"The writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless 
when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety Suspending 
may require it." But the constitution did not say whether jj^beas 
the president or congress should suspend the writ. Here Corpus, 
again the necessity for immediate action was apparent. 
Maryland was full of Southern sentiment, the legislature was called 
to meet to consider the situation, and it was believed that a majority 
of its members would favor secession. If the state joined the con- 
federacy, Washington would be isolated and the cause of union would 
be severely injured. Lincoln again assumed responsibility. He 
ordered the military authorities to arrest the members of the legis- 



586 CIVIL AFFAIRS DURING THE WAR 

lature who seemed to be plotting treason, and to hold them pris- 
oners without benefit of habeas corpus. From their prisons they 
appealed to Taney, chief justice, who readily decided that they had 
committed no crime against the civil law. But they were not released, 
and there was no power in the courts to force the executive to adopt 
Taney's construction of the constitution. This action also became 
a precedent under which, we may believe, it will be held that in a 
future emergency the president may suspend the writ if he thinks the 
public safety demands it. In this, as in all other cases, he is subject 
to impeachment for exercising his power without a due sense of 
responsibility. As Professor Dunning well says, it made the presi- 
dent a temporary dictato.r. 

Military arrests, however, were not confined to Maryland. In 
all parts of the North men were imprisoned on the charge of aiding 

the South. September 24, 1862, Lincoln issued a procla- 
^^y/ mation for the arrest of persons discouraging enlistment 

An-ests^ or resisting the draft. They were to be tried by military 

courts, and to prevent the interference of civil officers they 
were to be denied the privileges of habeas corpus. This step was 
defended on the ground of military necessity. It placed for the time 
being the life and liberty of citizens in the hands of the president 
to an extent that was never contemplated in the much decried alien 
and sedition laws of 1798. Under it, numerous arrests were made, and 
the victims were frequently kept in duress without trial. So great 
was the popular disapproval that congress, March 3, 1863, attempted 
to regulate the matter. It gave the president the authority to sus- 
pend the writ, ordered that persons then in prison should be discharged 

unless they were indicted by a grand jury, and that in 
Habeas ^j^g future no arrested one should be held longer than 

of 1863. '^ twenty days unless so indicted. The natural consequence 

was to take such cases out of the hands of the military 
courts and leave them with the federal courts. Spite of this act 
military arrests of civilians continued to the end of the war, though 
not in as large numbers as formerly. The civil courts were not able 
to assert their authority against commanders of the army and were 
forced to submit. It was not until 1866 that they found an oppor- 
tunity to declare themselves in the decision of the case ex parte Milli- 
gan (see page 612). Although the supreme court here asserted the 
supremacy of the civil arm in districts not immediately subject to mili- 
tary authority, it is difficult to see how its contention could be enforced 
if the country should again have to encounter a situation like that of the 
civil war. 

The Southern Problem and Southern Efforts 

It is regrettable that this work is not large enough to embrace a de- 
scription of the civil war from the southern side. Nothing in American 



THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT 5S7 

history is finer than the ability and devotion with which the confed- 
eracy, once it was organized, met its difficulties and utilized its scant 
resources to beat off the armies that were thrown upon it. Here it is 
only possible to mention the most prominent facts and to show how 
they affected the struggle. 

The confederate constitution was the old constitution modified to 
remedy what the South thought were bad interpretations of the old 
instrument. Internal improvements and protective tariffs 

were forbidden, slavery was guaranteed in territories, a r^"!? t.".^^^ 
. , rr • t - 11 • 1 • • 1 1 Constitution. 

confederate orncial servmg solely withm a state might be 

impeached by a two-thirds vote of each house of the legislature within 
that state, and a two-thirds vote of each house was made necessary for 
admitting a new state into the confederacy, the vote in the senate 
being by states. In these particulars, each of which suggests old 
points of dispute, it was attempted to guard the rights of the state 
against the central authority. Several other features are noteworthy. 
In order to make it easy to modify the constitution in keeping with 
the changing needs of the country, a new convention must be called 
when demanded by three states. Another feature took from the state 
the right to enfranchise foreigners who had not been naturalized, and 
still another made the president's term of office six years with ineligibil- 
ity for reelection. Cabinet members were to appear and speak in 
congress on matters pertaining to their departments, but they could 
not vote ; and no money was to be appropriated without a two-thirds 
vote except the sums specified in annual estimates by the departments. 
Several of these latter features had no reference to the sectional con- 
troversy, but were considered improvements warranted by experience. 
The Montgomery government was provisional and was to exist for 
one year only. By autumn the permanent constitution was adopted, 
and elections were held for presidential electors and members of con- 
gress. In the former Jefferson Davis was elected president for six 
years, and February 22, 1862, he was inaugurated in a dowmpour of 
rain which caused the superstitious to tremble for the fate of the new 
government. In fact, trouble soon appeared. Davis was a man of 
strong will and little tact. He was a West Point graduate, and took 
effective control of the war policy. He dominated a cabinet and con- 
gress hardly equal to the great work thrown upon them. His plan to 
withhold cotton from Europe in the first year of the war, when the 
blockade was not very efficient, was condemned by many planters. 
His military appointments were supposed to be due to favoritism ; it 
was said that he showed too strong a preference for Virginians, and 
some of the states claimed that he overrode states' rights in executing 
the conscription laws and the laws to impress horses and supplies for 
the army. Before the end of the war the discontented class was large, 
and one heard in many quarters that it was "a rich man's war and a 
poor man's fight." But in most respects Davis had his way ; and it is 



588 CIVIL AFFAIRS DURING THE WAR 

doubtful if any other Southerner then in public life could have filled his 
difficult position so well. The chief objection to him as president is 
that he was too stout-hearted, and that he allowed the war to continue 
too long after it was an evident failure. In the light of later events it 
would have been better if in the autumn of 1864 he had relaxed his 
stubborn purpose to resist until death, sacrificing his own ideas for 
what he should have known was the interest of his people. 

As the hope of success retreated, a peace party began to appear, 
most of its members being those who had clung longest to the union 
in 1 86 1. Davis and the whole confederate government 
Movem^'nt opposed it strongly, the writ of habeas corpus was suspended, 
and every effort was made to keep alive the loyalty of all 
the people. In North Carolina and Georgia the peace movement was 
strongest, and even Stephens, the vice-president, was known to look 
upon it with favor. The elections of 1864 were awaited as a test of the 
matter, but they resulted in victory for the friends of resistance, and 
the two states held on to the cause, though it was evidently desperate. 
Turning from internal affairs in the South, let us consider foreign 
relations. Although selling bonds and buying supplies and ships con- 
cerned confederate agents in Europe, they gave most atten- 
Confederate ^.j^j^ j-q efforts to secure the recognition of their govern- 
i^ahs. ment. The decision of England in May, 1861, to give the 

South only the status of belligerency was disappointing, but 
hopes ran strong that confederate military success would be followed 
by recognition. Time showed that this was a vain expectation. 
The campaigns of Bull Run, the Peninsula, and second Manassas 
were confederate victories, and though Antietam was a practical 
reverse, Fredericksburg was a decisive victory, and spite of them no 
signs of recognition appeared. In fact, England steadily refused to 
recognize the confederate representative. Mason, and he reported 
that regard for the dignity of his government demand that he be re- 
called. He was, however, instructed to remain at his post in the hope 
that he might influence public opinion. He spent money freely for news- 
paper articles, and a newspaper was established in London presenting 
to the British public facts and arguments favorable to the South. 
By this time England was trying hard to produce cotton in her colonies 
and succeeding, although the quality of the cotton thus secured was 
below that produced in the South. The British people were strongly 
opposed to slavery, and Adams, the American minister, lost no oppor- 
tunity to show them to what extent the cause of the South was con- 
nected with the prolongation of the institution. It is not too much to 
say that slavery alone stood in the way of European recognition of the 
confederacy. After the battle of Gettysburg and the fall of Vicksburg, 
recognition became impossible, and Mason withdrew from London 
to Paris, remaining in Europe until the end of the war, with little 
to do. 



GOOD WILL OF NAPOLEON III 589 

Meanwhile, it seemed for a time that better success would come 
from negotiations with France. Napoleon III wished to revive the 
French colonial empire, and Mexico seemed to offer a favor- 
able field of action. In order to collect some debts which Me^*^(.o'° 
this improvident country had failed to pay, a joint French, 
British, and Spanish expedition occupied it in 1861-1862. Mexico 
now came to terms in regard to the debts, and England and Spain with- 
drew. But the French troops remained, and Napoleon, by taking 
sides with one of the two political factions then in the country, soon 
made himself lord of the country. Setting aside all pretext, he boldly 
began to inaugurate his colonial scheme. He expected no embarrass- 
ment on account of our Monroe doctrine ; for the United States gov- 
ernment had its hands full at home. On the contrary, he was disposed 
to make a friend of the confederacy. He caused the confederates to 
believe that early recognition was inevitable, and said he only awaited 
England's initiative. Early in 1862 he said he was ready to open the 
blockade. of New Orleans, but the place was taken by Farragut, and the 
plan became impossible. Late in the same year he sug- 
gested joint intervention by himself, England, and Spain, J^^^^^ ^^^ 
with an armistice of six months to arrange for a permanent federacy. 
peace. The proposition was rejected by England and 
brought forth a firm protest from the United States, with the result 
that it accomplished nothing for the confederacy. But France did 
not cease to countenance the confederacy. Napoleon even sanctioned 
the building of heavy corvettes of the Alabama typepro\ided they could 
go to sea without their destinations becoming known. Work on the 
ships was begun, but the American minister learned of it and protested 
to the emperor, who forthwith revoked the permission he had given. 
The ships, six in all, were completed, but Gettysburg had then been 
fought, and it was impossible to get permission for their departure un- 
less they v/ere sold to a neutral power of recognized standing. One 
of them was sold fictitiously to Denmark, got to sea, where her name 
was changed to the Stonewall, but it was not done until January, 
1865, and although the vessel reached Havana, it was too late to be of 
service to the confederacy. The action of France in refusing permis- 
sion for the ships to depart came just at the time the British authorities 
took similar action in regard to the confederate rams built in English 
waters (see page 523), and the fate of the much desired confederate 
navy was thus sealed. Cut off from activity on the sea, the confed- 
eracy could not raise the blockade, and the war was left to be fought 
out on land. Of the ships which the South managed to get armed and 
on the sea, the most notable were the Alabama, Florida, Sumter, Shenan- 
doah, Tallahassee, and Georgia. 

The Southern army was first raised by volunteering, as in the North ; 
but although enthusiasm was abundant in 1 861, it soon was in- 
adequate for the demands of the hour, and in April, 1862, a conscription 



SQo CIVIL AFFAIRS DURING THE WAR 

act was passed, making all males between the ages of iS and 35 liable 
to military duty. Five months later the limits were made 18 and 45, 

and before the end of the war boys as young as 16 years 
s^^th were made liable to ser\dce. The confederate historians 

^^j.jj^gs_ place the aggregate number of troops in their armies at 

600,000 to 700,000. The northern authorities contend that 
this is too small, and think about 1,000,000 the right number. Un- 
fortunately, the confederate records were lost, and the dispute cannot 
be decided. The white population of the confederacy was only 
5,500,000, which, by the accepted method of estimating the available 
military class as one-fifth of the population, would give 1,100,000 of 
military age. It is hardly to be expected that nearly all of these were 
drawn into the army. In the North the men of military age were 
about 4,400,000, of which about 2,500,000 went into the army. 

The conscription laws of the South produced the same evils as in the 
North. Substitutes were allowed, and substitute brokers appeared. 
The men thus furnished were considered inefficient soldiers, and de- 
serted freely. Men of this class, as well as those who evaded service, 
frequently fled to the woods and became the scourge of peaceful com- 
munities. In the last months of the war there was much complaint on 
. this score. As the Southern armies were reduced in 

ConscrStion Clumbers, surgeons went everywhere, examining the 

men not in the armies, and taking all who could be of any 
use as soldiers. In this way the confederate government brought 
out a very large proportion of the men capable of fighting in its behalf. 
By Christmas, 1864, it was estimated by the authorities that there 
were 100,000 deserters in the South. 

The financial resources of the confederacy were also severely taxed. 
The strictness of the blockade reduced import duties to an inconsider- 

able basis, and the chief source of funds was loans and in- 
FhianceY* ® ternal taxes. The former consisted of bonds and treasury 

notes, issued both by states and the confederacy. Specie 
was chiefly sent abroad to pay for public supplies, and the rapidly 
depreciating paper money sank in value until it was only received at 
enormous reduction. Even towns, counties, insurance companies, 
and mining companies issued their promises to pay. Before the end 
of the war the notes of the confederacy alone were more than 
$1,000,000,000. Produce loans were resorted to, i.e. bonds were 
given in exchange for cotton, tobacco, and turpentine, which might 
be sent abroad on blockade runners, or which, stored against the day 
of victory, might serve as security for loans floated in Europe. Finally, 
a tithe of agricultural products was required for the support of the 
armies. The slaves, although not used as soldiers, furnished by their 
labor the food which supported the armies. When the confederacy 
collapsed the South contained enough food supplies to support the 
struggle for a much longer period. 



"KING COTTON'S" WEAKNESS 591 

Before the war the South had very few manufactures, and though 
strenuous efforts were now made to repair the deficiency, the lack of 
machinery and trained operatives presented insurmount- 
able difficulties. Shoes, clothing, paper, hats, and a thou- ^^^Z^"- 
sand other articles were very hard to obtain. The blockade 
kept out foreign supplies, and the small amount that got through on 
the swift blockade runners sold at exorbitant prices. Coffee and 
tea became almost unknown, and many substitutes were invented. 
For sugar, sorghum was used. Medicines were also obtained with 
difficulty, especially quinine, which was much needed on account of the 
prevalent malaria. Spite of such privations the spirits of the people 
were good ; for there was always confidence that victory would soon 
come and that the rigorous blockade would be raised. 

Railroads could not be repaired, and were not able to carry supplies 
from the rich fields of the Gulf states to the army in Virginia. Man- 
ufactured articles such as there were could not be dis- _ ^ , 
tributed to the people on the farms. Machine shops, 
which might have worked for the repair of railroads, ran to their full 
capacity on material of war. In despair the government offered aid 
to the railroads, but there were not in the South the necessary iron mills 
to produce the means of keeping up or extending railroad service. 
There were rich beds of iron ore in the South, but in the devotion of the 
people to agriculture they had been unworked, and it was impossible 
to develop them under pressure of war. 

Before 1861 a favorite secession argument was "Cotton is King !" 
and it did much for the cause of secession. In substance it was that 
Europe and the manufacturing North were so dependent 
on Southern cotton that war was very improbable, and if it p!^® ^^!* 
did come, so much suffering would occur in England that cotton. 
she would interfere to end the struggle. It is true that 
the business interests of the North deprecated war, but they were 
swept away by the rising of patriotic fervor which followed the at- 
tack on Sumter, and from that time this part of the cotton kingdom 
paid no attention to the "King." In England there was much suffer- 
ing, the small supply of cotton that went out through the blockade 
counting for nothing in the situation. But the people of England dis- 
liked slavery too much to take its part, and endured financial loss until 
slavery could be wiped out of its last important stronghold. Under 
these conditions, cotton, which early in 1861 brought 14 cents a pound 
in Liverpool, sold at the end of the war for 50 cents in the same place. 
Great quantities of it accumulated in the South, spite of the efforts of 
the confederate congress to induce the planters to raise food products 
only. In 1861 appeals were made to the planters by the government 
to burn their cotton lest it be sent abroad and relieve the scarcity, and 
1,000,000 bales are said to have been thus destroyed. When New 
Orleans fell, the federal authorities offered to allow cotton from the 



592 CIVIL AFFAIRS DURING THE WAR 

interior to pass out, but very little appeared for that purpose. By the 
end of 1862 the confederate authorities changed their opinion and 
sought to send cotton out through the blockade in order to get sup- 
plies. But at this time the blockade was too rigid to allow a consider- 
able exportation. Trade between the lines was ordinarily forbidden, 
but when west Tennessee was occupied a demoralizing trade sprang 
up which the strictest orders did not prevent. Cotton was given in 
exchange for salt, clothing, and even military supplies, and there 
were many complaints that officers of the posts shared the profits. 
General Butler, who commanded at New Orleans from May to Decem- 
ber, 1862, and at Norfolk in 1864, was generally believed to have 
reaped handsome reward by conniving at a trade in which cotton ex- 
changed for salt and other supplies at 15 cents a pound sold in the 
North for 60 cents. 

One of the most exciting phases of the war in the South was block- 
ade running. The low price of cotton within the confederacy, and 

the high price without, made it a practice as profitable as 
Running^ adventurous. A ship which could make two or three trips 

successfully netted a handsome return to her owners if 
she were captured afterwards. For the service, vessels of great speed 
were used. They were low, rakish-looking craft, painted as nearly the 
color of the water as possible, and were usually manned by foreigners, 
who, if captured, were not prisoners of war. Coming back, they 
managed to reach the bar of the home port at high tide on a dark 
night and tried to steal unobserved between the sentinel ships that 
guarded the entrance. If discovered, they tried to dart between the 
blockaders, and sometimes succeeded by reason of their speed. Block- 
ade runners were usually required to carry a portion of their incoming 
cargoes for the account of the confederate government. Nassau and 
Havana were the favorite ports to which they ran, and Wilmington, 
North Carolina, and Charleston the best ports from which to escape. 
The former is protected by shoals stretching far out to sea, which 
made the work of the blockaders difficult. It remained open until 
Fort Fisher, which guarded the entrance, was taken, January 16, 
1865. 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

For civil affairs during the war, the same general works are suggested as for 
mihtary affairs (see page 543). But the same cannot be said in regard to sources. 
In this respect one must rely on : The Congressional Globe, for debates in congress ; 
The Statutes at Large, for laws passed ; and the Executive Documents for reports of 
committees or of high officials. Especially important are the reports of the Joint 
Committee on the Conduct of the War, in 8 vols. The United States government 
has published the journals of the confederate congress, and Richardson, Messages 
and Papers of the Confederacy, 2 vols. (1905), contains some of the documents to which 
the title directs attention. The Confederate Statutes at Large, published contem- 
poraneously at Richmond, contains all the confederate laws but those of the last 
days of the government. See also : Moore, Rebellion Records, 12 vols. (1861-1868), 
much information culled from newspapers, pamphlets, and public speeches; and 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 593 

Applelon's Annual Cyclopedia. Of the newspapers of the times the following are im- 
portant : The Tribune, Herald, Times, and Evening Post, of New York ; the Journal 
and Advertiser of Boston; the Times and Tribune, of Chicago; the Republican, of 
Springfield, Mass. ; the Democrat, of La Crosse, Wisconsin ; the Examiner, Whig, 
and Dispatch, oi Richmond; the MtTcwrj', of Charleston ; and the /'/caj'wwe, of New 
Orleans. 

The memoirs and lives of the prominent politicians of the period yield much im- 
portant information. The most important are: Nicolay and Hay, Abraham 
Lincoln, a History, lo vols. (1890), very important; Bancroft, Lifeof William H. 
Seward, 2 vols. (1900), a scholarly work ; John Sherman, Recollections of Forty Years 
(1895) ; Adams, Charles Francis Adams (1900) ; Pierce, Charles Sumner, 4 vols. 
(1877-1893) ; Greeley, Recollections of a Busy Life (1868) ; Juhan, Recollections of 
War Times (1884); Gorham, Edwin M. Stanton, 2 vols. (1899); McCall, Thad- 
deus Stevens (1899); Blaine, Twenty Years in Congress, 2 vols. (1884); Hart, 
Salmon P. Chase (1899); Coleman, John J. Crittenden (1871); McClure, Lincoln 
and Men of War Times (1892) ; McCulloch, Men and Measures (1900) ; Fessenden, 
Life of W. P. Fessenden, 2 vols. (1907) ; Mrs. Davis, Jefferson Davis (1890) ; Dodd, 
Life of Jefferson Davis (1907) ; Cleveland, Alexander H. Stephens (1866) ; Stovall, 
Robert Toombs (1892) ; Du Bose, Life of William L. Yancey (1892) ; Capers, Life 
and Times of C. G. Memminger (1893); and Woodbum, Thaddeus Stevens (1913). 

On the meaning of the constitution as regards the issues brought up by the war 
see : Parker, Constitutional Law with Reference to the Present Condition of the United 
States (1862), refers especially to military arrests; Alexander Johnston, American 
Political History, 1763-1876, 2 vols. (1905), collected from Labor's Cyclopedia by 
Professor Woodbum; Dunning, Essays on the Civil War a>id Reconstruction (ed. 
1904) ; Whiting, War Poivers of the Government (1864) ; Von Hoist, Constitutional 
History of the United States, 8 vols, trans. (1876-1892) ; Wilson, Political Measures of 
tfie United States Congress (1866) ; and Binney, Privileges of a Writ of Habeas 
Corpus (1865). On the southern side, see Davis, Rise and Fall of the Confederate 
Government, 2 vols. (1881) ; Stephens, Constitutional View of tlu; War between the 
States, 2 vols. (1868-1870) ; and Curry, Civil History of the Confederate Government 
(1901). 

On the support of the war see : Dewey, Financial History of the United States 
(1903) ; Knox, American Notes (1899) ; Stille, How a Free People Cotuluct a Long 
War (1863) ; Stanwood, American Tariff Controversies, 2 vols. (1903) ; Sumner, yl wen- 
caw Currency (1874) ; Oberholtzer, Jay Cooke, 2 vols. (1907) ; Schwab, Confederate 
States of America, Financial and Industrial (1901) ; and Fleming, Reconstruction in 
Alabama {igo$). On numbers and losses : l.iveTmov&, Numbers aiul Losses of the 
Civil War (1901) ; Fox, Regimental Losses in the Civil War (1889) ; and Wood, The 
Confederate Handbook (1900). 

On diplomatic relations: Moore, Digest of International Law, 8 vols. (1906); 
Wharton, Digest of International Law of the United States (1886) ; Adams, Charles 
Francis Adams (1900); Bancroft, Williatn H. Seward, 2 vols. (1900); Bigelow, 
France aiul the Confederate Navy (1888) ; Bulloch, Secret Service of the Confederate 
States, 2 vols. (1884) ; Callahan, Diplomatic History of the Southern Confederacy 
(1901) ; and Bonham, British Consids in the Confederacy (Columbia Studies, 191 1). 

For Independent Reading 

Tarbell, Life of Lincoln, 2 vols. (ed. 1900) ; McClure, Lincoln and Men of War 
Times (1892) ; Adams, Charles Francis Adams (1900) ; Yisiri, Salmon P. Chase (1899) ; 
Riddle, Recollections of War Times (1895); Dodd, Life of Jefferson Davis (1907); 
Russell, My Diary North and South (1862) ; and R. E. Lee, Jr., Recollections and 
Letters of R. E. Lee (1904). 



2Q 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

RECONSTRUCTION — THE NATIONAL SIDE 

Two Possible Methods of Reconstruction 

The constitution did not provide a way to restore government 
in a conquered state, and the men of 1865 must use ingenuity and find 
one. Congress thought restoration a part of the law- 
Presidental making function and wished to act the part of restorer, 
^^essional ^^^ president felt that it was within his authority as 
Reconstruc- commander-in-chief of the army and navy. He could 
tion. estabUsh military law, and he could say on what con- 

ditions he would withdraw it. But he did not presume 
to create reconstruction. His theory was that it was an outgrowth of 
a latent power in the state which sprang into active life when he with- 
drew the military force which held it back. In the nature of the case, 
the president could act first. He thus began actual reconstruction, 
but in 1867 congress took it out of his hands, overthrew all he had done, 
and established a reconstruction of its own. Thus we have presiden- 
tial and congressional reconstruction. 

The point of difference lay in the amount of confidence which could 
be reposed in the South to accept emancipation and allow the f reedmen 
complete civil rights. The president would trust the 
^^® Southerners. Let the union take some fundamental 

between ^ guarantees, exclude for a time the leading secessionists 
Them. from a share in government, and leave the future to the 

calm sense and honor of the South. Congress thought 
this was not enough. It feared that when the oversight of freedmen 
was remanded to the states, local laws would be passed undoing much 
of the good accomplished by the war. It demanded laws and constitu- 
tional amendments limiting state action and protecting the rights of 
the freedmen. Its program developed as it gained control of the 
situation, and it finally announced a definite demand for enfranchise- 
ment as the only sure means by which the ex-slave could defend him- 
self against the Southern white men. Several important laws and two 
constitutional amendments expressed this program. Their enact- 
ment marked the triumph of congress over the president. 

In the long debates by which congress came to its decision were 

594 



THEORIES OF STATUS 595 

announced five theories of the status of the Southern states, i. The 
Southerners themselves beUeved that the states existed with un- 
impaired vitaUty, and that they only needed to accept 

the national authority and elect senators and representa- ^*^*"^ °^ *^® 

1 . ^i • f 1 • iif • Southern 

tives m order to resume their former places m the union, states. 

This was consistent with the ancient theory of state rights. 
2. The presidential theory held that the states were still existent, 
but were incapable of normal action because their officers were insur- 
gents. It announced that when the president pardoned these officials 
the old status returned, and the people could form a government, act 
for the state, and resume representation in congress. In each of these 
theories was the idea that a state is indestructible. 3. Sumner 
believed that a state resisting the union committed treason, forfeited 
its constitutional rights, and destroyed itself as effectively as if it 
committed suicide. If the state no longer existed, the people living in 
what had been its borders were entirely under the national authority, 
and congress might dictate the terms on which the state could be 
restored. Sumner was supported by many able men, and his theory 
was in line with the doctrine of strong nationality to which the war 
gave a decided impulse. 4. Thaddeus Stevens, able leader of the house 
of representatives, and more severe toward the South than Senator 
Sumner, believed also that the states as such had ceased to exist ; 
but he considered them conquered provinces, as truly as if the war had 
been against a foreign power. They were, therefore, entirely in the 
hands of the conqueror, and congress might do what it would with the 
people and the territory concerned. Stevens thought the South, 
having rejected the constitution, had no right to claim its protection. 
He was known to favor drastic measures before completing the work 
of reconstruction. 5. As men considered these views, they found ob- 
jections in each. , To allow easy restoration of the states, as was im- 
plied in the first and second, would imperil the fruits of the war. On 
the other hand, to recognize the state-suicide or the conquered-prov- 
inces theory implied a relinquishment of the powers of states, and a 
strengthening of the national power to which a large part of congress 
would not consent. In this dilemma the men of the day found another 
course of action which was believed to avoid each disadvantage. The 
compromise, not entirely consistent, was expressed in the forfeited- 
rights theory. It held that secession did not destroy the states or 
even take them out of the union, but that it deprived them of some of 
their normal rights. They were in a state of suspended animation, 
and congress was to determine the terms of restoration. The theory 
differed chiefly from Sumner's by insisting that the states still existed, 
but with power and rights suspended, and from the presidential 
theory, by leaving the task of reconstruction entirely to congress. 
It took many months of debating to bring this theory to its pre- 
dominance. 



596 RECONSTRUCTION — THE NATION.^ SIDE 



Lincoln's Plan of Reconstruction 

By the end of 1862 parts of Tennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana 
were recovered from the confederacy and taken at once under the 

direction of the generals who conquered them. Order 
Go er^ent ^'^^ preserved by the commanders of military posts and by 

local officers appointed by the commanding generals. 
But this was not the proper function of an officer commanding in the 
field, and Lincoln created military governors with powers derived from 
himself as commander-in-chief. They appointed local officers, es- 
tablished courts, and supervised the police function in their respective 
jurisdictions. They could be removed by the president, and were 
considered but a temporary makeshift. Lincoln disliked military 
government as much as the people, and desired to make it yield as 
quickly as possible to a government which rested on the consent of the 
governed. Peirpoint's rump government at Alexandria served for the 
parts of Virginia held by the union, and relieved Lincoln of the neces- 
sity of establishing military government in that state. 

December 8, 1863, Lincoln announced his plan in a "Procla- 
mation of Amnesty and Reconstruction." He offered pardon 

to all but certain excepted citizens of the South, if they 
The would swear loyalty to the union and accept the recent 

Amnesty j^^g ^j^^^ proclamations respecting slavery. The persons 
tion of excluded from pardon were former confederate civil and 

1863. diplomatic officers, men who resigned federal judgeships, 

positions in the army or na\y of the union, or seats in 
congress in order to serve the confederacy, officers above the rank of 
colonel in the army and lieutenant in the navy of the confederacy, and 
persons who refused to treat as prisoners of war captured colored 
troops and their wliite officers. He hoped that the mass of whites in 
the recovered areas would take the oath, and he thought it wise to 
neutralize, for the time being, the influence of their former leaders by 
excluding them from participation in the work of reorganization. The 
proclamation also announced that when a number of citizens of a state 
equal to one-tenth of the vote of that state in i860 had taken the pre- 
scribed oath, they might establish a civil government, and presidential 
support would be given to its measures to regulate the life of the f reed- 
men, pro\dded emancipation was recognized. Finally, it was specifi- 
cally stated that the president had no authority over the readmission 
of senators and representatives to the national congress. 

In this proclamation Lincoln spoke in general terms and with his 
usual caution ; but his intention is seen specifically in the plan he im- 
mediately put into operation in Louisiana, where thirteen parishes, 
including New Orleans, were in union hands. In August, 1862, 
he appointed General Shepley military governor of the state, and in 



THE LOUISIANA PLAN 597 

December, before the proclamation appeared, two districts elected 
congressmen who were allowed seats in the house, although the 
radicals there opposed the step because they thought it 
should wait untU a general plan of reconstruction was Reconstruc- 
adopted by congress. Lincoln ignored the radicals, and Louisi^a — 
after the proclamation was issued, encouraged General 1863-1864. 
Banks, commanding in Louisiana, to order an election for 
state officials on February 22, 1864. This done, a state convention was 
called to adapt the Louisiana constitution to new conditions. Three 
parties now appeared : one was conservatively Southern and declared 
that slavery continued spite of the emancipation proclamation of 1863 ; 
another was Northern in feeling and thought that slavery still existed, 
but should be abolished by state action ; a third, including the practical 
men generally, thought slavery no longer existent. In the February elec- 
tions, the third party cast more votes than the other two combined. 
It chose Michael Hahn governor, with other civil officers, but the 
second party protested the election as under military influence, and 
won the support of the radicals in congress, so that the senators, and 
representatives chosen with Hahn were not seated when they appeared 
in Washington. But the third party proceeded with its program. The 
convention met in April and revised the constitution by abolishing 
slavery, providing for public education without distinction of race, 
and granting equal civil status to all male citizens. This constitution 
was submitted to the people and adopted by a vote of 6836 to 1556. 
Lincoln supported Hahn ; but radicals, in close touch with the Northern 
group in Louisiana, opposed all that was done, declaring especially for 
negro suffrage. Lincoln did not favor so extreme a step. "I barely 
suggest, for your private consideration," he wrote to Governor Hahn, 
"whether some of the colored people may not be let in — as, for in- 
stance, the very intelligent, and especially those who have fought 
gallantly in our ranks. They would probably help, in some trying 
time to come, to keep the jewel of liberty within the family of free- 
dom." When negro suffrage became a most serious question, the war 
president was dead, but there is no reason to believe that 
he ever changed the opinion he expressed on it in 1864. Q^g^^^^ 
In the same year, Arkansas established a reconstructed 
government like that of Louisiana, and Tennessee did the same in the 
winter of 1864-1865 ; but congress refused to seat the members chosen 
from either state. In 1862 a military governor was appointed over 
the small strip recovered in the east of North Carolina, but the 
process of reconquest was stayed, and no attempt was made to es- 
tablish civil government in that state until the war ended. 

Lincoln's plan aroused enthusiasm in the North, where there was 
Httle popular desire to punish the South. Then the radical leaders 
became alarmed and bethought themselves to check the tide of opin- 
ion which set for him. They thought him too mild toward the South ; 



598 RECONSTRUCTION — THE NATIONAL SIDE 

some of them favored negro suffrage, and they were shrewd enough 
to utilize the jealousy congress felt for its privilege as the part of the 

government which ought to decide upon reconstruction. 
Day's Bilf" '^^^ house of representatives was under their control, and in 

December, 1863, appointed a committee, Henry Winter 
Davis, of Maryland, chairman, to report a plan of reconstruction. The 
bill he introduced was carried through the house. It was amended in 
the senate and passed there chiefly through the efforts of Wade, of 
Ohio. For this reason it was called the Wade-Davis bill, after its two 
most notable authors. It provided that provisional governors ad- 
minister the affairs of the recovered Southern states until the war ended, 
and that civil government should then be reestablished, when half of 
the male white citizens took an oath of loyalty to the union. The work 
of restoration should be done by a state convention, for which no man 
should vote and in which no man should have a seat who had held 
state or central ofi&ce under the confederacy, or voluntarily fought 
against the union. This state convention must amend the constitu- 
tion so as to provide: (i) that confederate officials, except in offices 
merely administrative and in military rank below colonel, should not 
vote for, or be, governors or members of legislatures; (2) that slavery 
be forever prohibited; and (3) that all debts incurred in behalf of the 
confederacy should be repudiated. When this constitution had been 
ratified by the people, the state was to be allowed representation in 
congress. The Wade-Davis bill passed July 2, 1864, two days before 
congress adjourned. 

Although the bill was milder than the plan later carried out by con- 
gress, it was too severe for Lincoln, and it received a "pocket veto." 

He said, referring to repeated declarations made early in 
Veto "^ ^ ^^^ war: "I do not see how any of us can now deny or 

contradict what we have always said, that congress has no 
constitutional power over slavery in the states." He issued a proc- 
lamation in which he said he would not bind himself to only one form 
of reconstruction, but that if any state presented itself for restoration 
under the plan in the Wade-Davis bill, it would have his support. 
This angered the radicals, who published an ill-tempered manifesto 
charging the president with a design to "hold the electoral votes of the 
rebel states at the dictation of his personal ambition." The war was 
then drawing to an end, and the problems of reconstructions were by 
common consent deferred until they could be taken up with an assur- 
ance of final settlement. 

The president and congress were now clearly at odds, 
" Twenty- a,nd the latter showed their distrust by passing a resolution 
Joint" ^^^^ ^^^ electoral votes of the states restored under Lin- 

Rule." coin's plan should not be counted. They also passed the 

"Twenty-second Joint Rule," by which the consent of 
each house was necessary to count the disputed electoral vote of a state. 



JOHNSON'S CHARACTER 599 

It gave the radicals a strong grip on the presidential elections, and 
remained in force until 1876, when it was dropped because the demo- 
crats controlled the house. Lincoln was too wise to' oppose these res- 
olutions openly. He realized that a contest awaited him in which 
he would need all powers of tact and persuasion. Ere the encounter 
began he was dead. 

One of his last victories was the approval of the thirteenth amend- 
ment by congress, February i, 1865. It was accepted by three-fourths 
of the states and formally proclaimed December 18, 1865. 
It read: "i. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, I^j^f 
except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall Amendment 
have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United 
States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. 2. Congress shall 
have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation." The 
debate on the amendment in congress shows that "involuntary servi- 
tude" was meant to include any partially free condition, as serfdom 
or peonage. The term "any place subject to their jurisdiction" was 
adopted in preference to the term "United States," lest the latter be 
held to mean only the states within the union. The second clause 
caused much anxiety. As adopted, it was supposed to give congress 
ample power to overrule any obstruction of the states. 

Johnson's Plan of Reconstruction 

The man who took up the task which tried Lincoln was also humbly 

born and self-educated. A tailor by trade, he lacked the advantage 

most of our self-made leaders have had, of a long training 

in some conservative and intellectual profession. His y'V'^^^ 

, . .^ r r-n Johnson, 

power was won m the mountam counties of iennessee, 

where he appealed to passions rather than judgment. He voiced 
boldly and ably the non-slaveholder's sense of inequality at the hands 
of the planter and his hope in the union as the salvation of the South 
from aristocratic domination. Lincoln admired his courage, and 
made him in 1862 military governor of Tennessee, a position in which 
a man of decision and inflexible will was needed. Lincoln also urged 
him for vice-presidential candidate in 1864, because he wanted a 
Southern man on the ticket. He was a democrat before the war, 
and still believed in state sovereignty. He became a republican be- 
cause he loved the union, and was now, the union no longer in danger, 
inclined to revert to his old position. He was frequently intoxicated, 
and in that condition was liable to make maudlin speeches in which 
were mingled abuse of his opponents and glorification of himself. 
These lapses occurred most frequently in the first year of his presi- 
dency. Later, in the stress of conflict, he manifested more self-control, 
and waged his battle cautiously and with clearness of mind. But his 
opponents were shrewd and unrelenting. His indiscretions were de- 



6oo RECONSTRUCTION— THE NATIONAL SIDE 

scribed in the press and on the stump, and in the excitement of the 
moment he was presented to the world as a vulgar man gone mad. 

Johnson took the oath of office on April 15. He retained Lincoln's 
cabinet, in which were two factions, one headed by Stanton, secretary 

of war, and in sympathy with the radicals, and the other 
Johnson, jj^ favor of Lincoln's milder policy. In this second group 
Seward.' Seward, secretary of state, was now greatest, but, wounded 

when Lincoln was shot, it was not until May 19 that he 
was able to attend cabinet meetings. At first the president acted 
with Stanton, who stimulated his natural resentment against the 
ruling class in the South. He talked much about making treason 
odious, and he offered large rewards for the arrest of Jefferson Davis 
and other confederates on the ground that they took part in the con- 
spiracy to kill Lincoln. The radicals even urged the capture and 
punishment of Lee and other paroled generals, on the ground that 
paroles were ineffective at the end of the state of war. At this, General 
Grant, who granted Lee's parole, intervened with so strong a negative 
that the project was relinquished. Its violence reacted against Stanton, 
and the opportune reappearance of Seward caused pacific ideas to pre- 
vail. By June i, Johnson's policy was essentially that of Lincoln. 

Johnson's plan appeared in his amnesty proclamation, May 29, 
1865. All former confederates, except those specifically excluded, 

were to be pardoned upon taking an oath of loyalty. The 
Johnson s exceptions included confederate, civil, and diplomatic 

officers, military officers above colonels, naval officers 
above lieutenants, confederate governors, persons who had resigned 
high federal office to serve the confederacy, and persons who owned 
taxable property worth $20,000, or more. But the persons excepted 
could be pardoned by the president. It was in excluding the last 
class that Johnson's amnesty differed essentially from Lincoln's. In 
another proclamation of the same date, W. W. Holden was appointed 
provisional governor of North Carolina and directed to order an 
election of delegates for a constitutional convention. Johnson's 
decision on the suffrage was an important point, and Stanton had tried 
hard to get it extended to all freemen, meaning whites and blacks. 
But Seward prevailed, and the proclamation offered the franchise to 

those who could have voted before secession and who had 
JJ*""*!*. received amnesty. Negro suffrage at that time had not 

constructed! been demanded in any vote of congress, not even in the 

Wade-Davis bill ; and it was denied in every Northern 
state except New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, 
Maine, and Rhode Island. The North Carolina proclamations be- 
came a precedent, and in six weeks similar documents were issued for 
South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas. 
The Southerners had waited anxiously while their fate was debated 
in Washington. Rumors of confiscation, of negro enfranchisement, 



RECONSTRUCTION INAUGURATED 6oi 

and other hardships had filled them with dread. They now recovered 
their spirits and even assumed that the North dared not trample under 
foot the rights of a sovereign state. They accepted Johnson's terms, 
and, when congress met in December, the seven states were in active 
process of reconstruction. Johnson did not disturb Lincoln's plans 
in Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Virginia, and it seemed, there- 
fore, that restoration would soon be accomplished in the entire South. 

Lincoln and Johnson doubtless thought the exclusion of prominent 
Southerners would be temporary. It would neutralize the influence 
of former secessionists and fill the conventions and 
assemblies with men over whom the administration could j.® j . 
have some influence ; and when the first steps in recon- 
struction were taken, the leaders might be gradually readmitted to civil 
rights. But the excluded persons did not lose influence. They were 
the South 's natural leaders, now more loved because they seemed 
martyrs, and, hampered as they were, they continued to devise the 
policies of the people. Their sense of injustice gave a tone of de- 
fiance to their counsel, and this when, it was most important that they 
be enlisted for the cause of reconciliation. 

By the end of October, 1865, six of the states under Johnson's plan 
had held their conventions, and the other, Texas, acted in the spring 
of 1866. They all annulled secession and declared slavery 
abolished forever ; and all but South Carolina repudiated Progress 
the state debts contracted in aid of the confederacy, o^ States 
These steps were taken by the advice of the president, who Johnson's 
declared that they were necessary to satisfy the North, pian. 
Soon after the conventions adjourned, the state legislatures 
met. To them came the thirteenth amendment for ratification. John- 
son again interposed, and at his solicitation it was approved by every 
Southern state but Mississippi. 

Affairs in the South 

The South did not relish what it did, but it acted in good faith. It 
believed restoration complete and took up the regulation of the lives of 
the freedmen with the feeling that there would be, and 
could be, no further interference. The control of the ^**f .|°"*'^ 
blacks had ever given them anxiety ; and the black code preedmen. 
of slavery times was designed to restrict the actions of 
these people. It was, however, adjusted to slavery, and it seemed to 
the Southern legislators of 1865 that it must be revised to suit the re- 
gime of emancipation. The negroes were as illiterate and as little 
civilized as before the war, and they were now under less control. 
Undoubtedly the legislators exaggerated the negro's liability to make 
trouble. He has never shown a violent disposition. But the South 
had lived under the black terror for generations, and felt the power of 



6o2 RECONSTRUCTION — THE NATIONAL SIDE 

it still in the untried problem of 1865. Thus it was that the legis- 
latures felt it necessary to prepare new black codes. The conviction 
did not grow out of a feeling of hostility to the blacks, but out of a 
deep-rooted view of social life. 

Before the war the law provided in most states that no slave should 
travel without written permission, or have firearms, or trade in the 

night-time, or give evidence against a white man, or hold 
Blade Code Property of certain kinds, or reply in kind to a white man's 

abuse. He was not tried in the same court with a white 
man, nor did his life and liberty have the same safeguards. In short, 
the ante-bellum Southerner was satisfied that the negro should have 
a lower status than the white man. 

The first state legislature to meet under Johnson's plan was that of 
Mississippi. It assembled in November, 1865, and quickly made a 

new black code. In this state feeling was rather extreme, 

131 ^1 ^A and the legislators, ignorant of the effect in the North, 

Black Code. '^ , .' *= 1 • t 1 • • 1 i 

made such regulations as com.ported with their ideas 01 

the status of the freedmen. The blacks were to have the right to own 
personal property, to sue and be sued, to contract legal marriage with 
their own race, but not to intermarry with whites, and to be witnesses 
when one party in a case was colored. All these things were impos- 
sible under the old code, and they seemed to most Southerners notable 
concessions. They were balanced by restrictions which showed how 
greatly freedom was to be limited ; for it was also provided that a 
freedman might not own land, nor could he lease it outside of towns, 
that he must have a license naming his home and employment, that his 
labor contracts for a term more than a month should be in writing, 
that if he violated a labor contract he lost unpaid wages, and that he 
should not have firearms unless licensed or in the federal military serv- 
ice. It was also provided that if he was adjudged to have no lawful 
employment, he was a vagrant and subject to fine. The same punish- 
ment was given him for other offenses, as trespass, rioting, seditious 
speeches, insulting gestures, preaching without license from a church, 
and selling intoxicating liquors. If he could not pay a fine thus im- 
posed, he should be handed over to labor for the white man, who would 
pay the amount and take him to work for the shortest time. Minor 
orphans and children whose parents did not support them were 
ordered to be bound out to a white man until of age, and the officer who 
ordered the bond should fix the age of the child, if it was doubtful. 

These laws did not conflict with the thirteenth amendment, which 
prohibited involuntary servitude only when not inflicted for crime. 
They created a large scope for crime. The provisions for 
Effects of vagrancy and apprenticeship were much like the older laws 
Black Code, ^f Mississippi on the same subjects ; and the Southerners 
thought them absolutely necessary in bringing into orderly 
relations a mass of crude and disorganized people. Other Southern 



WORK OF FREEDMEN'S BUREAU 603 

legislatures followed the example of Mississippi, though none of them 
went quite so far in repression. They were either not so severe in their 
ideas, or were disposed to be cautious because of the criticism the 
Mississippi laws aroused in the North. But the new code, taken 
all together, created the impression outside the South that the states, 
once the problem was entirely in their hands, would impose a con- 
dition of part freedom on the former slaves. The radicals, in congress 
and out, made much capital of it, and insisted that it showed that 
presidential reconstruction did not safeguard the fruits of military 
victory. 

Meanwhile, the Southerners thought they had ocular demonstra- 
tion of the unwise meddling of the North in Southern social conditions. 
March 3, 1865, congress created in the war department 
"a bureau of refugees, freedmen, and abandoned lands," I^® . 
commonly called the freedmen's bureau. It was to Bureau. 
assume a relation of guardianship over the freedman, 
hitherto dependent on his master, to direct his first steps in self-sup- 
port, to furnish supplies, to supervise his education and his contracts 
to labor, to incite him to good habits, and to protect him against over- 
reaching white men, if such should be encountered. The bureau had 
a commissioner at the head, an assistant commissioner for each state, 
and a large number of local agents, most of them Northern men. It 
had large powers in the settlement of disputes between blacks and 
whites, and the latter, accustomed to manage their own affairs, con- 
sidered it an intrusive organization, and a symbol of their humiliation. 
Most of the bureau officials were practical men, although some were 
enthusiastic friends of the negro race and had too much confidence in 
the effect of freedom on it. But they were at the best in a trying 
situation, and became much disliked in the South. 

The blacks themselves had little concept of the duties and obliga- 
tions of their new condition. By most evidence they worked well dur- 
ing the spring and summer of 1865. By autumn they 
seemed to be more restless. The freedmen's bureau bill ' ^°''*y 
provided that the abandoned and confiscated lands of ^^^^^-"^ 
Southerners should be distributed among them at not more 
than forty acres to each adult male. As it was doubtful if the confis- 
cation act of 1862 would pass the courts, very little land had been ac- 
quired by the government, although much was occupied in some dis- 
tricts. The distribution was thus delayed, but the negroes knew it 
was contemplated, came to look upon it as an act of justice, and in some 
unexplained way believed that the donation would be made at the 
end of 1865, as a great Christmas gift from the national government. 
At this time the South was full of enthusiastic men and women who 
as missionaries and teachers sought to uplift the dull minds and souls 
which slavery had enthralled. The situation was complex, but it 
was an epoch of violent readjustment, and it was not to be expected 



6o4 RECONSTRUCTION — THE NATIONAL SIDE 

that it should have passed smoothly. The negro himself leaned 
hard on the friends from the North, caught at the prospect of "forty 
acres and a mule," and, as Christmas approached, refused to contract 
for farm labor during the coming year. The white employers were 
resentful. They believed that the Northern men in the South were 
disorganizing conditions there, and the events which followed — the 
hot debates in Congress and the violent language of the radicals — 
were not likely to remove the Southerner's suspicions. Thus it hap- 
pened that the blacks and whites, who even in the darkest days of 
war lived harmoniously side by side, came to be antagonistic and united 
in opposition to one another. 

Johnson's Hopes 

During most of 1865 Johnson's reconstruction was popular. The 
North was not vindictive, and the people wanted peace. Business 
men desired the prosperity of the South, an important 
PoDuiaritv Purchaser of all the products of the North. In the summer 
and autumn many conventions indorsed the work of the 
president. His first annual message was praised both for its good 
sense and its literary excellence. We now know that George Ban- 
croft, the historian, was responsible for the latter ; but Johnson him- 
self, with Seward and other advisers, was the author of the former. 
It declared for peace. Let the two races in the South be left to them- 
selves, let not the process of reform be unduly hastened, and "it 
may prove that they [the negroes] will receive the kindest usage from 
some of those on whom they have hitherto most closely depended." 

Johnson and his advisers thought of a new republican party, and 
under existing conditions it was not an impossibility. In ten years 
the republicans had outlived two great issues, resistance 
A Moderate ^^ slavery and disunion, and must now find another. 
Party. Johnson believed the moderate men predominated in the 

nation. Most of the Northerners who in i860 supported 
Douglas, Breckenridge, and Bell, and probably a third of those who 
supported Lincoln believed in the indestructibility of the states, that 
is to say, about 65 per cent of the total vote of the non-seceding states. 
If these could be brought into one moderate movement, they could 
carry the country ; and if the South were restored, it would only in- 
crease the strength of the moderates. It was a well-conceived plan, 
and under a different leader might have been realized. Those who 
carefully read the message of 1865 and saw the popularity it aroused 
in the country were of a mind that Johnson might succeed. 

All this alarmed the radicals. December 4, Thaddeus Stevens, 
by getting a two-thirds vote in the house excluded the representatives 
from the newly reconstructed states, thus giving notice that presi- 
dential reconstruction was opposed by the house. He next moved a 



ATTITUDE OF THE RADICALS 605 

joint committee on reconstruction, nine members from the house 
and six from the senate, and the motion passed by a vote of 133 to 36 
in the lower, and 33 to 11 in the upper, body. These reso- 
lutions were so written that what was done, rested on the '^^* ^'^^^ 
unquestioned right of the houses to pass upon the election ^F^J^^ 
of their own members. But the committee proceeded to Radicals, 
consider a plan of reconstruction which it would report 
before it took up the specific question for which it was named, the 
seating of the Southerners. Stevens, now master of the house, was 
chairman of the house portion of the committee. He was bitter, able, 
and vindictive. He became the most influential of the radicals. 
Fessenden, chairman of the senate portion, was somewhat milder in 
feeling, but he too was opposed to presidential reconstruction. 

But the first move came in the senate. January 5, 1866, the 
judiciary committee, through its chairman, Lyman Trumbull, of Illi- 
nois, reported the freedmen's bureau bill of 1866. Trum- 
bull was an old friend of Lincoln, and in most of the con- ^'^^^^'"^if 
troversy that followed was on the conservative side. His ^^ jg^^ 
bill enlarged the powers of the bureau, and continued it 
until congress ordered otherwise. It also provided that when a state 
by its laws discriminated against the blacks the president should ex- 
tend military law over such a state and the bureau officials should 
execute it. This was a reply to the enactment of the new black codes. 
It was not to apply to states which had not seceded, and it was to be 
inoperative after a Southern state had been reconstructed. To those 
who held the older theory of the state it seemed violent invasion of a 
state's constitutional rights. The law passed the senate by a vote of 
37 to 10, and the house by 136 to 33. Johnson vetoed it at once. 
His reasons pleased his friends, who thought the bill a dangerous attack 
on the state. Some of the senators were apparently convinced by his 
arguments, and when the bill came up again in the senate it failed, by 
a vote of 30 to 18, to pass over the veto. 

Johnson probably thought the country would rally to him, but he 
was disappointed. He was attacked bitterly in congress and out. He 
was pronounced a democrat, and a Southern sympathizer, 
and it was pointed out that his friends in congress were ^^® '^'*^® 
only democrats and half-hearted republicans. He was johnson. 
unmercifully condemned for a speech on February 22, in 
which, carried away by the shouts of noisy admirers, he forgot the 
dignity of his office, and charged Stevens, Sumner, and Wendell 
Phillips with trying to destroy the principles of the government. His 
language and bearing were coarse, and the disgust they occasioned 
obscured the constitutional argument he made with ability. In the 
light of after events, it seems that if he had accepted the freedman's 
bureau bill, he would have drawn to his side the more conservative of 
his opponents and reduced the power of the radicals into safe bounds. 



6o6 RECONSTRUCTION — THE NATIONAL SIDE 

When the senate judiciary committee reported the freedmen's 
bureau bill it also reported a civil rights bill, declaring citizens all 
persons born in the United States, except Indians not taxed 
r'^ faf'^ll ^^^ foreign subjects. It guaranteed equal rights to such 
*^ " citizens, and reserved cases under this law to the federal 

courts. This bill did undoubtedly contravene the older idea that 
citizenship belonged to the state, but it was believed by its friends to 
be justified under the clause in the thirteenth amendment giving con- 
gress the power to enforce the abolition of slavery. Some of Johnson's 
wisest friends, foreseeing the impending struggle with congress, urged 
iiim to save himself by accepting the bill ; but when it came to him in 
March he vetoed it on the ground that it was a stride toward con- 
centration and would ''resuscitate the spirit of rebellion." Congress 
passed the bill over the veto. From that time Johnson was beaten. 

Both of these bills came from the senate and were milder than the 
known policy of the house radicals. In each branch of the legislature 
were moderate republicans who at first opposed the radical policies. 
They were the decisive factor in the situation. If they went for the 
president he would triumph. They would probably have stood by 
him if he had accepted the bills. But his vetoes showed him uncom- 
promisingly for the states, and the moderates would not trust him; 
for although they opposed concentration, they believed that to sur- 
render the situation to state control would defeat justice in the South 
and establish the new black code. 

The debate on these two bills was bitter, and contained much about 
Southern outrages, or violence visited by the Southern whites on 
negroes and loyal white men. There was, in fact, much 
Oulra^es disorder in the South. The whites there believed that 
they had rights as citizens of indestructible states; and 
they resented the purpose of the radicals as revealed in congress. 
They were irritated by the proposition to try cases dealing with 
negroes before officials of the freedmen's bureau and to commit a 
hundred offenses concerning the rights of the freedmen to federal 
courts. Their impatience expressed itself in open conflict with those, 
whites and blacks, who defended the new regime. Negroes had been 
whipped freely before the war for insubordination ; it was not un- 
natural that those blacks who now seemed too aggressive or committed 
violence should receive the same treatment. Besides, there were 
daring spirits who took pleasure in punishing men whom they be- 
lieved inimical to Southern society. Moreover, there were many 
posts of union troops in the South to preserve order, and their method 
of doing it sometimes excited retaliation by young Southerners. 
Particularly, if the post was held by negro troops the result was likely 
to be conflict. Possibly the acts of violence resulting from all these 
causes were no more numerous than were to be expected in such chaotic 
conditions ; but each instance was exploited in the North for political 



AN AMENDMENT NECESSARY 607 

effect. Repeated in the papers, they showed to the satisfaction of 
most men that the South was still rebellious and should not control 
the rights and liberty of the former slaves. The outrages were ex- 
aggerated in the Northern press : in most parts of the South and at 
most times life was quiet and there was safety for the people. 

The Fourteenth Amendment 

No one in Washington in the spring of 1866 thought that the enact- 
ment of the freedmen's bureau and the civil rights bills would satisfy 
all parties. The bouse, in the hands of the radicals, with 
Stevens at the head, would spend all its strength to carry ^^® Senti- 
out a policy of severe reconstruction. But the senate congress, 
was less united. In fact, it contained four factions. One, 
a rather large one, was as radical as Stevens ; another was radical, 
but temperately so ; another was composed of moderate republicans 
who had followed Lincoln, and another of democrats who were openly 
for the South. The fourth group was the only one that Johnson could 
count on. The third was friendly in the beginning of the year, and 
probably would have continued so if he had accepted the two bills 
just mentioned. It was currently said that he promised to approve 
the civil rights bill, and his subsequent veto of it was considered an 
act of bad faith which further alienated the men of the third group. 
With all the senate republicans united it was possible to carry a bill 
over the president's veto. 

The radicals were conscious of their power and jubilant over the 
prospect of success. Their first move was an amendment giving con- 
stitutional vigor to the main features of the civil rights bill. 
But in its first form the fourteenth amendment dealt with Fourteenth 
negro suffrage alone. It did not seem fair that the South, the _™f^s ™^° 
old three-fifths apportionment being now obsolete, should Form, 
have full benefit of its colored population while it excluded 
them from the polls. So it was proposed to exclude negroes from the 
basis of representation in those states in which they might not vote. 
As this would be a loss of representation in such states, it was hoped 
that it would impel them to concede the franchise to the freedmen. 
In this form the amendment passed the house by a vote of 120 to 32, 
but it failed in the senate. Five extreme radicals, Sumner among them, 
voted against it because it did not authorize negro suffrage outright. 

This was before the veto of the civil rights bill. Nearly two 
months later the amendment came before congress in a new form. 
The provision regarding suffrage was retained, and three 
features of the vetoed bill were added: i. "All persons pgrm. 
born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to 
the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the 
states wherein they reside." 2. No state should abridge the rights 



6o8 RECONSTRUCTION — THE NATIONAL SIDE 

of such citizens. 3. No state should "deprive any person of life, 
liberty, or property without due process of law" or deny equal pro- 
tection of the laws. It also excluded from federal or state office until 
pardoned by congress persons who, having held high federal or state 
ofi&ce, later supported the confederacy. It guaranteed the payment of 
the national war debt, and ordered that no state should pay the con- 
federate debt or pay for the loss of the slaves through emancipation. 
It was so sweeping a program of reconstruction that the extreme 
radicals would not oppose it. Sumner and three of his five colleagues 
in the senate who voted against the first form now gave it their votes, 
and it passed both houses by the necessary two-thirds vote. It only 
remained to be approved by three-fourths of the states. 

No one could doubt that the Northern states would ratify ; but 
the Southern states were more than a fourth of the 27 states then in 
the union and could defeat the amendment. Would 
Rejected ^-^ey accept or reject ? Most republicans were ready to 
South. forget all if those states, chastened by adversity, approved 

the amendment. In view of what came later, they would 
have done well to bow the head to the yoke and submit to necessity. 
But the fires of controversy had filled them with defiance, and one by 
one in the autumn of 1866 and in the winter following they repudiated 
the amendment. Their legislatures under the Johnson plan were 
full of ex-confederates, who took it as an indignity to disfranchise 
their former comrades, repudiate the confederate debt, and accept a 
lower rank in congress. They were in despair, and felt that if they must 
be humiliated, it might better come through the force of the conqueror 
than by their own consent. Posterity has some admiration for their 
spirit, but the Northern people were only inclined to think them stiff- 
necked and unreasonable. 

The situation pleased the extreme radicals, who felt that the North 
must now come to a policy of severity. The autumn elections seemed 
to support them, since the senate was now republican by 
^^. 42 to II votes and the house by 143 to 49. Stevens and 

Control. Sumner, who thought that the negro could only be pro- 

tected by having the ballot, were ready to demand negro 
suffrage, and believed the country would indorse such a demand. 
Garfield, in the house, summed up their feeling in a remarkable speech. 
Congress, he said, had been generous : it might, had it so desired, have 
hanged "every rebel traitor in the South for their bloody conspiracy," 
or confiscated their property ; but through generosity it had withheld 
its hand. Its offer to receive the Southern states into the union with 
no other restriction than the fourteenth amendment had been flung 
back into its face, and "it is now our turn to act. They would not 
cooperate with us in rebuilding what they destroyed. We must re- 
move the rubbish and rebuild from the bottom." By the rubbish, 
he meant the existing governments under Johnson's plan. The 



THE RADICALS UNHAMPERED 609 

Southerners believed that by holding out courageously they could 
block the amendment forever, since it could not be adopted without 
their consent. By rebuilding the government in their states from the 
bottom, Garfield meant that the negroes themselves must be allowed 
to vote, that they would thus gain control of the Southern states, and 
that the amendment could then be ratified. This favorite program of 
the extreme radicals was now to be carried into effect. 



The Reconstruction Acts of 1867 

The first concern of the radicals was to abolish the governments 
Johnson had set up in the Southern states, and to substitute others 
which conformed to the radical theory. Stevens had ever 
advocated such a course and introduced a bill to that P^^P^y'^g 
effect in the first session of the existing congress. Mod- b^u^ 
erate views, however, had prevailed and his bill was not 
pressed. He now, January 3, 1867, called it up, and spite of the op- 
position of the liberals, it was referred to the joint committee on re- 
construction, which reported it a month later with some modifications. 
It abolished existing southern governments and created military rule 
in the South to continue during the pleasure of congress. The house 
passed it, but the senate moderates opposed it so strongly that com- 
promise was necessary. The bill as it passed the house provided that 
the military governors be appointed by the general of the army — 
General Grant. The moderate senators did not like to ignore the 
president's constitutional power as commander-in-chief, they thought 
he ought to appoint the military governors, and they wished the bill 
to specify the time at which the scheme should cease to operate. They 
had their way, and the measure in its final form passed both houses, 
was vetoed by Johnson, and passed over his veto, March 2, 1867. 
Sumner, always the champion of negro suffrage, desired that the bill 
specify that the state constitutions to be adopted under the proposed 
scheme should enfranchise the freedmen, and his demand was granted. 
The act of March 2 was the first of three which together embodied the 
congressional plan of reconstruction. 

Its chief features were : i . The South was to be divided into^ five 

military districts as follows: (a) Virginia, (b) the Carolinas, 

(c) Georgia, Florida, and Alabama, (d) Mississippi and 

Louisiana, and (e) Texas and Arkansas. Tennessee was not I^^^.'^l ° 

,. .. . iif 1. March 2, 

m this arrangement, for m 1866 it accepted the fourteenth 1357. 

amendment and was recognized as in full fellowship. 

2. Over each military district there was to be a military governor 

appointed by the president with the consent of the senate. 3. This 

governor must preserve order in his district, and he might continue 

local civil officers there or supplant them by military tribunals as he 



6io RECONSTRUCTION — THE NATIONAL SIDE 

saw fit. 4. A constitutional convention should be called in each state, 
the delegates being chosen by all citizens, regardless of race or color, 
except those disfranchised for rebellion or for felony at common law. 
5. When the revised constitution, which must accept the franchise 
provided in this act, was approved by those who voted for the mem- 
bers of the convention and was accepted by congress, and when the 
legislature under it had adopted the fourteenth amendment and the 
said amendment had become a part of the federal constitution, such a 
state should be readmitted into the union and military government 
should cease. 

The day after this act was passed congress adjourned. Its last 
care was to call an extra session of the succeeding congress, the fortieth, 

to meet on March 4. It had taken the situation into its 
March 2^ °^^^ hands so effectually that even this function was taken 

from the president. The new congress was more opposed 
to Johnson than its predecessor, and carried on the task of reconstruc- 
tion with eagerness. The act of March 2 merely enacted a plan ; a 
new law, that of March 23, provided machinery for putting the 
plan into effect. It provided for a registration of voters and for hold- 
ing the elections of delegates to the conventions. It also provided 
that a constitution to be accepted must have the approval of a major- 
ity of the registered voters. This was done to meet an objection of the 
other side that the proposed proceedings in the South would be only 
minority legislation. Johnson vetoed this act and congress overrode 
the veto. Johnson's opposition now ceased. He considered it his 
duty to enforce the law and appointed the five military governors pro- 
vided for, all generals of prominence ; and they ordered registrations 
of voters and called for elections as the laws directed. 

The radicals thought their work well done, but the Southerners, 
with the aid of Stanbery, the attorney-general, found a weak point in 

it. The law allowed all to register who did not volun- 
The Act of tarily serve the confederacy. Did the registration officers 
1867. ^ have authority to determine that an applicant had fought 

voluntarily or involuntarily ? The question was referred 
to Washington, and Stanbery decided that the officers had no dis- 
cretion and must register all who offered. Under this interpreta- 
tion of the law the Southerners would register in large numbers and 
probably defeat the objects of congressional reconstruction. The 
radicals were alarmed. Secretary of War Stanton, their chief reliance 
in the cabinet, was in entire opposition to the president, and wrote a 
new law which congress passed over Johnson's veto July 19, 1867. It 
was the third reconstruction act of the radicals. It gave the regis- 
tration officials the specific authority Stanbery had not found in the 
first acts, and in other ways made it impossible to evade the will of 
the congressional majority. In these three laws congressional 
reconstruction received its legal basis and became inevitable. 



BRIDLING THE PRESIDENT 6ii 

Although Johnson kept within the letter of the law and obeyed it 
when it was clear, he was not trusted and was much disliked. Con- 
gress expressed its feeling by fixing the times of its own 
reassembling, and in allowing many contemptuous utter- ^^^'^^e 
ances on the floors of the two houses. He gave great john's^on 
offense in the summer of 1866 in several speeches in what 
was known as his " swinging-around-the-circle " tour in the West. 
He was said to have been intoxicated when he spoke at Cleveland, 
where the jibes from the crowd irritated him until he broke into a 
series of angry and rude retorts. It was probably the most undignified 
exhibition a president of the United States ever made of himself. It 
gave an argument to his enemies, who redoubled their abuse and 
aroused such contempt for him in the country that they felt able to 
treat him in the most disdainful manner without fear of popular re- 
proof. They pronounced him a traitor, and talked openly of impeach- 
ing him. They desired to take out of his hands the execution of their 
program. 

They had wished to take from him the appointment of the military 
governors, but the moderates in the senate blocked them in that. 
Then they passed over his veto the tenure-of-offrce act, 
March 2, 1867. Secretary Stanton, they thought, was offi"e Act" 
necessary to their plans. He was bold, resourceful, and 
defiant of Johnson. If he should be dismissed from the war depart- 
ment, where he had a wide supervision over the new military dis- 
tricts, and a man of Johnson's way of thinking should take his place, 
much might be lost in the execution of the reconstruction laws. By 
the act now passed, federal employees confirmed by the senate should 
hold office until their successors were duly appointed, but cabinet 
members should remain in office during the term of the president 
who named them and for one month thereafter. It also directed 
that if the president removed a cabinet officer during the recess of 
congress, he should report the case to the senate within twenty days 
after it convened, and the senate might order the reinstatement of the 
officer in question. Such a removal could, therefore, only be a sus- 
pension. The constitution is not specific on this point, but in 1867 it 
had been held for a long time that it gave the president the power to 
dismiss a cabinet officer, and Jackson and others had exercised the 
right. Johnson and his advisers, therefore, disputed the constitu- 
tionality of the tenure-of-office act and were prepared to test it in the 
courts when the opportunity came. 

An Appeal to the Supreme Court 

Not only Johnson but many others opposed to the plans of the 
radicals turned their eyes to the supreme court, finding in it the last 
hope of checking the course of the innovators. They saw in all that 



6i2 RECONSTRUCTION — THE NATIONAL SIDE 

was done an exaltation of military authority and a dangerous menace 
to liberty. If the court did not save them, they thought, who would ? 
The first appeal was in the case knowTi as ex parte Milligan, decided 
in 1866, and here the verdict was for the conservatives. It gave 
them much satisfaction, although the case did not bear 
MiiHgan directly on the reconstruction controversy. In 1864 
Milligan and two others were convicted by a military com- 
mission of giving aid to the enemy, and the sentence was death. Lin- 
coln would not confirm the sentence, and when peace came, the men 
were in prison. They contended that military law ceased to operate 
with the end of hostilities, secured a writ of habeas corpus, and were 
released. The supreme court held that neither the president nor con- 
gress could declare martial law or try civilians by military tribunals in 
places where the civil courts were open. The decision would seem to 
check the tendency of the radicals to do what they would under the 
guise of military law. Two other decisions encouraged the conserva- 
tives. In Missouri, a state law forbade licenses in various professions 
to be issued to former confederates. In Cummings v. Missouri the 
supreme court held that the statute was ex post facto. In Arkansas 
it was attempted to deprive confederates of license to practice law in 
the federal courts, but the supreme court held in ex parte Garland that 
this also was ex post facto. These three decisions came in December, 
1866, and January, 1867, when the radicals were beginning to urge 
their plan on congress. Some of the more timid ones faltered, but 
Stevens treated the decisions with contempt. It seemed that he 
would attack the court as readily as he opposed the president : his 
attitude gave courage to his followers, and the acts of March 2 and 23, 
establishing military government were passed and carried into effect. 
The country soon had opportunity to see what the courts would do 
about them. 

The state of Mississippi in April, 1867, applied for an injunction to 
restrain the president from executing the recent laws. If it thought 
... that because he was opposed to their passage he would 
ys'lohnson Contest their execution they were mistaken. He con- 
sidered the acts good law and executed them as he thought 
they were to be understood. Stanbery, the attorney-general, resisted 
the injunction as counsel for his superior, arguing that the president 
could be tried only by a court of impeachment, and urging that the 
matter was really political and that the courts ought not to interfere. 
The decision supported his contention and the injunction was denied. 
So clear had been the attitude of the court in the preceding winter 
and so open the defiance of the radicals that the South 
Stanto^n "^ could not rest with this decision. They brought another 
case, this time taking care to eliminate the president from 
it. Georgia now took the initiative, applying for a similar injunction, 
but against Secretary Stanton. This also was denied, the court hold- 



SEEKING EVIDENCE AGAINST JOHNSON 613 

ing that a writ which might not issue against the president might not 
issue against his agent, a member of his cabinet. 

These two decisions showed how unwilling the court was to take 
part in the fierce controversy then waging. A third made their at- 
titude still clearer. McCardle, a Mississippi editor, gave 
offense to the new military government and was arrested, ^^cardle 
The civil rights act of 1866 provided that the supreme 
court might issue writs of habeas corpus; and McCardle took advan- 
tage of it to get his liberty. It seemed plain that by the decision in 
ex parte Milligan, which declared that military law should not exist 
in time of peace, he must be released. His opponents alleged no juris- 
diction, but the plea was overruled. The radicals were alarmed, 
and hastily carried a law through congress to withdraw from the court 
the right to issue a writ of habeas corpus. The court was relieved 
from what was evidently a painful situation. It declared that it now 
had no jurisdiction, and in a high-sounding declaration that it declined 
ungranted jurisdiction it gave notice that it was not inclined to inter- 
fere with the program of the lawmakers. Thus passed the hope that 
radical reconstruction might be stayed by the supreme court. Stevens 
was supreme, military government in the South was doing the work 
expected of it, and he proceeded to the last phase of his plan, the im- 
peachment of the president — a thing he seemed to desire as much for 
vengeance as to terrify the country and overawe the last vestige of 
opposition. 

The Impeachment of President Johnson 

In January, 1867, the house ordered its judiciary committee to see 
if evidence could be found to support impeachment. The committee 
made an investigation and reported no such evidence had 
been secured, but advised that further efforts be made. ^J^^ 
March 7 a new congress was in extra session and gave impeach 
similar instructions to its own committee. Four months Johnson, 
later there was another report, also against impeachment. 
But the committee was instructed to continue its labors, and in the 
autumn it reported for impeachment by a vote of five to four. Three 
thousand pages of evidence relating to all kinds of acts of the president 
were submitted to the house, which, on consideration, seemed insuffi- 
cient, and by a vote of 180 to 57 the house declined to arraign the presi- 
dent, who, according to the constitution, is impeachable for "treason, 
bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." No one alleged 
treason or bribery in Johnson's case, but the extreme radicals thought 
he had committed "high crimes and misdemeanors" in opposing 
congress. Moderate republicans were inclined to hold that the term 
did not apply to actions in their nature political, but to those which 
were felonies or which broke specific laws; of such actions Johnson 



6 14 RECONSTRUCTION — THE NATIONAL SIDE 

was innocent. In an impeachment trial the senators, who sit as judges, 
are not bound by the ordinary rules of evidence. They hear testi- 
mony and argument and decide as they think best. Under such con- 
ditions and in view of the strong political feelings of the day, it was 
not to be expected that the trial, if ordered, would be free from bias. 
But conviction required a two-thirds vote, the democrats would op- 
pose it, and a few moderate republicans would do the same unless 
the case was clearly made out. The state of public opinion must also 
be considered. The nation was not willing' to degrade a president, 
not even Johnson, for actions he thought politically wise. They 
would demand some overt act, and impeachment in default of it 
might fail in the senate and react against the republican party in the 
elections now approaching. The desired incident came in the winter 
of 1867-1868. 

In August, 1867, Johnson suspended Stanton from the secretaryship 
of war and put General Grant in his place. December 1 2 he reported 

the matter to the senate as the tenure-of-of!ice act re- 
Su^spended Q^ircd. The senate after much discussion disapproved 

the suspension, Grant retired, and Stanton resumed his 
duties. Johnson thought the act unconstitutional which shackled 
him, but, while he obeyed it, he was careful to say nothing admitting 
its legality. Stanton was in constant communication with the con- 
gressional radicals, and Johnson regarded his presence at cabinet 
meetings as intolerable. The president wished Grant to refuse to 
retire, which would force an appeal to the courts and get a ruling on 
the tenure-of-office act. Grant hesitated : he was friendly to John- 
son, but wished to avoid a conflict with the strong war secretary. 
Finally, the president asked him at least to resign office a few days 
before the senate should come to its decision, so that a man might be 
appointed who would oppose Stanton. The president and five cabinet 
members asserted that the general gave the promise, but he as con- 
fidently denied it, and the nature of the misunderstanding was not ex- 
plained. An angry quarrel began which would have been avoided if 
Johnson had been tactful ; for he could not afiford at this juncture to 
lose the good will of so powerful a man as the victor over Lee. 

The president thought the dignity of his office as well as his own self- 
respect demanded that he should not yield ; and he resolved to proceed 

directly. He afterwards claimed that his sole object was 
Removed ^^ ^^^^ ^^^ objectionable law in the courts. February 

21, five weeks after resuming his duties, Stanton was dis- 
missed by an executive order, and Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas 
was directed to take charge of the war department. Thomas promptly 
called on Stanton to vacate the office and allowed the latter a day to 
close up his affairs in it. But next morning, before he could proceed 
farther, he was arrested for violating the tenure-of-office act. He 
employed counsel, who prepared to take the affair before the courts, 



IMPEACHMENT CARRIED 615 

and the president was overjoyed to see the case assume the form he 
had long desired. But he was to be disappointed ; for almost at 
once Thomas was released from custody, and with such haste that it 
was evident his opponents repented arresting him. He was not a 
man to oppose the strong-willed Stanton, no one wanted an armed 
struggle with the war department, and here this phase of the contro- 
versy rested, Stanton still exercising his functions. 

Meanwhile, the case went to another tribunal. As soon as he was 
dismissed, Stanton informed his friends in the house. They saw in it 
the long-sought overt act on which to base impeachment. 
After a continuous two-days' session they resolved by a i^neached 
party vote that "Andrew Johnson, President of the United 
States, be impeached of high crimes and misdemeanors in ofKice." 
Feeling ran high, and in the house radicals and moderate republicans 
joined to press the charges to the utmost. There was hardly a man 
among them who doubted that their enemy was at last delivered into 
their hands. March 4, 1868, seven managers chosen by the house 
appeared before the senate with eleven specific charges on which they 
demanded that the president be tried. Next day the senate sat as a 
court of impeachment. Chief Justice Chase in the chair. Ten days 
were allowed the defendant to prepare his case, while the house ap- 
|)ointed a committee of seven to conduct the prosecution. Its most 
conspicuous members were Benjamin F. Butler, George S. Boutwell, 
and Thaddeus Stevens, all better known as politicians than as con- 
stitutional lawyers. Johnson had the advantage of drawing his 
attorneys from the best men in the country. His array of counsel was 
most distinguished and embraced such men as Stanbery, the attorney- 
general, who was familiar with the controversy in all its stages. Justice 
Curtis, formerly of the supreme court, and WiUiam M. Evarts, head of 
the New York bar. 

The indictment held in substance that Johnson committed "high 
crimes and misdemeanors," (i) in dismissing Stanton contrary to the 
tenure-of-oflfice act, (2) in declaring that certain laws were 
unconstitutional, (3) in maliciously criticizing congress in charges, 
the " swinging-around-the-circle " speeches of 1866, and 
(4) in opposing congressional reconstruction generally. Only the 
first of these, which was the substance of the first eight actually 
presented, related to late action by the president. The third was 
suggested by Butler, who thought it might appeal to the feelings of 
some senators who had scruples in regard to the first. The fourth, 
known as the "omnibus article," was suggested by Stevens in some- 
what the same spirit. There were fifty-four senators, and it was, 
therefore, necessary to get thirty-six votes to secure con- ^^^ j^^.^ 
viction. The twelve democrats could be counted for 
acquittal, an equal numb* of republicans were as certain to be for 
conviction, and the rest were disposed to hear the evidence and argu- 



6i6 RECONSTRUCTION — THE NATIONAL SIDE 

ments before making up their minds. If seven of these were for John- 
son he was secure. 

This interesting question soon came up : Shall the senate act 
as a judicial or a political body? If the former, it was necessary 
to submit evidence which would have weight in a court of justice; 
if the latter, it was only necessary to convince the senators that John- 
son should be removed. The prosecutors took the latter view, and 
Butler and Stevens defended it with much shrewdness. They con- 
tinually addressed Chase as "Mr. President," while the opposing 
counsel addressed him as "Mr. Chief Justice." He, with the instincts 
of a jurist, leaned to the view that the senate was a court, and passed on 
evidence as though he were sitting on the bench. But he submitted 
his opinions to the senate, which, by a mere majority vote, usually 
overruled them. 

Johnson's strongest points were that he removed Stanton to test 
the tenure-of-ofifice act, that he thought the act unconstitutional, 
and that holding this view it was his privilege and duty 
Johnson s ^^ proceed so that the point at issue should be decided in 
court. He offered to show that the whole cabinet, Stanton 
included, thought the act unconstitutional when enacted. Chase 
would admit this evidence, but the senate overruled him. The de- 
fense also urged that the removal of the secretary did not violate 
that act, which provided that a cabinet member should hold office 
during the termvof the president who appointed him and for one 
month thereaftei;\^ Stanton was appointed by Lincoln and was not 
protected by tbeV^t. These points were brought out so ably 
by Curtis that it was soon evident that if Johnson were convicted it 
would be on political grounds. 

Cautious republicans now became alarmed lest conviction on po- 
litical grounds react on the party. Additional strength was given to 
the point by the reflection that Wade, president of the 
Public senate, was next in line for the succession. He was a 

Turning. bitter partisan whom reasonable men did not wish to see 
in power. As the trial proceeded passions cooled, both in 
and out of Washington. Johnson observed the tendency, and in the 
nick of time, April 23, nominated General Schofield secretary of war. 
The nominee had the confidence of the nation, and the selection of 
such a man broke the force of the argument of the radicals that a 
creature of the president was about to be placed over the important 
interests within the department of war. The effect was good, and 
as the argument proceeded — from April 22 to May 11 — the nation 
came to understand the president better. The press modified its 
tone, and the opinion gained ground that Johnson should be allowed 
to fill out the rest of his term. 

May 16 the senate was ready to vote. The prosecution was 
alarmed for the result and decided to take the first vote on the eleventh, 



JOHNSON ACQUITTED 617 

or last, specification. It contained most of the vigor of the others, and 
they thought it offered the best chance of success. The roll was 
called in breathless expectancy. A few senators had con- 
cealed their intentions so well that the response of each I*^^. . 
was awaited most anxiously. Four republicans, Trumbull, 
Fessenden, Grimes, and Henderson, were known to be for acquittal, 
and three others with the twelve democrats would prevent convic- 
tion. One of these was secured when Fowler, of Tennessee, voted for 
acquittal. Another was found when Ross, of Kansas, gave the same 
response. Van Winkle, of West Virginia, made the third. The hearts 
of the radicals sank when he deserted them, and they realized they 
were defeated. Johnson had 19 votes and his opponents 35, and 
he retained his office by one vote. The radicals adjourned the senate 
for ten days, while they ransacked heaven and earth to show that 
improper influences had been used on the senators who were for 
acquittal. They sought particularly to shake the determination of 
Ross, but without avail. When the senate convened again and took 
up the first and second articles, he remained firm, and the entire prose- 
cution was defeated. Stanton yielded to the inevitable, and Schofield 
took possession of the war department without opposition. 

The will of the radicals was at last checked. They had overthrown 
presidential reconstruction, shackled the president in regard to the 
appointing power, and made negro suffrage an actuality. 
But they had become too confident of their power. Their Significance 
last act smacked too niuch of personal animosity to have verdict, 
the support of the nation. When they talked of saving 
in the South the fruits of war, they found a ready response, but when 
their demands seemed to mean the establishment of a congressional 
oligarchy in control of the national executive, they failed. The ver- 
dict of the senate marked a return to normal conditions As Professor 
Dunning remarks, it also showed that the presidential element in our 
system will maintain its equal rank with the legislative power. 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

For general works see : Rhodes, History of the United States, y vols. (1892-1906); 
Dunning, Reconstruction, Political and Economic (1907); Ibid., Essays on the Civil 
War and Reconstruction (ed. 1904) ; Burgess, Reconstruction and the Constitution 
(1902); Wilson, History of the American People, 5 vols. (1902); Andrews, The 
United States in our Own Time (1903) ; Woodburn, American Political History, 2 
vols. (1905), valuable articles on political and economic topics (chiefly by Alexander 
Johnston, and reprinted from Lador, Cyclopedia of Political Science, 3 vol. (1883). 
Two popular works of indifferent reliability are : Blaine, Twenty Years of Congress, 
2 vols. (1884-1886), and Cox, Three Decades of Federal Legislation (1885), a large 
part of the latter prepared by Daniel C. Goodloe. 

For published sources see : The Congressional Globe, which changes its name to 
Record in 1873, contains the debates in congress; Reports of Committees and Mis- 
cellaneous Documents, in each of which are many reports of investigations of affairs 
in the South ; the United States Statutes at Large, passim ; The Revised Statutes of the 



6i8 RECONSTRUCTION — THE NATIONAL SIDE 

United Slates, 2 vols. (1878); Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 
10 vols. (1898); McPherson, Political History during Reconstruction (ed. 1875), 
a combined and revised form of the author's Political Manual for the years 1866- 
1870; Ibid., Handbook of Politics, 1872, 1874, 1876, and 1878, contains party votes 
in congress and many documents ; Fleming, Documentary History of Reconstruction, 
2 vols. (1906-1907) ; MacDonald, Select Statutes, iS6i~iSg8 (1903) ; and Appleton's 
Annual Cyclopedia. 

Biographies and works of leading men are : Sumner, Works, 15 vols, (i 870-1883) ; 
Pierce, Memoir and Letters of Sumner, 4 vols. (ed. 1894); Welles, sdr.. Diary of 
Gideon Welles, 3 vols. (1911) ; Jones, Life of Andrew Johnson (1901), unsatisfactory, 
a biography by Professor Fleming is announced. Carl Schurz, Reminiscences, 3 
vols. (1907-1908), with a biographical sketch by Bancroft and Dunning; Garfield, 
Works, 2 vols. (1883); The Sherman Letters (1894), the correspondence between 
General W. T., and his brother, Senator John Sherman; John Sherman, Recol- 
lections of Forty Years, 2 vols. (1895) ; Badeau, Grant in Peace (1887) ; Garland, 
Ulysses S. Grant (1898); Bancroft, William H. Seward, 2 vols. (1900); Gorham, 
Life of Stanton, 2 vols. (1890) ; Hart, Salmon Portland Chase (1899) ; Gail Hamilton 
[Dodge], Biography of Blaine (1895) ; Adams, Charles Francis Adams (1900) ; 
Merriam, Life of Samuel Bowles, 2 vols. (1885) ; Foulke, Oliver P. Morton, 2 vols. 
(1899) ; Woodburn, Thaddeus Stevens (1913) ; Mayes, Lucius Q. C. Lamar (1896) ; 
Salter, /. W. Grimes (1876) ; and Fessenden, Life of W. P. Fessenden, 2 vols. (1907). 

On special phases of the political history of the times see : DeWitt, The Impeach- 
ment and Trial of Andrew Johnson (1903) ; Barnes, History of the Thirty-Ninth 
Congress (1868), lacks insight; Chadsey, The Struggle between President Johnson 
and Congress over Reconstruction (Columbia Studies, 1896) ; and Dilla, The Politics 
of Michigan, 1865-1878 (Ibid., 1912). 

For references on the Southern side of reconstruction see page 638. 

For Independent Reading 

Dunning, Reconstruction, Political and Economic (1907) ; Blaine, Twenty Years 
of Congress, 2 vols. (1884-1886); Hoar, Autobiography of Seventy Years, 2 vols. 
(1903) ; Poore, Perley's Reminiscences, 2 vols. (1886) ; McClure, Recollections of 
Half a Century (1902) ; Haynes, Life of Charles Sumner (1909) ; and Ogden, Life 
and Letters of E. L. Godkin, 2 vols. (1907). 



CHAPTER XXIX 

RECONSTRUCTION — THE SOUTHERN SIDE 
Social Conditions in the South 

The Southern people accepted military defeat as well as could be 
expected. If at that point there had been nothing to do but forget 
the surrender and resume the habits of peace, restoration 
would have been simple, as after other civil wars in his- I^® , 
tory. But the people found themselves subjected to Attitude, 
social and political changes which they could not approve, 
and were thrust into a controversy more bitter than the first. They 
believed sincerely in the inferiority of the negro and thought it quite 
enough to admit him to the elementary phases of citizenship. They 
could not understand clearly the demand that he have equal status 
with the whites, and it took them a long time to realize that the North 
would really make the demand. They also believed in state rights ; 
they thought it impossible that a state's constitution should be 
modified by any force outside of itself ; and they considered as wicked 
and unconstitutional the proposition that congress could dictate 
what a state constitution should contain. Early in the dawn of peace 
they had little bitterness for their conquerors, and the first steps of 
reconstruction under Johnson increased their good feeling. But the 
rising influence of the radicals in 1866 and 1867 brought rage and 
finally despair. The results of this violent social and political readjust- 
ment were strife, a loss of national feeling, and delay in the process 
of reunion. Whether or not, in view of these results, the North or 
the negro, whom it sought to help, gained or lost is a problem still 
open for discussion. 

The North was surprised at the resistance of the Southerner. 
They thought he would yield to the fourteenth amendment, and were 
surprised as each act of force a little harder than the pre- 
ceding act found him still unyielding. He had, in fact, ^^^^ 
suffered so much already that he did not feel keenly the loss 
of other rights or comforts. The war itself reduced his living to a 
dependence on the simple products of his farm, and he was accustomed 
to do without the comforts of prosperity. It exhausted the railroads, 
factories, and fields, and its failure swept away banks, insurance com- 
panies, and every other institution which lent money to the com- 

619 



620 RECONSTRUCTION — THE SOUTHERN SIDE 

munity. With production and credit paralyzed, and labor dis- 
organized through emancipation, what worse calamity need be feared 
in industrial acti\'ities ? 

The same question might be asked in regard to social conditions. 
Elsewhere slavery has usually been abolished with compensation, or 

allowed to shift into some half-free form out of which 
Reversal comes ultimate freedom. In the South it was abolished 

suddenly, without compensation, and at a time when in- 
dustry, from other causes, was prostrate. The English stock has 
usually adopted reforms gradually and by compromise. The change 
in the South from 1865 to 1870 through the changed condition of the 
negro was the most violent reform that has occurred in a similar 
period in any part of the world under British institutions. 

It was supposed that the imposition of military rule would break 
the spirit of the Southerner, but he took it almost nonchalantly. In 

1865 most men in the South had been confederate soldiers 
Desperation ^"^ were used to military law, and after the war the 

country was full of garrisons. They were, therefore, 
neither shocked nor frightened when military governors took charge 
in 1867. In fact, the recurrence of local outbreaks in retaliation on 
unpopular officers shows that the Southerners were willing to use 
force themselves. It is, from all these considerations, evident that 
by 1867 the white men in the South were becoming desperate. They 
felt that their opponents had done the worst — that nothing remained 
to be done but to take their lives, which not even the North would 
dare do. Out of this desperation grew the conviction that violence, 
fraud, and any other expedient was justifiable to overcome the plot 
of the radicals. Out of it grew, also, a white "Solid South" and 
fierce contempt for every political ideal which wascalled "Republican." 
In 1865 the average negro in the South valued freedom because it 
gave him the simplest privileges of freemen. He did not desire to 
vote, and he did not understand the hopes of the many 
The Negro missionaries and teachers from the North who with much 
Citizen. heroism tried to elevate him. At first he was submissive 

to the whites with that docile self-effacement which has 
generally characterized the African. When his new friends tried to 
kindle his ambition his self-assertion became obtrusive. The southern 
whites thought he was spoiled by Northerners. The points of \iew 
of the two sections in regard to his development were irreconcilable ; 
but as the months passed he became continually less willing to trust 
his former masters and more inclined to follow new friends. When 
allowed to vote in 1867 he was as clay in the hands of the latter. 

In the seceding states, exclusive of South Carolina, Breckenridge, 
the secessionist, had 436,771 votes in i860, Douglas, anti-secessionist 
democrat, had 72,084, and Bell, representing the old whig party, had 
345,919. Loyalty to the South induced most of these men to 



SOUTHERN REPUBLICANS 621 

support the confederacy, but, the war ended, it was not to be ex- 
pected that they would all act together. The Douglas and Bell men 
were for the union in i860, and they were nearly half 
of the Southern voters. They might be conceived still '^^® 
to be mostly for union under the old conditions. It was <.*^r ^^f^" 
not unreasonable to suppose that at least a small portion servatives." 
of the Breckenridge men would be of the same opinion. 
If, therefore, party lines in the South were to be drawn for and against 
a policy of resistance to the North, it seemed that here was the basis 
of a successful movement to unite the reasonable men in that section 
in a party which would accept the issues of the war and attempt to 
reconstruct Southern life on the lines pointed out in the emancipa- 
tion proclamation and the president's reconstruction policy. Such 
was Johnson's dream, but it was futile. As the purpose of the radical 
congress to impose negro suffrage on the South became apparent, the 
Southerners of all groups united in solid opposition. Whigs, Douglas 
democrats, and former secessionists forgot their ancient grudges and 
fought side by side under the new name of "Conservatives." 

Meanwhile, a southern republican party began to form out of 
three groups. One was Northern men recently arrived in the South. 
Some of these were former soldiers, whose campaign ex- 
periences had first opened their eyes to the opportunities " Carpet-^ 
of a rich country ; others came outright, believing that and^^s^cai- 
industry would feel a new impulse under a regime of free- awags." 
dom ; while still others were earnest men who wished to 
help the freedmen. Most of them were poor, bringing all their pos- 
sessions in their hands, and the South in derision called them " Carpet- 
baggers." Some of them were men of fine character, and would have 
been an acquisition to the social life of any community in normal 
conditions. Others were mere adventurers. The conservative South- 
ern whites made no distinction between the good and the bad, but 
poured equal scorn on all. A second element of the Southern repub- 
lican party was native Southerners. A few men of prominence, 
mostly those who loved the old flag throughout the war, now 
went into the party which stood for union ; but most of this group 
were persons who felt aggrieved at the rule of the old planter class. 
They were generally small farmers, men of little social or intellectual 
eminence, and they were apt to be viewed with disdain by the more 
capable portion of the whites. They accepted the program of the 
radicals in congress, and from them received much consideration as 
"truly loyal" persons who endured wrongs in behalf of the union. 
Among them appeared a number of leaders of their own class, men 
of sharp tongues and shrewd political capacity, who stimulated the 
hopes of their followers by criticizmg the old ruling classes, and who 
endured placidly the odium of those classes, even though it extended 
to social ostracism. Such leaders were regarded as traitors to the 



622 RECONSTRUCTION— THE SOUTHERN SIDE 

South, and received from their opponents the name "Scalawags." It 
was a term of doubtful origin, but it implied the essence of bitter 
contempt and opposition. 

Still a third element which went into the Southern republican party 
was the negroes. Johnson wished, as Lincoln before him, that the 

intelligent and property-holding blacks should be allowed 
"^s^aRe^^ to vote, but he could accomplish nothing in that line 
publican. ^ith the State governments restored under his plan. 

When, however, the blacks were allowed to vote under the 
laws of March 2 and 23 and July 19, 1867, they went almost solidly 
for the republicans. They were the largest portion of the party, and 
their enfranchisement brought forth at once a number of negro leaders 
who must be given ofhce or they would not cooperate. They were 
usually satisfied with minor places, but not always. Sometimes they 
were on the state tickets, and they were even sent to congress as rep- 
resentatives and senators. Most of the negro politicians were mu- 
lattoes, but sometimes they were of unmixed African stock. The 
best of them had little education, but a fair amount of common sense 
and integrity, while the majority did not comprehend the duties of 
their offices and took their elevation to power as an opportunity to 
secure small personal glory and emolument. They quickly fell into 
the hands of abler white schemers, and in legislatures and elsewhere 
facilitated the excesses of bad government without realizing that they 
brought dishonor to their party and their communities. As these 
three groups became welded in the republican party in the South 
the influence of the more upright "carpet-baggers," Southern whites, 
and negro politicians was minimized, and the will of the worst 
leaders became predominant. To the Southern whites it seemed that 
the acme of bad government had come. The excesses committed were 
beyond anything the people of the United States have seen elsewhere 
in their borders, and went far to justify the illegal methods by which 
the conservative whites at last were able to redeem themselves from a 
reign of fraud, ignorance, and incompetence. 

Congressional Reconstruction in Operation 

It was in March, 1867, that Johnson appointed the military gov- 
ernors created in the act of March 2. General Schofield was in charge 

of the first district (Virginia), General Sickles was over 
T?y the second (North and South Carolina), General Pope 

Governors, ruled the third (Georgia, Alabama, and Florida), General 

Ord commanded the fourth (Mississippi and Arkansas), 
and General Sheridan had the fifth (Louisiana and Texas). In his 
district each had supreme power under the president and the consti- 
tution and laws of Congress. They desired to continue in power the 
existing state officials, but promptly removed such as obstructed the 



DISORDER IN THE SOUTH 623 

registration of the negroes. When it was proposed to remove all the 
local officials, Schofield checked the plan by saying the South did 
not contain enough "loyal" whites to fill the vacancies which would 
thus be created. In 1868, as the process of reconstruction neared 
completion, removals were more frequent. A notable 
case was that of Governor Jenkins, of Georgia, who was officers 
dismissed for refusing to allow payment of the expenses continued, 
of the constitutional convention. Governor Humphreys, 
of Mississippi, was removed also for opposing reconstruction. 

Likewise, the body of existing laws were continued, unless they 
conflicted with the reconstruction acts. But military tribunals were 
freely created for various kinds of crimes. They were 
supported by soldiers who supplanted sheriffs and con- r^^tinued 
stables in making arrests and executing military decisions, j^ part. 
Some of the military governors admitted negroes to the 
jury, a radical innovation in civil government. Much depended on the 
personality of the military governor. He was strict or lenient as he 
leaned toward or away from the ideals of the radicals. Sickles, Ord, 
and Sheridan were of the former tendency. The course of General 
Sheridan brought protests from Southerners and moderate men in 
the North. He was severe in arresting persons charged with violence 
and was tactless as an administrator. The fifth district under his 
charge seemed turning to despair, and in November, 1867, he was 
succeeded by General Hancock, who changed his policy. The radicals 
in congress arraigned Johnson for removing Sheridan, asserting that 
he gave the district over to lawlessness. The men who lived in the 
district denied the allegation. Everywhere in the South 
there was more individual violence than in normal times. ^^^^iJ^* 
It was the time when negro suffrage was being put into Lawless? 
operation in the face of the dissent of most of the white 
people. It is not surprising if they expressed their opposition by 
strenuous words or deeds; and it was to be expected that persons 
wanted for such actions had free aid of their neighbors in escaping. 
But there was no serious violence. There were, at the period, only 
19,320 federal troops in the South, and they were enough to preserve 
order. They were distributed in 134 posts in the ten states. Leav- 
ing out of consideration the large, unsettled part of Texas, this was one 
post for 4500 square miles. A well-manned constabulary for such a 
region would be as large. 

Within the realm of politics the Southerners were keen to get any 
possible advantage from the system devised by their opponents. 
Their first maneuver came at the registration, where each . 

applicant must swear he had not voluntarily served the tration^^'^" 
confederacy. They had their own interpretation of the 
word "voluntarily," and a Southern jury must sit in a trial for per- 
jury. Spite of the law of July 19 making registration officers judges 



624 RECONSTRUCTION — THE SOUTHERN SIDE 

of applications to register, a large portion of the whites got their 
names on the lists. The blacks were also freely registered. By- 
October I, 1867, the registration was complete. In Virginia, North 
Carolina, Georgia, and Texas the registered whites were more numer- 
ous, although in Georgia the excess was small. Now appeared the 
object of the large registration. The law said that a constitution to 
be ratified must have a, majority of the registered vote. The plan 
of the whites was to swell the list as much as possible and to defeat 
ratification at last by refus'ng to go to the polls. This plan surprised 
the radicals in Washington but it did not benefit the South, for 
when one state, Alabama, showed that the trick could be done, con- 
gress amended the existing laws so as to allow a constitution to be 
ratified by a majority of the votes cast. 

The personnel of the constitutional conventions was respectable, 
although most of them had negro members, that of South Carolina 

having 63 out of a total of 97. There were usually com- 
Conventions pgj-gj^^ white men. Southern and Northern bom, to direct 
stitutions. ^^^ proceedings, and the influence of the military governors 

was exerted for good. The shrewd instigators of fraud 
who dominated later events had not yet come into power. The re- 
sulting constitutions accepted negro suffrage, as the reconstruction 
laws required. Six of them placed temporary restrictions on the 
suffrage of former confederates. Most of them provided for public 
schools and adopted new features in the machinery of government 
which experience has proved valuable. 

By spring, 1868, most of the states had held their conventions, 
and were preparing to take the sense of the people. At this time the 

republicans in congress were alarmed lest, as recent elec- 
Ratification j^jons seemed to show, the country was turning to the 
stitutions. democrats. They felt that the Southern states with the 

negroes enfranchised would be republican in 1868 and 
might be necessary in the presidential election. But the plan of the 
Southern whites to defeat the constitutions stared them in the face. 
The radicals in the house hurriedly passed the bill to allow ratifica- 
tion by the majority of the votes cast, thus depriving congressional 
reconstruction of the last pretext that it was the free action of the 
people of the states. It was a bitter pill for the moderate republican 
senators, who had systematically contended that a state's will should 
be respected. They delayed the bill until the news came from Ala- 
bama. Here the registration was about 170,000, and the vote was 
70,812 for, and 1005 against, ratification. The senate hesitated no 
longer: the bill passed and congressional reconstruction was saved. 
The election which had been held in Alabama was now pronounced 
sufficient, and that state, with North and South Carolina, Georgia, 
Florida, Arkansas, and Louisiana, all of which had ratified their 
constitutions, were received into the union. Three states remained 



THE UNION COMPLETED 625 

unredonstructed, Texas, Mississippi, and Virginia. The constitu- 
tions framed in the two last disfranchised former confederates, and 
for this reason Virginia delayed ratification, while Mississippi rejected 
it outright. The situation appealed to the sympathies of Grant, 
who became president March 4, 1869, and in April he suggested that 
the two states vote on their constitutions with separate votes on dis- 
franchisement. Congress agreed, and the constitutions without dis- 
franchisement were promptly ratified. In 1870 the three states were 
received into full fellowship and the union was again complete. As a 
state was restored, its military governor was replaced by a governor 
chosen under the new constitution, and he, with a legislature similarly 
selected, took, control of the state's affairs. The federal troops, how- 
ever, were not withdrawn for some time. 

With negro suffrage in force, most of the states became radical, 
but in Georgia the conservatives got control of the legislature, al- 
though the governor was a radical. They showed a poor 
sense of caution by acting at once against their enemies. Military 
They expelled the 27 negro members of their body on the Government 
ground that while negro suffrage was legal the constitu- lighed in 
tion did not grant blacks the right to hold office, and Georgia, 
they gave the seats to the white opponents of the evicted 
ones. Such a step could not fail to bring down on Georgia all the 
wrath of the Northern radicals. Congress promptly declined to 
admit the two Georgia senators just chosen, and after some months 
of hesitation restored military rule with General Terry for governor. 
He acted vigorously, expelling 24 democrats from the legislature on 
the ground that they were disfranchised by the fourteenth amend- 
ment. He filled their places with republicans, and the excluded negro 
members were restored. Georgia, thus disciplined, was admitted again 
into the union, July 15, 1870. The rash action of the conservatives 
had no other result than to convince the North that the South would 
evade reconstruction whenever they could. 

August II, 1868, when his plans were coming into full realization, 
died Thaddeus Stevens in his 77th year. Bitter hater and hard fighter 
as he was, he received equal hatred and hostility from _ . , 
his foes. Neither his public nor private conduct was stevens 
exempt from attack. But all agree that he was a great 
parliamentary leader, and that he controlled history-making events 
in one of the great crises of our history. He had, also, his ideals, 
although they sometimes seemed obscured by the smoke of battle ; 
and one of them was confidence in the capacity of the negro race. 
By his own direction he was buried in an humble cemetery at Lan- 
caster, Pennsylvania, with an inscription above him which read : 
"I repose in this quiet and secluded spot, not from any natural pref- 
erence for solitude, but, finding other cemeteries limited as to race 
by charter rules, I have chosen this, that I might illustrate in my 



626 RECONSTRUCTION — THE SOUTHERN SIDE 

death the principles which I advocated through a long life, Equality 
of Man before his Creator." This spirit filled his reconstruction 
policy. 

Negro suffrage was now adopted in the South, but the methods of 
adoption were such as to throw some doubt on its constitutionality. 
But, that aside, it was evident that once the present 
Fft th crisis was past and the whites again in control in the 
Amendment. South, negro suffrage would be stricken from the state 
constitutions. To prevent this, congress resorted to a 
fifteenth amendment, and such a step was, in fact, necessary to save 
what had been done. As passed by congress February 27, 1869, it 
read: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not 
be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account 
of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." It was accepted 
by the states, and promulgated March 30, 1870. In the debate on 
the amendment some members of congress desired to insert education 
and property holding after the term "previous condition of servitude," 
but they were not heeded. Senator Morton, speaking for the dis- 
appointed ones, predicted that the day would come when the South 
would disfranchise the negro by imposing educational and property 
qualifications. 

The radicals had now done all they could to carry out their plan. 
They had throttled the mass of Southern whites, established negro 

suffrage through military force, and adopted two consti- 
V^^. tutional amendments to make fast what had been gained. 

Plan on There was nothing left but to turn over the Southern 

Trial. states to the incompetents they chose to call "truly loyal" 

and see if they could build up peace and prosperity in the 
land of desolation. The task seems now unreasonable enough, but 
the men of 1869 contemplated it without apparent concern. 

The failure of the plan was due to : ' i . the growing weariness of 

Northern people of the eternal "Southern problem." Their enthu- 

. siasm had its limits, and they began to feel sympathy for 

Failed ^^^ victims of congressional theorizers. They also lost 

some of their interest in the elevation of the negro ; 2. The 
prevalence of fraud and incompetency of the new governments in the 
South ; 3. The increasing confidence of the South that it could manage 
the situation in its own way; 4. The deterioration of the Southern 
republican party itself by which the more respectable carpet-baggers 
and Southern whites were forced to give way to corrupt men ; and 
5. The rise of the Ku Klux Klan, a secret and violent organization 
which struck at the activity of the negroes and their white leaders 
and paralyzed their worst efforts, while it gave courage to the whites 
and showed them how to neutralize negro suffrage. 



UNION LEAGUE AND KU KLUX KLAN 627 

The Ku Klux Klan 

The Southerners contended that the Klan was organized to counter- 
act the Union League, a secret organization which gave the negro 
solidarity and, it was claimed, encouraged him to commit 
acts of violence. The league originated in the North in The Union 
1862 to support the cause of union when democrats were th^south 
attacking the war policy of the republicans. It was secret, 
and its members swore to vote for none but union men for oflfice. 
It did good service until the end of the war, when it was mostly aban- 
doned, but survived in some places chiefly as local social organiza- 
tions. Late in the war it was extended to the South among union 
men there, who were generally whites. With the coming of peace 
negro members began to be admitted. At first they were but few, 
but they increased in numbers as negro suffrage became more prob- 
able. The conservative white members now withdrew, and the 
organization became a mass of blacks controlled by white men. Its 
influence was probably never great, but the whites, always alarmed 
at anything which might lead to an insurrection of the blacks, looked 
upon it with horror. There were many evidences of self-assertion by 
the negroes. Houses and barns were burned, men were waylaid, and 
other evidences showed a new spirit in a people long noted for their 
submissiveness. Friends of the blacks asserted that the whites prac- 
ticed numerous outrages upon the freedmen. It is hard to place 
the responsibility where it belongs, but it is well to remember that 
violence begets violence, and that social chaos was great in 1867. 
Whether justified or not, the whites regarded the organization of 
blacks into the Union League as inimical to good order and security. 

Several organizations are known under the general term Ku Klux 
Klan ; the " Knights of the White Cameha," chiefly in the Gulf states, 
"Constitutional Union Guards," "Pale Faces," the 
"White Brotherhood," the "Council of Safety," and the JJ^^^^"^ 
"Association of '76," as well as the Klan proper. They KluxKlan 
were alike in purpose, organization, and methods, and the 
last only will be described. It originated in Pulaski, Tennessee, 
where some young men had a mirth-making circle which held its 
ludicrous initiations in an abandoned house. The name " Ku Klux " 
came from the. Greek Kuklos, circle, and "Klan" was added for 
alliteration. The Pulaski negroes were frightened by lights and the 
sounds of laughter in a house they thought haunted, and the mem- 
bers, observing the fact, sought to heighten the effect by circulating 
the story that the house was visited by the ghosts of dead confederates 
who were concerned at the turbulence of their former slaves. Then 
they had a mounted parade, each horse with muffled hoofs so that he 
walked noiselessly over the ground and horse and rider fantastically 
disguised. The houses of aggressive negroes were visited, but the 



628 RECONSTRUCTION — THE SOUTHERN SIDE 

object at this time was only to frighten the occupants. It was well 
accomplished for a while, and many other communities organized 
Klans. The mirth-making purpose now disappeared, and serious men 
took the direction. The negroes soon knew the visitors were not 
ghosts, although the disguises were so excellent that none but the ini- 
tiated knew who wore them. Absolute secrecy, obedience, and loyalty 
were required of members. The Pulaski movement spread rapidly 
and far. It was, it seems, the precursor of the other organizations 
named. As ghostly fear no longer had weight with the persons visited, 
whipping, tar and feathers, and even maiming was resorted to. It 
was the aim of the Klan to punish no one without deliberation and a 
formal decision by the Klan under the direction of a sober leader; 
but there were many turbulent members, and violence and cruelty 
were not always restrained. Negroes were whipped freely before 
emancipation, and the community felt that unmanageable blacks 
might still be whipped in moderation. White men who had in- 
fluence with the blacks were visited, sometimes tarred and feathered, 
and sometimes ordered to leave the neighborhood. The Ku Klux 
claimed these were visited because they incited the blacks to out- 
rages ; but as the visited ones were generally republicans and active 
in politics it was plausibly alleged that they were dealt with for 
political reasons. 

The Pulaski movement began in 1866. It had reached remote 

regions when the reconstruction acts of 1867 were passed. The 

. Southerners saw in the movement a means of opposing 

in^isly!"^^ the iron hand laid on them. Their most prominent leaders 

took it up, and a secret meeting in Nashville, in April, 
1867, brought it under a strongly concentrated system, held together 
by implicit military obedience. Thus was established the "Invisible 
Empire," presided over by the Grand Wizard and his ten Genii. 
Each state became a "Realm" under a Grand Dragon and his eight 
Officers Hydras, each congressional district a " Dominion" under a 

Grand Titan and his six Furies, and each local group was 
a "Den" under a Grand Cyclops and his two Nighthawks. It was 
the Den that did the actual work for which the "Invisible Empire" 
existed. It assembled ordinarily in the woods and at night — its 
members swore to march when summoned "at any time of the moon." 
It decided whom it would punish, but was enjoined to visit no man 
Methods without first giving him warning to change his conduct. 

The notices afEected an illiterate style for the sake of dis- 
guise. They were usually posted in the night, and were of a nature 
to strike terror to the recipient. One never knew the members, and 
dared not criticize the things done lest he be speaking to a member and 
himself incur vengeance. One never knew how many members of a 
jury to try a Ku Klux case belonged to the Klan . Its visitations became 
more severe in time, and death was sometimes executed against a person 



THE KLAN DISSOLVED 629 

especially obnoxious to the Klan. Its silent, swift, and thorough 
methods brought a subdued calm to the negroes and their white 
leaders, and relieved the apprehension of the rest of the people. 

Spite of its formal centralization, the real power of the Klan was 
with the Den, the local unit ; and the Dens easily fell into excesses. 
They were composed of venturesome persons, generally 

1 r 111 -1 • Weakness 

young men, drawn from ail classes in the community. ^ .. ^ 
If the Cyclops had strong character and was judicious he 
might restrain harsh conduct. If he himself was rash or weak-willed, 
the violent members were apt to prevail. If such members got con- 
trol in a Den, the moderate men would withdraw. Symptoms like 
these did not appear at first, and throughout 1S67 and 1868 the 
organization met the purpose of its founders. But by the beginning 
of 1869 rashness was evidently increasing, and the men at the head 
of the organization ordered the dissolution of the "Invisible Em- 
pire." Their order was not effective. Everywhere members with- 
drew, glad to escape without being considered traitors, but the Dens 
did not dissolve. They remained more than ever in the hands of the 
rasher element. The more thoughtful Southerners now began to fear 
lest the deeds of the Klan bring a federal army down on them. 

The elections of 1S70 naturally occasioned much excitement, and 
probably increased the activity of the Ku Klux. Stories of outrages 
were widely published in the North, and April 20, 1871, 
congress passed the Ku Klux act. It authorized the interferes 
president to suspend the writ of habeas corpus in order to 
deal with secret conspiracies, and it enlarged the power of the federal 
courts. At the same time a committee of congress was appointed 
to investigate "affairs in the late insurrectionary states." Sub- 
committees visited the South, took a mass of evidence, and published 
it in twelve volumes. The full ventilation of the situation worked 
good results North and South. It brought home to the Ku Klux 
members the danger of interference from the North, and supported 
so powerfully those who wished to dissolve the Klan that the organiza- 
tion was now generally abandoned. 

Besides its immediate effect in restraining the blacks and lending 
courage to the whites, the Ku Klux Klan showed how the whites 
could control the future. Its weakness was that by em- 
ploying violence it might bring in federal troops. It was Achieve- 
'^ -^ ° i-T. ^ • 1 rr>r • ment of the 

soon seen that violence was unnecessary. Ihe negro is Klan. 

docile by nature and easily frightened ; and for all his 
childish love of political campaigning he was not devoted to the exer- 
cise of the franchise. Open demonstrations, threats delivered per- 
sonally, and many other forms of intimidation which fell short of 
v^iolence would serve well enough to keep him from the polls, and 
involve no conflict with federal authority. This lesson, so evident in 
the experience of the Ku Klux, was well learned and boldly followed 



630 RECONSTRUCTION — THE SOUTHERN SIDE 

after 1870. Its exact methods were left to the ingenuity of individual 
managers, with the one condition that whatever was done must stop 
short of bodily harm. Bands of mounted men with rifles attended 
political speakings, both democratic and republican, observed the 
utterances of speakers, spread consternation among the negroes, and 
boasted openly that the South was a "white man's country." They 
frequently had the sympathy of the federal garrisons, whose duty was 
to repress disorder. They usually convinced the negroes that it was 
wise to eschew political activity. 

The republican leaders complained that these demonstrations broke 
the ability of those leaders to bring out the colored vote. They well 

knew the object of their opponents, but could meet the 
Connected emergency in no other way than to call on the president 
Politics. ^or troops. When union soldiers surrounded the polls the 

negroes would vote, and not otherwise. Soldiers could not 
be sent to every voting precinct. Whenever they were sent, the demo- 
crats charged that they were the means of enforcing fraud, and they 
challenged the government to show what violence had been com- 
mitted to warrant their use. They denounced the Ku Klux act of 
187 1 and federal election laws which congress enacted to enable the 
troops to be called out, as cumulative evidence of the tendency of 
the republicans to destroy self-government and to perpetuate mili- 
tary rule. In the execution of its Southern policy the government 
felt also that it was necessary to control the election machinery 
through boards to register the voters, count the votes, and canvass 
the returns. All this machinery fell naturally into the hands of the 
dominant party, usually the republicans. Whoever exercised it, their 
opponents pronounced the returns fraudulent. In the cataclysm 
of political institutions the spirit of legality had forsaken the people, 
and it is probable that each party committed fraud as opportunity 
offered. In former times the South had been proud of its freedom 
from political corruption, but its respectable people now considered 
anything justifiable in order to meet a condition they found tyran- 
nical and intolerable. 

Triumph of the Southern Democrats 

The Southern tactics were sufficient against anything but a vast 
army of occupation, and the South believed the North would not take 
up that task lightly. The democrats were the men of 
Weakness property, courage, and intelligence. The republicans had 
Southern organized a party of which none of these qualities could 
Republicans, be expected. They were in power, not of their own ca- 
pacity, but through extraneous force. Moreover, it was 
notorious that they used power to enrich themselves and levied 
burdensome taxes which must fall on the whites in order to support 



NORTH CAROLINA DISORDERS 631 

schemes of plunder. They were incompetent as a party, they threw 
aside in the haste for gain the respect of the community, and they 
could not hope to maintain their power when the North grew tired of 
sending troops to support them. During the years 1871 to 1877 they 
lost state after state, and passed out of authority completely dis- 
credited. 

Their most notable early defeat was in Georgia. Governor Bul- 
lock, a republican, was, on investigation, pronounced honest by a 
democratic jury, but the republican legislature committed 
many extravagances. In 1870 the democrats carried the 
legislature, and there was talk of impeachment. The governor dared 
not trust himself in the hands of his enemies, and resigned and left 
the state. During the two years of his administration the state's 
debt rose from six to eighteen millions and credit fell so low that 
bonds were no longer salable. In January, 1872, the democrats 
chose a successor to Bullock and the republican regime was definitely 
over. The triumph of the democracy was largely due to the efiforts 
of B. H. Hill, formerly a whig, but now forced into the solid white 
man's party by the changed issues of the day. 

In the North Carolina legislature corruption had, probably, its 
strongest footing. A ring was organized under the direction of 
carpet-baggers and scalawags which is said to have col- 
lected ten per cent commission on all money appropriated. c'aroHna 
Railroads were incorporated or extended through the 
liberal issue of state bonds until the public debt was increased by 
$27,000,000, and the taxes became four times as heavy as in i860. 
The state house, formerly the scene of intelligent discussion, was 
filled by a crowd of white and black nonentities. Men formerly slaves 
now had eight dollars a day as legislators, and did the will of the ringsters 
who raised them to the seventh heaven of delight by means of cham- 
pagne dinners and many small pilferings. Every conceivable oppor- 
tunity was made to yield money, and even the appointment of West 
Point cadets was for sale. The situation aroused the united effort 
of the whites in 1870, and a democratic assembly was the result. 

The governor was W. W. Holden, whom Johnson made provisional 
governor in 1865 and who was chosen under radical rule in 1868. 
He was not concerned in the frauds practiced in the legis- 
lature, but he gave mortal offense in another way. There Holden's 
was some disorder, and in 1870 a prominent republican ^^^g^^° 
politician was brutally murdered, probably by the Ku Law. 
Klux. As it was impossible to punish the murderers in 
the courts, Holden, who under a recent state law had suspended the 
writ of habeas corpus, proclaimed martial law in two counties, called 
in federal troops, and arrested nearly a hundred prominent citizens, 
most of whom could not have been present at the murder. They 
were taken on the charge of plotting against the peace of the state. 



632 RECONSTRUCTION — THE SOUTHERN SIDE 

They were held in defiance of the state courts, but released by a 
federal judge who granted a writ of habeas corpus under the four- 
teenth amendment. Holden submitted to the federal courts. The 
incident added to his unpopularity, and the assembly chosen in the 
same year was democratic by nearly two-thirds majority. It met 
full of resentment, impeached the governor, and in March, 1871, 
removed him from office. He was not convicted for fraud, but for 
the military arrest of citizens. The reconstruction bonds were repu- 
diated by the legislature and still remain unpaid. 

Virginia escaped the fate of her neighbors through her delay in 
ratifying her constitution and through the large majority of the white 

population. The people were aroused by the corruption 
Virginia, south of them, and in the first election under the restora- 
a^d^exas' ^ion, 1869, chose a conservative governor, Gilbert C. 
1870. ' Walker. One other state, Tennessee, was carried by the 

conservatives in 1870. It fell under republican con- 
trol after the enfranchisement of the negroes, but a short experience 
with incompetency brought it back to the democracy. Texas accom- 
plished its redemption in 1872. 

In the five states mentioned were more whites than blacks, and the 
triumph of the former was comparatively easy. It was otherwise 

in the Black Belt. Alabama did not reach its depth of 
Alabama, corruption until 1874. In that year the public debt had 
^H^M-*^' risen from seven to nearly thirty-three millions, and the 
sissippi ' whites were aroused to action. They used the ordinary 
1 874-1875. means of neutralizing the negro vote, but were careful 

to stop short of actual violence. Grant sent a small 
body of troops, but the people worked cautiously and vigor- 
ously. They were encouraged by the knowledge that Arkansas 
and Mississippi were also moving. The result was that all three 
accomplished their ends, although the last-named succeeded only in 
1875. The struggle in Mississippi was fierce, and many negroes were 
killed. Grant, when appealed to, refused to send troops, saying, 
"The whole public are tired out with these annual autumnal outbreaks 
in the South." The elections of 1874 had gone strongly democratic 
throughout the North, and Grant was not the only man in his party 
who saw in it disapproval of the party's Southern policy. Left to 
themselves, the Mississippians took courage. Never before in this 

Southern struggle was intimidation so well organized or 
"The Mis- carried SO far. Bands of armed men marched everywhere, 
PianT saying openly that they would kill the negroes if that was 

necessary, in order to show that Mississippi was a "white 
man's country." Their work was well done, for though the republi- 
cans had a normal majority of 20,000 the democrats in 1875 carried 
the election by 30,000, had a large majority in the legislature, and 
controlled most of the counties. The election itself, however, was 



THREE CLASSES OF REPUBLICANS 633 

held without the least violence. "The Mississippi Plan" was a term 
used after this to denote the general Southern method of dealing with 
the negro vote. When the presidential election of 1876 came, 
only three Southern states, South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida 
remained in republican control. In this year each 
struggled sternly for liberation, and in each the re- p°"*!^ 
suit was disputed. The democrats had the whole white Louisiana 
population with them, and would take the government, and Florida, 
they claimed, if federal troops did not oppose them. 
Hayes, for reasons discussed later in this book (see page 694) , withdrew 
the troops, and thus in 1877 republican rule disappeared in the South. 

National Reconstruction under Grant 

When Stevens died in 1868, his leadership on Southern matters 
fell to Benjamin F. Butler, who lacked the singleness of purpose of 
his predecessor. He was wholly for the party organiza- 
tion, and won personal influence over Grant. He valued Sentiment 
the South for the republican votes it would cast in congress, jngton. 
and wished to perpetuate the party control there. He had 
many followers in Washington, but other republicans, among them 
the more liberal minded men, like senators Schurz and Trumbull, 
realized the incompetence of the negro and were no longer willing to 
force bad government on the South in order to maintain negro suffrage. 
Still a third class believed the negro was voting badly, but they thought 
using the ballot educative and wished the process continued. The 
second group soon split with Butler, but he usually had the support 
of the third, and the republican majority until 1875 was so great 
that he had his way in the house. In the senate, his views were voiced 
by O. P. Morton, of Indiana, abler than Butler, but altogether a 
partisan. Sumner should be placed in the third group. He was 
sincere but theoretical, and until his death in 1874, lost no opportunity 
to urge measures in behalf of the freedmen. Grant was usually mild 
toward the South, but he loved order, and Butler won him 
with the tales of Southern outrages. He could never see ^t'titud^e 
a politician's tricks. The result of all this was that the 
president and the majority in congress combined to pass several 
coercive acts to execute the radical plan of reconstruction. 

The first of these, the enforcement act of iSyo, was passed to enforce 
the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments. It forbade a state to 
abridge suffrage on the ground of race, color, or servi- 
tude and it asserted the power of the federal government ^^°l'^^\ 
to correct such abridgment if it occurred. It added q{ jg-^^ 
to the radical interest in the bill that the machinery of 
enforcement was like that of the fugitive slave act of 1850. In 
1875 the supreme court declared the essential features of the act 



634 RECONSTRUCTION — THE SOUTHERN SIDE 

unconstitutional on the ground that the fourteenth amendment 
merely restricted the states in passing certain laws, and that it did 
not take from the state the function of protecting the rights of indi- 
viduals. The second was the Ku Klux act of iSyi, giving the presi- 
dent power to suspend the writ of habeas corpus and to enter a state 
to suppress disorder. In 1882 the supreme court rendered null 
the essential parts of this act also. A third was the civil rights act 
of 1875, to secure to negroes equal privileges in hotels, theaters, 
railway carriages, and other public utilities. Sumner, who died a 
year before it passed, had it much at heart and wished to include 
churches, schools, and cemeteries; but congress would not go that 
far, although the passage of the act at this time was undoubtedly 
secured as a kind of tribute to his faithfulness. This law was also 
declared unconstitutional, 1883, the ground being that it dealt with 
social and not civil rights. A fourth bill failed of enactment, 1874. 
It was a force bill, and proposed to give the president for two years 
the power to suspend habeas corpus in Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, 
and Mississippi, in order to enforce the war amendments. It passed 
the house, but failed in the senate. In these four acts the radical 
majority under Butler and Morton sought to give their theories of 
reconstruction a vigorous application at the expense of the authority 
of the state. They were checked because the court believed the 
state's authority was guaranteed by the federal constitution. 

They fared better in their desire to control the elections. In 1871 
a second enforcement act was passed. It placed elections of repre- 
sentatives under federal control, gave federal judges power 
El*°r n ^^ appoint supervisors under certain conditions, and 
authorized the United States marshals to appoint enough 
deputies to insure order at the polls. It was to be enforced in 
any state when demanded by a specified number of citizens. It 
was designed for the South, but was resorted to in large Northern 
cities where the democrats were strong by reason of immigrant voters. 
The democrats succeeded in repealing the vital part of the law during 
Hayes's administration ; and most of the rest was rescinded in 1894, 
with parts of th.Q first enforcement act (1870). 

The severity of these acts aroused protests in the North. The 
liberal republican movement of 187 1 threatened to disrupt the 
party, and one of their grievances was the Southern policy 
^^® adopted. Grant and Butler felt the trend of public 

^mnes y opinion and sought to neutralize it by an act of grace to 
former confederates who by the fourteenth amendment 
were excluded from office until pardoned by a two-thirds vote of each 
house. It is true that since 1868 congress had removed the dis- 
abilities of 4600 persons individually, but about 160,000 were still 
excluded. The annual message of 187 1 recommended general amnesty 
to all except the most prominent confederates. A bill was introduced 



THE COURT CHECKS CONCENTRATION 635 

to that end, but it was opposed by Sumner unless his civil rights 
bill was incorporated as an amendment. The senate hesitated, but 
in May, 1872, voted down the amendment, and the bill passed both 
houses and became law. It was estimated that the persons in the 
classes still excluded were not more than 500. Many of these were 
later restored by special act, and in 1898 a general amnesty law in- 
cluded all who were still unpardoned. The act of 1872 undoubtedly 
benefited the Southern democrats, but it softened animosity on 
both sides. Two years later a chivalrous act from the other side 
gave additional impulse to good feeling. March 11, 
1874, Charles Sumner died. He was long the champion ^*™" ^ 
of negro suffage and an extreme radical ; yet he was honest sumner. 
and fair-minded with Southern men personally. A month 
after his death Lamar, of Mississippi, delivered in the house a eulogy 
which gave full justice to Sumner as a man, and expressed the loftiest 
desire for a united country. He was a good orator, imaginative and 
emotional, and he was in earnest. He carried the house with him ; 
and both the North and South felt drawn together when his speech 
was published. The amnesty act and Lamar's burning eloquence 
were the dawn of the day of reconciliation. 

Interpreting the War Amendments 

We have seen that during Johnson's administration the supreme 
court hesitated to decide whether congress or the state had the right 
to supervise reconstruction, in the cases of Mississippi ^- „ . 
Johnson, Georgia v. Stanton, and ex parte McCardle citizenship. 
(page 611). Its reticence was undoubtedly due to an 
unwillingness to interfere in the quarrel between the legislature and 
the executive. After the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amend- 
ments were adopted, the court could no longer hesitate to give its 
views. There was little controversy over the thirteenth amendment, 
which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, or over the fifteenth, 
which conferred the suffrage, or over the second, third, fourth, and fifth 
sections of the fourteenth, which dealt respectively with apportion- 
ment, disfranchisement of former confederates, the validity of the 
confederate debt, and the power to enforce the amendment. But 
the first section demanded much interpretation. It ran: 

"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the juris- 
diction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they 
reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges 
or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any 
person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law ; nor deny to any 
person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." 

The reconstruction era was a period of centralization, and it 
seems certain that many who approved this amendment thought it 



636 RECONSTRUCTION — THE SOUTHERN SIDE 

took under national authority most of the negro's ''rights and im- 
munities." In that view it was a long stride toward nationalism. 
Such persons were, therefore, hardly prepared for several decisions which 
gave it restricted application and saved large areas of state autonomy. 
The first decision interpreting the amendments, was given in the 
slaughter-house cases, 1873. A chartered Louisiana company had 

the exclusive right to kill and dress live stock in New 
house Cases O^'^^^^s, and other butchers in the city must use its plant, 

paying fees not greater than a specified maximum. An 
attempt to annul the charter was lost in the state courts and appeal 
was taken to the federal supreme court, where it was urged that the 
slaughter-house company was unlawful because it infringed the long- 
established rights of the independents to their labor and their property. 
The reply of the court to this was avowedly explicit. It pointed 
out (i) the amendment recognized two kinds of citizenship, state and 

federal, and the privileges under each were distinct, 
Decision ^^^ ^^^ state was prohibited from infringing the privileges 

of federal, but not those of its own, citizenship, (3) the 
privileges under state citizenship were wide before the passage of the 
amendment, they remained with the state except so far as by this 
amendment they were transferred to the nation, and it was not 
intended to "constitute this court a perpetual censor upon all legis- 
lation of the states, on the civil rights of their own citizens," and (4) 
the regulation of slaughter-houses was a state privilege and subject 
to state control. The court would not now define privileges under 
federal citizenship, but among them were such as grew out of the very 
nature of the federal government, such as were specifically granted in 
the constitution, and the right of exemption from slavery. The 
amendment, said the court in this and many other decisions, must 
be interpreted by the occasion out of which it arose. It was passed 
to protect the freedmen from well-known state laws denying equal 
privileges to them as a class : it was corrective of this wrong rather 
than creative of rights anew. This was essentially true of that clause 
forbidding a state to deny equality: "We doubt very much," ran 
the decision, "whether any action of a state not directed by way of 
discrimination against the negroes as a class, or on account of their 
race, will ever he held to come within the purview of this provision. 
It is so clearly a provision for that race and that emergency, that a 
strong case would be necessary for its application to any other." 
Opponents of the prevalent tendencies to concentration found 

much satisfaction in this clear limitation of the most far- 
Centraliza- reaching phase of the reconstruction lawmaking. Under 
Checked. other conditions it might have been given a meaning 

much more hostile to state autonomy. Theories of nation- 
alism grew out of the earnest struggle against the state's right 
to control the status of the freedmen. The occasion for their use 



CIVIL RIGHTS DEFINED 637 

being past, many people who had tolerated them now hoped they 
would be forgotten. To them there was something of the charm of 
other days when the court plainly approved the wisdom of preserving 
the states "with powers for domestic and local government, including 
the regulation of civil rights, the rights of person and property." 
And when the court expressed its purpose to hold "with a steady and 
an even hand the balance between state and federal power," it seemed 
that the long course of federal aggression on the power of the states 
had at last come to a turning point. In this sense the decision in 
the slaughter-house cases deserves to rank in importance with the 
constitutional decisions of John Marshall. 

It had another bearing too significant in the future to be ignored 
here. It was argued that the New Orleans slaughter-house company 
was a monopoly and against the spirit of the English law. The 
doctrine was rejected. "Whenever a Legislature," said the court, 
"has the right to accomplish a certain result, and that result is best 
attained by means of a corporation, it has the right to create such 
a corporation and to endow it with the powers necessary to effect 
the desired and lawful purpose." 

Seven years later the supreme court gave another important inter- 
pretation of the first clause of the fourteenth amendment in three 
decisions on the negro's right to serve on juries. This 
was a political right, necessary to insure to a negro de- ^^^uj^^^° ^ 
fendant a trial by his peers. It depended on the clause j^j-y^ g^^^ 
forbidding a state to deny equality before the law. In 
three cases it was held by the court that if a state in its law ex- 
cluded negroes from the jury, it violated the amendment, if a state 
law admitted negroes to jury duty, but the officers who made 
up the list refused after application to place the names of colored 
people on the lists, then also the amendment was violated, for the 
officer was constructively the state which he represented. But 
if the state law admitted negroes to the jury and a negro prisoner 
were convicted by a white jury, no protest being made before the 
jury lists were made out, the convicted negro was not the object of 
discrimination by a state, and the amendment was not violated. 
Exclusion from juries was one of the objectionable features of the 
new black code of 1865-1866, to remedy which the fourteenth 
amendment was enacted ; and the court now gave its formal notice 
that this remedy must be enforced. 

The civil rights cases (1883) were more conspicuous than these 
others, because they overset a law long debated in congress before 
enactment ; but they were simpler from a legal standpoint. 
The act of 1875 in two important sections guaranteed to calgg '^ ^ 
negroes the right to entertainment in inns, admission 
to theaters, and equal privileges in public conveyances. Several 
cases came before the court at once, and the decision was made to 



638 RECONSTRUCTION — THE SOUTHERN SIDE 

apply to all. The petitioners — they were all colored people — 
urged that the statute of 1875 was violated. The decision recalled 
the words of the fourteenth amendment that "no stat^ shall abridge 
the privileges of a citizen of the United States. Now no state action 
was alleged in the cases before the court or contemplated in the act 
of 1875. Moreover, it was clear that before the war amendments 
were made, congress had no authority over the rights of private 
individuals in inns, etc. ; and since such a right was not conferred 
in these amendments, it was not conferred at all. The civil rights 
act was, therefore, void in the clauses concerned. 

But the court would not say that these sections of the act were 
inoperative in the District of Columbia and in the territories ; and 
it intimated that by its control over commerce congress might have 
the right to regulate the accommodations of negroes in interstate 
travel. Section 4 of the act, which guaranteed negroes the right 
to serve on juries, was about the only feature which survived this 
decision. 

BIBLIOGR.A.PHICAL NOTE 

Many of the references for the preceding chapter are useful for the subjects treated 
in this, especially the general works and some of the biographies. In addition, 
the following relate to Southern reconstruction generally: Herbert, edr., Why the 
Solid South? (1S90), full of feeling and politically biased, but containing important 
facts; Brown, The Loivcr South (1902); Taj'lor, Destruction and Reconstruction 
(1879); Bancroft, The Negro in Politics (Columbia University, 1885); articles on 
various reconstruction phases in the Atlantic Monthly, 1891 ; Lester and Wilson, 
The Ku Klux Klan, its Origin, etc., Fleming, edr. (1905) ; Peirce, The Freedmen's 
Bureau (Universitj^ of Iowa Studies, 1904) ; and Williams, History of the Negro 
Race in America, 2 vols. (1883). 

Several valuable monographs bearing on reconstruction in the several states 
have been prepared under the direction of Professor Dunning. They are : Fleming, 
Civil War and Reconstruction in Alahanm (1905) ; Garner, Reconstruction in Missis- 
sippi (1901) ; Woolley, Reconstruction in Georgia (Columbia Studies, 1901) ; Hamil- 
ton, Reconstruction in North Carolina (Ibid., 1906) ; and Ramsdell, Reconstruction 
in Texas (Ibid., 1910). See also: Hollis, Early Reconstruction Period in South 
Carolina (Johns Hopkins Studies, 1905), inadequate; Eckenrode, Virginia during 
Reconstruction (Ibid., 1904), useful but not sufficiently full; Fertig, Secession and 
Reconstruction of Tennessee (University of Chicago, 1896) ; Reynolds, Reconstruction 
in South Carolina (1905), has Southern bias; Allen, Governor Chamberlain's Ad- 
ministration (1888) ; and Harrell, The Brooks and Baxter War (1893). 

Conditions in the South attracted universal attention Just after the war, and 
many newspapers published letters from correspondents there. Numerous books 
were also published, among them the following : Andrews, The South Since the War 
(1866); Trowbridge, The South (1866); Pike, The Prostrate State (1874), a vivid 
picture of misrule in South Carolina; King, The Great South (1875); Ried, After 
the War (1866) ; Nordhoff, The Cotton States in iSjs (1S76) ; Soraers, The Southern 
States since the War (1871). See also Schurz Report (Sen. Ex. Docs., 39 con. i 
sess.. No. 2) and the Truman Report (Ibid., No. 43), both valuable : to the former is 
appended the short report of General Grant. Interesting pictures are found in : 
Tourgee, A Fool's Errand, by One of the Fools (ed. 1880), a novel by an observant 
carpet-bagger : Page, Red Rock (1898), a good companion story from the Southern 
standpoint ; and Morgan, Yazoo, or the Picket Line of Freedom (1884). 

Biographies of Southern men are : Smedes, Mem,orials of a Southern Planter 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 639 

(1900); Hamilton, edr., Correspondence of Jonathan Worth, 2 vols. (No. Car. Hist. 
Commission, Publications, 1Q09), most valuable for political condition in North 
Carolina; Boyd, edr.. Memoirs of W. W. Holden (Trinity College, 191 1); Mayes, 
Lucius Q. C. Lamar (1S96) ; Fielder, Life of Joseph E. Brown (1883) ; Hill, Life of 
Benjamin H. Hill (1S93) J Pendleton, Alexander H. Stephens (1907) ; Johnston and 
Brown, Life of Alexander H . Stephens (1878) ; Dodd, Jejfferson Dams (1907) ; Trent, 
William Gilmore Simms (1892) ; and Perry, Reminiscences, 2 vols. (1883-1889). 

For Independent Reading 

Mrs. Pryor, Reminiscences of Peace and War (1904) ; Mrs. Clay, A Belle of the 
Fifties (1904) ; Trent, William Gilmore Simms (1892) ; Mrs. Avary, Dixie after 
the War (1906) ; Tourgee, A Fool's Errand (ed. 1880) ; and Page, Red Rock (1898). 



CHAPTER XXX 

PARTY HISTORY, 1865-1877 
Political Conditions after the War 

Having outlived the platform on which it was founded, the repub- 
lican party in 1865 must get new issues. Radical reconstruction 
furnished one and it proved very powerful, although 
Dublic£ms ^^ ^^^ nature it was temporary. More permanent was 
an alliance the party made with the business interests. 
The war debt was a republican heritage. It was an instrument 
of victory binding on the victors, and any suggestion of impairment 
had their opposition. The democracy, the party of conservatism 
in the fifties, now found itself supplanted by its opponents who, as 
tariff and currency assumed more importance, became the party of 
large capital, the friend of the commercial class, and the reliance of 
protected manufacturers. Much of this was due to the peculiar 
weakness of the democrats. They \yere discredited through opposi- 
tion to the conduct of the war, and their defense of state 
Democrats eights impelled them to resist radical reconstruction. 
They were a broken remnant of a former army, without 
capable leaders, and embittered by years of the most caustic criticism. 
They fought as they could against the Southern policy of the repub- 
licans ; but they recognized the handicap it gave them, and willingly 
adopted other issues. Thus it happened that they espoused in the 
West financial doctrines the men of Jackson's time would have scorned, 
and in every section resolved themselves into a party of expediency. 
The loss of the South was a heavy blow. To build up a great party 
out of such conditions as confronted the democrats was difhcult, and 
required time. 

The confusion incident to party reorganization is shown in the four 
conventions which met in 1866. The first (Philadelphia, August 14) 
supported Johnson and was controlled by Seward and 
ofTsee"^ others of the presidential group. Its supporters called 
themselves national republicans, and delegates came from 
the moderate men North and South, to show that both sections 
would unite in a policy of reconciliation. The impression was good 
at first, but soon after it adjourned came Johnson's "swinging- 
around-the-circle " speeches, which with his growing unpopularity 
made success impossible. The second convention was called by 
Johnson's opponents to offset the first. It met in Philadelphia, 

640 



THE DEMOCRATS EMBARRASSED 641 

September 3, and was composed of Southern loyalists and a few 
Northern men. Its address urged the country to remember the 
loyal men in the South who suffered through the policy of Johnson. 
The third (Cleveland, September 17) was called by Johnson's friends. 
It was composed chiefly of former soldiers and sailors, and sought to 
rally these classes to the administration. The fourth (Pittsburgh, 
September 25) was a great radical gathering, and indorsed the work 
of congress. All of these conventions were planned as demonstra- 
tions to influence the congressional elections. 

The result showed how little Johnson was supported in the country. 
Throughout the North the radicals controlled the party organization 
and secured a stronger hold than ever in the house. ^j^gRggyix 
Delaware, Maryland, and Kentucky were carried by the 
democrats, but the two other border states, West Virginia and Missouri, 
were republican. The senate now had 42 republicans and 11 demo- 
crats, and the house 143 republicans and 49 democrats. Thus vanished 
Johnson's hope of a national conservative party committed to his 
plan of reconstruction. 

One incident tempered somewhat the violence of sectionalism. 
In May, 1865, Jefferson Davis, president of the confederacy, was 
captured and imprisoned in Fortress Monroe. He was 
put into irons by order of the officer in charge. General J^fff son 
N. A. Miles. This needless severity aroused great indigna- prison, 
tion in the South, and the secretary of war ordered the 
manacles removed four days after they were placed on the prisoner. 
But Davis remained in prison for two years. He was much disliked 
in the North, but by May, 1867, sentiment relented, and he was taken 
before a federal judge on a writ of habeas corpus. He had been 
detained for treason, but the judge declared this bailable, and he was 
released on a bond of $100,000, Horace Greeley and other prominent 
Northern men becoming sureties. His release gave pleasure to the 
South. The confederate president was not popular with his own 
people during the war, but his imprisonment, which he bore with 
dignity and fortitude, brought him their affectionate esteem. In 
1869 the case against him was discontinued, and he returned to Missis- 
sippi, where he lived in retirement until his death in 1889. 

The Election of 1868 

The local elections in 1867 brought anxiety to the republicans. 
The democrats carried New York and Pennsylvania, and in Ohio 
they reduced a large adverse majority to only 3000 while 
they defeated a negro suffrage amendment by 50,000. j^o^jnated. 
This result, seven months after the adoption of congres- 
sional reconstruction, argued badly for the party in 1868. Fortu- 
nately, safety was at hand in the person of a presidential candidate. 

2T 



642 PARTY HISTORY, 1865-1877 

May 20, a national republican convention nominated General Grant 
for president and Schuyler Colfax for vice-president. Grant was not 
a politician, and his early sympathy was democratic ; but his quarrel 
with Johnson in 1867 threw him into the arms of the radicals. His 
speech of acceptance struck a popular note in the expression, "Let 
us have peace." 

In the democratic convention, New York, July 4, were two promi- 
nent candidates, both from Ohio. One was George H. Pendleton, 

representative from the Cincinnati district, cultured and 
I well connected, and nicknamed "Gentleman George." 

The other was Chief Justice Chase, who had a following 
among those who opposed Pendleton's financial views. These views, 
known as the " Ohio Idea," may be summed up as follows : The national 
bonds were payable in "dollars," although the interest was to be paid 
in gold. About $1,600,000,000 was in five-twenty bonds, and might, 
therefore, soon begin to be redeemed. Pendleton desired to pay 
them in "greenbacks," or legal tender, then much depreciated. 
This would mean large issues of notes, but they would pay no interest, 
thus effecting a saving to the government, and the resulting inflation 
would please the debtor class, then large in Ohio and the states west 
of it. The year 1867 brought a panic, and at such a time inflation 
was apt to be popular. To pay the debt in gold, or to refund it 
in gold bonds, said Pendleton, was to favor the Eastern capitalists 
at the expense of the taxpayers, and he won many of the latter by his 
battle-cry: "The same currency for the bondholder and the plow- 
holder ! " The response was so strong in the West that the republicans 
there dared not oppose it openly. 

The Pendleton men wrote the platform of 1868, demanding (i) the 
payment in currency of bonds not specifically payable in specie, 

(2) taxation of national bonds, and (3) opposition to 

Seymour radical reconstruction. The platform required a mere 
and Blair. . . , , / t i 7 ^ ^i • j 

majority vote, but to nominate a candidate a two-tmrds 

vote was necessary. The New York delegates led the Eastern 
sentiment for conservative finance, and for two days no nominations 
were made. Pendleton led on the first ballot and had 156^ out of 
317 votes on the second. Two-thirds he could not get. Finally, 
on the twenty-second ballot there was a stampede to Horatio Seymour, 
of New York, chairman of the convention. He protested he would 
not run, but the vote was unanimous, and he accepted. For vice- 
president, Frank P. Blair, Jr., of Missouri, was selected. Nine 
days earlier he had said in a letter immediately made public that the 
carpet-bag regime in the South should be dispersed by the president 
with armed force. His nomination under the circumstances was 
indiscreet, and the republicans pointed to it to support their argu- 
ment that the democrats contemplated violence. However wisely 
the party may have acted, it had no chance against Grant. He had 



NAPOLEON III AND MEXICO 643 

214 to Seymour's 80 electoral votes and a plurality in the popular 
vote of over 300,000. 

Foreign Affairs under Johnson 

If Johnson's domestic policy was full of disaster, his foreign policy 
was on the whole successful. Although negotiations with England 
were muddled through the incapacity of Reverdy Johnson (page 670), 
affairs in Mexico were arranged with brilliant results for our prestige, 
and in the purchase of Alaska we acquired at a fair price a most 
valuable territory. In these matters the chief credit belongs to 
Seward, although it should be remembered that the secretary had 
the constant support of his superior. 

In 1 86 1, Napoleon III, under pretext of protecting European 
creditors, sent an army to Mexico and found means to get a com- 
plaisant Assembly of Notables to establish an empire 
with Maximilian, brother of the Austrian ruler for emperor. J^^^^^'^^ 
The act violated the spirit of the Monroe doctrine, but 
the United States, pressed to the limit by the civil war, could only 
protest. The American people felt the affront very deeply and 
demanded, with the coming of peace, the expulsion of the French 
army from Mexico. Grant was of the same opinion, and sent Sheridan 
with 52,000 troops to the Rio Grande. Napoleon was not inclined 
to be forced, and war seemed possible. It was Seward's task to get 
what we wanted without fighting for it. He restrained American 
indignation on one hand, and by careful negotiations led up to a firm 
demand upon the French emperor on the other. He succeeded so 
well that April 5, 1866, Napoleon ordered his generals in Mexico 
to make ready for withdrawal within a year and a half, because the 
troops were needed in Europe. Maximilian was in dismay. He 
had been promised five years' support : if he were now abandoned, 
he would be crushed by the natives who held him for a usurper. His 
touching appeals to Paris worked nothing. France did not care 
for the Mexican scheme, and the emperor dared not incur the expense 
of a war for it. It was by bringing this situation home to the French 
government that Seward had his way. Left to his own resources, 
the young Maximilian disdained to flee, and awaited his fate at the 
hands of the infuriated Mexicans. They proclaimed a republic, 
reoccupied the country, took him a prisoner, tried him by court- 
martial, and shot him on June 19, 1867. 

Seward's success in this incident was clouded somewhat by sympathy 
for the unhappy Maximilian. In the purchase of Alaska there was 
no such untoward feature. Russian America, with an 
area of 577,390 square miles, had 10,000 white inhabitants p ^^^^g ^ 
and many Indians in 1867. Its fur trade was valuable, 
and fisheries on the southern coast were capable of rich develop- 



644 PARTY HISTORY, 1865-1877 

ment. Russia found it too remote to govern well, and fearing it might 
be seized by England, her minister was authorized to suggest to 
Seward that she would sell it. The suggestion was quickly accepted, 
and in one evening's interview the details were settled. The price 
was to be $7,000,000, with $200,000 to quiet the claims of the Russian 
American Company. The Russian minister suggested that the treaty 
be prepared next day, but Seward exclaimed, "Why wait till 
to-morrow, Mr. Stoeckl? Let us make the treaty to-night !" Then 
clerks were summoned, Sumner, chairman of the senate committee 
on foreign affairs, was called in, and at four o'clock in the morning 
the treaty was signed. It went at once to the senate, where it created 
much surprise ; but Sumner carried its adoption. In the house there 
was more delay. The members needed time to realize why $7,000,000 
should be paid for a frozen wilderness in the remote northwest. The 
treaty was ratified, and on October 11, 1867, Alaska was handed over. 
The purchase was not popular when made, but time showed its 
benefits. 

Grant's Political Mistakes 

Grant's inauguration occasioned general joy, both because of his 
popularity and because the turmoil of the Johnson period was over. 
, But thoughtful men wondered if a military training 

CabLe^ fitted him for politics, and his first acts intensified their 

doubts. He chose his cabinet of his own judgment, 
as a military man might be expected to do, and two of them, E. R. 
Hoar, attorney-general, and J. D. Cox, secretary of the interior, 
were excellent selections. The others had not generally been consid- 
ered eligible. Washburne, a man of respectable capacity, became 
secretary of state, but resigned immediately to go to Paris as minister. 
He was succeeded by Hamilton Fish, of New York, who was also 
well chosen. For secretary of the treasury, an officer of the greatest 
importance at that time, Grant nominated A. T. Stewart, a rich 
merchant of New York. The nomination caused consternation, 
but a law was discovered which forbade a merchant to hold the office. 
Grant wished the law repealed, but congress refused, and he appointed 
George S. Boutwell, of Massachusetts, a safe but not a brilliant, 
financier. John A. Rawlins became secretary of war, A. E. Borie 
secretary of the navy, and A. J. Creswell postmaster-general. Fish 
hesitated to enter such a cabinet, but yielded to the requests of his 
friends. He had influence with Grant, whose intentions were good, 
and hoped to save him from manipulation by the politicians. He, 
Hoar, and Cox made the best wing of the cabinet, but spite of their 
efforts, Butler and his friends acquired predominant influence. Grant 
was strong-willed and not easily moved. He smoked incessantly, 
was fond of horses, and gave to the White House some of the free 
atmosphere of the headquarters' tent. He was svirrounded by men 



GRANT'S POLITICAL MISTAKES 645 

who had his weaknesses without his virtues, and through their machina- 
tions the responsibilities of government were forgotten, and corruption 
invaded many places. 

He was most criticized for his Southern policy. His attitude toward 
the South was originally lenient, but he yielded to Butler, who made 
him believe in the reality of Southern outrages. Grant 
was ultimately responsible for the armed support of the ^'^ 
republican regime in the Southern states. He had no poijcy. 
keen comprehension of the problems of good government, 
and in his Southern policy, as in other civil matters, he had a soldier's 
desire to be obeyed. His support of the party's program in the South 
alienated the feeling of many republicans. It was largely responsible 
for the liberal republican movement of 1872 and for the decisive 
democratic victory in 1874. 

He was not a year in office before he was in a needless quarrel 
with Sumner. He undertook without the knowledge of the cabinet 
to secure the annexation of Santo Domingo (page 671). 
The senate would not accept a treaty to that effect, and ^'^ 
Sumner, chairman of its foreign committee, was out- ^j^^"^ 
spoken in opposition. In the senate he was safe from Sumner. 
retaliation, but Grant struck at him elsewhere. Motley, 
minister to England and close personal friend of Sumner, had violated 
instructions from the state department. The case would ordinarily 
end with a reprimand, but the day after the Dominican treaty was 
rejected, Grant recalled Motley peremptorily. Sumner recognized 
the thrust at himself, and became very angry. Each contestant was 
outspoken and unyielding, and the newspapers were soon full of the 
bitter things they said. Sumner carried the attack into the senate 
when the administration senators replied in behalf of the president. 
Fish was drawn into the affair, and soon was not on speaking terms 
with the indignant senator from Massachusetts. The pertinacity 
of the latter clearly put him in the wrong, but men could not forget 
that the beginning of the quarrel was unnecessary. 

The loss in the following year of two of the three first-rate men in the 
cabinet shows how much Grant was yielding to the spoilsmen. Attor- 
ney-General Hoar had much opposition from them, and 

offered to resign, but the offer was refused. He was r.°"- a 
1 T r ' X o • 1 Dismissed. 

surprised, therefore, to receive on June 15, 1870, without 

warning, the curtest possible request for his resignation. It then 
transpired that Grant, seeking votes for the Dominican treaty, had 
appealed to the Southern republican senators. They liked Sumner, 
who opposed the treaty, and would not vote for it unless 
they were given representation in the cabinet ; and Hoar q^q^^^ '°" 
was removed in order to make a vacancy. Cox's elimina- 
tion was not quite so summary. He offended the Butler machine 
by opposing the schemes of a powerful clique who wished to acquire 



646 PARTY HISTORY, 1865- 187 7 

mining lands in California and by introducing civil service reform 
into the department of the interior. Senators Cameron, of Pennsyl- 
vania, and Chandler, of Michigan, friends of jobbery in many forms, 
were particularly anxious for his removal. Cox also gave offense 
by attempting to reform the Indian service, which was in a wretched 
state through the corruption of the Indian agents. As the clamor 
against him became insistent, he thought to test his position by an 
offer to withdraw, October 3, 1870. Grant's acceptance was so prompt 
as to leave no doubt that he supported the spoilsmen. Fish alone 
in the cabinet was now in sympathy with the liberals, and his immu- 
nity was due to his great success in settling the Alabama claims. 

It was not long after these events that Grant aroused the opposition 
of the civil service reformers. He favored their plans at first and 
sought to execute fairly the bill of 187 1 empowering him 
Opposition to make rules for the selection of civil servants, and he 
Senrke made George William Curtis chairman of the commission 

Reformers, which acted as an advisory body. Soon the reformers 
were in conflict with the machine politicians, and Grant, 
who was not an idealist, grew tired of the controversy which followed. 
Reformers criticized him for not aiding them, and Curtis resigned 
his chairmanship in disgust. They thought the president entirely 
with the spoilsmen, and most of them supported the liberal republican 
movement of 1872 and 1874. Their attitude confirmed his dislike 
for their leaders, and he said in 1879, "There is a good deal of cant 
about civil service reform." 

More conspicuous was his connection with the "Black Friday" specu- 
lations of Jay Gould and James Fiske, Jr. These two men 
r^*M V w owned controlling interests in the Erie railroad, which they 
Speculation. '"^^ ^^ ^^^ interest of their operations in its stock. The 
first was a shrewd manipulator and the second a gaudy 
adventurer. In 1869 Gould worked out the following scheme: He 
thought if gold, then at 132, could be put up to 145, Europe, buying 
grain for gold, would take much American wheat. This increased 
demand would mean a rise in wheat in the West, where the farmers 
would sell rapidly. Wheat would move to the coast, and the Erie, 
a grain-carrying road, would have larger freight receipts. The scheme 
seemed only to demand putting up the price of gold. There was but 
$20,000,000 of the metal accessible in New York, and the schemers 
felt able to corner it and raise the price, since many men must have it 
continually to settle their business contracts. The one obstacle 
was the possibility that the secretary of the treasury, Boutwell, would 
sell gold for bonds when the price rose. He was doing this all the time 
and was accustomed to give a month's warning of the amount he 
would thus place in the market. Gould was audacious enough to 
undertake to induce the president to restrain the secretary from 
purchasing bonds for a time. 



GRANT AND JAY GOULD 647 

Grant had a brother-in-law, Corbin, in New York, who speculated 
in stocks, and through him Gould dined with Grant and got himself 
and Fisk seen at a theater in com]>any with the president 
in order to impress the financial public. He also seized the ^'^^^ . 
opportunity to urge on Grant his view of the relation of gold to 
the price of grain. The latter received it with interest, for he had close 
at heart the welfare of the farmers. He at length was convinced, and 
advised Boutwell to stop selling gold. This was early in September, 
and Gould began at once to buy gold. In two days the price was 
137. He bought large quantities for Corbin, and for others connected 
with the president, lending them the money to carry the transaction. 

When gold was at 137, Grant went for several days to a place 
in western Pennsylvania inaccessible to railroads or telegraph. 
The moment seemed propitious, and Gould redoubled 
his efiforts. Fisk, who was a bold buyer, now became „ -^ " 
active in the scheme and gold rose to 140. There was 
much suffering among those who needed gold ; some of them by frantic 
efforts reached Grant and urged him to sell gold. Gould learned of 
it and realized that short reflection would induce Grant to comply. 
He determined, therefore, to sell his supply, bought in the campaign 
of the preceding days at a high figure. He ordered his agents to sell 
gold as they could, but not to sell to the brokers of Fisk, who now 
appeared as buying on his own account. While he thus sold, Fisk 
continued to put up the price, giving Gould's brokers opportunity 
to sell to persons who, in great fright, began to buy before the price 
became exhorbitant. Gould began to sell on Thursday, September 
23. At the close of the day the price was 144 and he still had much 
on hand. Friday morning Fisk began to bid it up madly. From 
145 it rose to 150, then upward until at noon it was at 162. The 
exchange was in an uproar and Fisk was walking the floor, swearing 
he would carry the price to 200. Men began to fear he had the power 
to do so, and buying began again at 162. It had not gone far when 
news came that the government was selling gold. Instantly the 
price fell and the market closed at 135. Before the collapse came, 
Gould had sold all his holding at a good price, most of it to reliable 
men. Fisk, meantime, had bought heavily, but without paying cash. 
He went into bankruptcy and forfeited his contracts. But he con- 
tinued Gould's partner and seemed still to prosper, which caused 
much wagging of heads. A few people thought Grant a beneficiary 
of the plot, but the charge was not believed by those who knew all 
the facts. His only error in the affair was his credulous goodness 
which made him an easy mark for Gould. 



648 PARTY HISTORY, 1865-1877 



The Presidential Campaign op 1872 

All these failings of Grant resulted in serious political opposition. 
Its first appearance was in Missouri, when Carl Schurz, senator from 

that state, headed a group of republicans who desired a 
L^** alR n^ore liberal Southern policy. They nominated B. Gratz 
publicans. ' Brown for governor and elected him with the aid of demo- 
crats. The movement grew stronger as the administra- 
tion at Washington showed no improvement, and its leaders thought 
that a similar combination in 1872 might win the presidency. In 
a state meeting they called a national convention of liberal republicans, 
May I, 1872. The call elicited a hearty response and had the approval 
of many prominent men and newspapers. The convention met as 
called. Its platform arraigned the administration on every disputed 
point, and on this all were agreed. But there was great difficulty 
over the tarifif. The movement generally had favored a lowering of 
duties; but Greeley, of the New York Tribune, who was friendly 
in most things, declared his paper would oppose tariff reduction. 
It was thought to be worth a compromise to wrench so influential a 
journal from the old party, and so the platform, when adopted, declared 
that the tariff question could safely be left to the wisdom of congress. 

Among the candidates before the convention were B. Gratz Brown, 
Charles Francis Adams, and Greeley himself. The strength of Greeley 

was large in New York, one of whose senators, Fenton, was 
Nominated opposed to Conkling, the other senator, on account of 

a squabble over the patronage. Fenton hoped to have 
a president with whom he had influence. Greeley, however, made 
poor headway, until Brown, angry at some alleged unfairness of the 
Adams men, withdrew in favor of the New Yorker and started a 
stampede in that direction. Schurz and other cool-headed men tried 
in vain to stem the tide, and Greeley was nominated on the sLxth 
ballot. It was an unfortunate choice. Greeley had genius, honesty, 
and a large following; but he was eccentric, vain, and impractical. 
The candidate for vice-president was B. Gratz Brown. The regular 

republicans on June 5 unanimously renominated Grant 
nondnated ^^^^ Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts, for vice-president. 

The platform supported reconstruction and the protec- 
tive tariff. July 9 the democrats in their convention accepted Greeley 

for their candidate. He had been their bitterest foe 
Democrats ^^ ^^J^ past, and to indorse him seemed to discard both 

dignity and principle. 

The campaign was relentlessly personal. Grant's military services 

endeared him to the people. They knew his good qualities and 

thought little of his errors. His managers turned their attention to 

making Greeley look ridiculous. A protectionist leading the tariff 



LOW POLITICAL IDEALS 649 

reformers, an opponent of civil service reform leading the civil service 
reformers, a man renowned for his sharp attacks on the democracy 
leading the democrats, the spectacle was unusual. His personal 
appearance aided this kind of warfare. Thomas Nast, brilliant and 
partisan, caricatured him relentlessly, and the people applauded. 
Greeley's vanity was only a childish weakness, and it might have been 
overlooked by his persecutors. He conducted, his own campaign 
fairly, but the jibes at him cut him to the heart. To be depicted as 
a scarecrow, a despot, and an imbecile by turns was more than he 
could stand. He closed the campaign in sorrow. October 30, Mrs. 
Greeley died; November 5, he lost the election; and November 29, 
he himself was dead. This quick accumulation of misfortune softened 
most hearts, but the election results were still overwhelming. Grant 
had 272 electoral votes and Greeley 66. Only six states, Georgia, 
Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas voted for the 
unhappy editor. Louisiana and Arkansas were in dispute, and all 
the others were for Grant. In the house the republican majority 
was raised from 35 to 105. Grant and the group whose errors were 
responsible for the liberal republican protest had a right to think they 
were endorsed by the people. 

Political Decay under Grant 

In the scandals disclosed in Grant's second term he had no conscious 
profit. His own fault was that he knew not what transpired around him 
and trusted men whom a better judge of public men would 
have suspected. The misdoings themselves were rooted Rgg'^^iJ^iui 
in the past. They were due to loose habits which crept 
into political affairs in war times and throve in the turbulent days 
of reconstruction.. Everywhere office-holding had its opportunity 
for profit, and a powerful lobby worked on the cupidity of the public 
servants. The glaring frauds in the Southern states were but the 
worst eruptions of a disease widely prevalent. 

During the campaign of 1872 rumors circulated that prominent 
republican congressmen were concerned in a railroad scandal. Denials 
came, and the incident was dismissed as campaign lie. 
After the election the rumors were revived, and Blaine, ^^vm-*^^^'* 
one of the accused, asked for an investigation. Two prauds. 
committees of investigation were, in fact, created, one by 
the house, known as the "Poland Committee," from its chairman, 
and one by the senate, known as the "Wilson Committee." From 
the facts they discovered we may gather the following story : 

The Union Pacific railroad, completed in 1869, had received little 
cash from subscribing stockholders and paid for its construction 
in four kinds of securities. The first was its own bonds to the amount 
of $27,000,000, secured by a first mortgage on the road. The second 



650 PARTY HISTORY, 1865-1877 

was the United States bonds to a similar amount lent by congress 
with a second mortgage for the government's security. The third was 

land bonds issued by the road and secured by the large 
Oriefn tracts of land congress had donated to the Union Pacific. 

The fourth was certificates of stock in the enterprise. 
To build the road a construction company known as the Credit 
Mobilier was formed out of the chief stockholders. It paid out for 
construction less than $50,000,000 and received securities worth in 
the market $70,000,000, a profit, according to the report of the com- 
mittee, of $23,000,000. In 1868 it began to divide its earnings among 
its shareholders. Within that year each owner of a hundred-dollar 
share in the Credit Mobilier received $60 in cash, first mortgage 
bonds worth $230 face value, and railroad stock worth $515 face 
value. Later distributions added largely to these excessive profits. 
It meant that a group of men controlling the Union Pacific had found 
a way of transferring to themselves in the capacity of a construction 
company a large part of the road's securities and among them large 
issues of stock. The latter feature violated the charter, which required 
all the stock to be issued for cash. In 1867 an intimation of what 
was going on got abroad and a resolution was introduced in the house 
of representatives to investigate the affairs of the Union Pacific. 
Oakes Ames, a wealthy Massachusetts representative, was promi- 
nently concerned in the Credit Mobilier and undertook to block the 
investigation. He got the construction company to place 243 of 
its shares at his disposal and sold them at par to leading congressmen, 
although they were worth double that amount in the market ; and if 
the purchaser could not pay for the stock, Ames lent him the money. 
His scheme succeeded so well that he wrote his associates that they 
need not fear the proposed investigation. Most of his victims, 
however, repented their action and surrendered their stock when they 
saw what the deal meant. The charges could not be disproved, and the 
house, at the recommendation of the committee, censured Ames and 
Brooks, of New York. Schuyler Colfax, vice-president until March 4, 
1873, was shown to be concerned in the affair. He could not well 
be impeached, as he was about to go out of office, but the disclosure 
wrecked his career. The senate committee recommended the expul- 
sion of Patterson, of New Hampshire; but his term was about to 
expire, and the senators allowed him to go in peace. Among the 
acquitted ones were some of the most prominent men in congress. 
The situation revealed by the investigation made a deep impression 
on the nation. 

The people were so excited that they were ready to see fraud in 
many things they had not formerly objected to. In such a light 
was viewed the "Salary Grab" act of March 3, 1873. As congress 
closed its labors, it increased the salaries of the president, vice- 
president, supreme court justices, speaker, senators, and representa- 



A DEMOCRATIC HOUSE 651 

tives. Members of congress had been getting $5000 a year and 
were to have $7500; and the law, following bad precedent, was to 
apply to the congress just ending. This retroactive fea- 
ture produced a vehement popular protest. It was dubbed T,^. 
the "back pay steal"; and many members did not dare Grab." 
take the additional pay. The succeeding congress re- 
pealed the obnoxious law so far as it related to senators and repre- 
sentatives ; but spite of the repeal, the act was responsible for many 
election disasters in the congressional contest of 1874. 

In May, 1S74, the ways and means committee of the house 
uncovered the Sanborn contracts. By a rather doubtful construction 
of law, John D. Sanborn, one of Butler's tools, was given 
a contract to collect some overdue internal revenue V^^. 
claims at a comm ission of 50 per cent. He recovered $427 ,000 contracts, 
and got the stipulated reward of $213,500. He swore 
he paid $156,000 of this to his assistants, which meant, probably, 
that this amount served to hold together the Butler machine in Massa- 
chusetts. The contracts could not be repudiated, and Sanborn was 
not touched ; but congress by a law made a repetition of the offense 
impossible. Richardson, secretary of the treasury, who had allowed 
the contracts, only escaped a vote of censure by resigning. 

The campaign of 1874 came close on the heels of the Sanborn dis- 
closure. No one thought the republicans would escape a rebuke, 
but few foresaw how overwhelming it would be. In the 
house then in existence were 195 republicans, 88 demo- Qf^jg]!T^ 
crats, and 4 liberals. In the new house were 108 republi- 
cans, 168 democrats, and 14 liberals and independents. For the 
first time since i860 the democratic party had the confidence of the 
country. In this year, also, Samuel J. Tilden, a lawyer of ability 
and a steady foe of political corruption, was elected democratic gov- 
ernor of New York. Among his supporters were many republicans 
who took this means of showing their disapproval of the conditions 
in their own party. 

Their defeat sobered the republicans, but fraud was deep-rooted 
and two more scandals were yet to come to light. In 1874 Bristow 
succeeded the spoilsman, Richardson, as secretary of 
the treasury. He was a reformer and began to investigate I?®, 
the department. In 1875 he uncovered a bad situation j^j 
in St. Louis. A group of distillers in that city, with the 
aid of McDonald, supervisor of internal revenue, had been able to 
defraud the government annually of a million dollars in whisky 
taxes. Bristow prosecuted the conspirators, and McDonald was sent 
to the penitentiary. He later published a book in which he said 
Grant shared the ring's profits. Only the president's reputation for 
integrity saved him now in the minds of the people. It was notorious 
that he had accepted expensive gifts and entertainment from Mc- 



6S2 PARTY HISTORY, 1 865-1877 

Donald, and it was proved that Babcock, his private secretary, was 
very intimate with the St. Louis criminals. When Babcock was put 
on trial. Grant voluntarily testified for him, and although the 
private secretary was acquitted, few people doubted his guilt. 
Grant retained him private secretary until the criticisms were so 
loud that he could keep him no longer. Dogged faithfulness to a 
friend was one of the president's good qualities ; but in this case 
it led him astray. 

This series of scandals ended with an investigation in 1876 which 
showed that secretary of war Belknap had connived at a bargain 

for the appointment of an Indian agent at Fort Sill. The 
^^j! incumbent, as it was proved, fearing removal, had agreed 

Scandal. ^^ P'^Y ^^^ rival $12,000 a year to withdraw. One-half 

this sum was sent annually to Mrs. Belknap, and after 
her death it was paid to her husband, the secretary of war. The 
evidence was plain and abundant, and a resolution to impeach Belknap 
passed the house unanimously. A few hours before it was voted on, 
the secretary tendered his resignation, which Grant immediately 
accepted. It cannot be doubted that he wished to save the erring 
ofl&cial from punishment. 

The Election of 1876 

As another presidential election approached, the regular republicans 
thought of candidates. Those closest to Grant began to talk of a third 

term, counting on his immense popularity. He himself 
Candidates ^^^ sounded and said he would not be a candidate again 

unless it should seem to be his "imperative duty," which 
was generally interpreted as assent to the plan. The scheme received 
its death blow, however, when the house, in December, 1875, by a 
vote of 234 to 18, resolved that a departure from the custom long 
followed "would be unwise, unpatriotic, and fraught with perils 
to our free institutions " ; 70 of the 88 republicans and all the democrats 
in the house voted for this resolution. Grant's particular supporters 
now divided between Conkling, of New York, and Morton, of Indiana, 
the latter securing most of the Southern delegates, from that time 
an unwholesome but important element in a republican national 
convention. Bristow's work for reform drew to him a following from 
the best portion of the party, and Blaine, whose abilities and personal 
popularity surpassed those of any other candidate, had a large follow- 
ing in the rank and file of the party. He was suspected of improper 
relations in regard to a railroad in Arkansas and his method of dis- 
posing of the "Mulligan letters" did not entirely remove the suspicion. 
As he was the strongest candidate, there was a disposition for the others 
to combine against him. Conkling, his personal enemy, was happy 
to promote such a move. There were several "favorite sons," among 



THE PARTY NOMINEES 653 

them Governor R. B. Hayes, for whom the 44 votes of Ohio were 
instructed. 

The convention met in Cincinnati, June 14. On the first ballot 
Blaine had 2S5 votes, Morton 125, Bristow 113, Conklinggg, Hayes6i, 
and other candidates 72. On each ballot until the fifth 
Blaine held his own and Hayes gained slowly, while Morton ^^^,.^^" 
and Conkling lost. On the fifth Hayes held his own and convenUon. 
the Blaine vote went to 308, only 70 less than was necessary 
for a choice. The danger of a stampede to him seems now to have 
impressed his opponents, and they quickly concentrated on Hayes, 
who on the sixth ballot had 384, and was nominated. It was well 
timed; for on this ballot Blaine had 351 votes and his friends were 
enthusiastic. William A. Wheeler, of New York, was nominated 
for vice-president. Blaine was defeated through the union for that 
purpose of the worst and best factions of the party, the extreme 
spoilsmen and the extreme reformers. Hayes pleased the latter 
because he was a man of excellent character, friendly to civil service 
reform and opposed to severe measures in the South ; the spoilsmen 
accepted him to beat Blaine, whom they feared, and because they 
thought Hayes could be managed. 

The democrats turned to Samuel J. Tilden, who seemed a strong 
candidate when reform was the issue. He first became prominent 
through the energy with which he prosecuted the Tweed 
ring in 1S71. In doing so he won the antagonism of Tilden 
Tammany ; but that organization was so much discredited bv™he* ^ 
by Tweed that it could not do great harm in the campaign. Democrats. 
In the states north of the Ohio the democrats had some 
strength. Here Allen, of Ohio, trained in the late Jacksonian school, 
and Hendricks, of Indiana, both prominent in the revival of 1874, 
were mentioned. General Hancock, of Pennsylvania, was also urged 
as a man popular with the soldiers. On the first ballot Tilden had 
417 votes, only 79 less than two-thirds of the convention. Of his 
opponents Hendricks had 140, Hancock 75, and Allen 56. Tilden 
was evidently the man most likely to win, and on the second ballot 
he got 535 votes and was declared nominated. The democrats in 
general did not care for reforms. They were a party of opposition, 
trained through a long series of hardships to a policy of expediency. 
They did not relish the New York leadership, but submitted to secure 
party success. Thomas A. Hendricks was nominated for vice- 
president. 

The two platfonns contained many generalities, but the important 
issue was the record of the republicans. It was a damaging affair, 
and Blaine sought by a skillful ruse to shift it to the South- 
ern issue. The house was debating a bill to grant amnesty 
to the remaining confederates under disabilities when he moved 
to exempt from its action the president of the confederacy. He 



654 PARTY HISTORY, 1865-1877 

made in support of the motion a liery speech charging Davis with 
responsibility for the suffering of union soldiers at Andersonville. 
It was a shrewd play; for it brought, as Blaine expected, a heated 
reply from the Southern members. Thus opened a sectional debate 
in which was obliterated much of the recently developed good will 
for the South. Thus the sectional controversy was made an issue 
in the campaign at a time when it had seemed to be receding. Blaine's 
maneuver displeased the liberals in his party and made them work 
hard to defeat his nomination, but it was reflected in the platform 
which indorsed the Southern policy of Grant. Another plank pledged 
the party to pay the national debt without discounting it. The 
democrats took a similar position on finance, but they arraigned the 
administration most severely for frauds and scandals, and pressed 
the argument home on a thousand stumps. Hayes, who was little 
known when nominated, came out well in his letter of acceptance. 
Reformers felt reassured when he said that he was against the spoils 
system and in favor of such a policy as would wipe out the distinction 
between North and South. His attitude and the hard work of his 
supporters kept the Northwest firm, but the democrats were strongly 
entrenched in New York, and held it spite of the lukewarm attitude 

of Tammany. In the South the democrats carried the 

states in which the republican regime had been over- 
thrown, but there were hard battles in the three states still in repub- 
lican hands, South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida. Each of these 
was fighting for redemption from republican rule, using methods 
by this time well known in the South. In each there were dis- 
puted returns, and the result of the national contest was dependent 
on the way they were received. 

By midnight of election day most of the crowds who listened to 
the returns throughout the country went home assured that Tilden 

was elected. All the New York papers but the Herald 
Returns'^ and the Times said as much next morning, for he had 

New York, Indiana, and other doubtful states, and he 
was believed to have the "Solid South." The Herald and Times 
announced that the result was in doubt. It appeared later that 
Tilden had 184 undisputed votes and Hayes 165. South Carolina's, 
Louisiana's, and Florida's votes and one elector from Oregon were 
disputed. If Tilden got one of the twenty, he would be elected : if 
Hayes got all, he would be elected. Claiming these contested votes 
for Hayes, it is said, was the suggestion of a shrewd manager in the 
early morning of the day after election. It was seized eagerly by his 
associates, who urged the managers in the states concerned to relax 
no efforts in support of their contention. Great excitement prevailed. 
The democrats thought the republicans were trying to steal the 
presidency. The republicans replied that they only sought to have 
a fair count. 



THE CONTESTED RETURNS 655 

It is difficult to decide between the two sides. In South Carolina 
was much intimidation by the whites and much fraud by both parties. 
There was an election board which passed on disputed 
returns, and by rejecting votes which the democrats The 
thought should be counted it gave certificates of election Returning 
to republican presidential electors and to most of the south^ ^^ 
republican candidates for state and county offices. In Carolina; 
due time these electors met and voted for Hayes. The 
democrats ignored these proceedings and insisted that the board 
had acted unfairly. These electors, as well as Wade Hampton, 
their candidate for governor, had a majority of the votes certified 
by the election officers, and they claimed that these returns were 
not subject to revision. Their electors accordingly met, cast their 
vote for Tilden, and took steps to report the vote to the United States 
senate. The same situation existed in Florida, where . 

there had been much confusion in voting. The returning °" *' 

board undertook to correct the returns from the counties and the 
result was a republican majority. The electors thus returned cast 
the vote of the state for Hayes, and the democratic electors met and 
voted for Tilden. 

The proceedings in these two states suggested partisanship ; in 
Louisiana they went somewhat further. Here, also, was a returning 
board with power to canvass the returns. Legally it . . . 
should have had five members, one a democrat, but the ou'siana. 
democratic member had resigned, and the others, all republicans, two 
white and two black, refused to choose a successor. The personnel of 
the board was bad. The president, in the words of General Sheridan, 
was "a political trickster and a dishonest man." These four men, all 
republicans, had in their hands the making of a president, and the eyes 
of the nation were on them. Twenty-five of the leading men of each 
party came to New Orleans to watch the count, and the board asked 
five from each group of "visiting statesmen" to be present at the 
hearing of evidence bearing on the disputed elections. The evidence 
taken, the four members of the board deliberated in secret. Decision 
after decision was for the republicans, and at the end of the delibera- 
tions what had been on the face of the returns a democratic majority 
of 6300 was a republican majority of 4600. 

By the work of these returning boards Hayes got formal recognition 
for nineteen of the twenty votes necessary to elect him. The other 
vote was from Oregon. The state was republican by a majority of 
1000 ; but one elector, a deputy postmaster, was ineligible because by 
the constitution a federal officer may not be chosen an elector. The 
governor, a democrat, gave the certificate to the democratic candidate 
with the largest vote, and it resulted that two returns came from 
Oregon. 

The constitution provides that the president of the United States 



6s6 PARTY HISTORY, 1865-1877 

senate shall open the votes from the states and count them in the 
presence of the two houses, and it says nothing about 
Se^ote"b^e P^^^^^S ^^ disputed returns. No precedent, since the 
Counted ? government began, had settled the point. The only case in 
point was in 1821, when there was doubt in regard to the 
vote of Missouri (page 374). But here the president of the senate 
only avoided the issue by announcing that if the vote of Missouri 
were counted, Monroe would have 231 votes, if not counted, 229, and 
in either case he was elected. In 1865, 1869, and 1873, the votes of 
the states not in the union were not counted, but this was on the 
ground that they were unreconstructed. In 1877 all the states were 
in the union. The experience of reconstruction days, however, seemed 
to establish the principle that congress, or the senate, had authority 
to pass on disputed returns. 

The "twenty-second joint rule," passed in 1865, might have had a 

bearing on the question. It provided that one house could prevent 

the counting of a disputed electoral vote or votes. Early 

J,^ in 1876 the republican senate withdrew its consent to the 

Second ^' ^^^^' ^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^ j^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ repealed when one 
Joint Rule." house withdrew its consent. Had this joint rule been in 

force in 1877 the democrats could have refused to recognize 
the Louisiana vote : that would have meant no election, and the de- 
cision, thrown into the democratic house, would have been for Tilden. 
The republicans congratulated themselves on the repeal of the rule, 
and the democrats had no way of rehabilitating it. 

When congress met, the situation was threatening. Republicans 
and democrats took sides with such earnestness that people feared 

that a civil war might occur if some way was not found to 
^j . settle the dispute. Each house appointed a committee to 
Commission, devise a plan. The democrats seemed to wish to have the 

election referred to the house, and the republicans seemed 
to be without a definite plan. But each side watched intently every 
move of the other. There was much discussion, and at last an electoral 
commission was suggested. Each house was to appoint five men from 
its own membership to whom would be added five justices of the 
supreme court approved by each side, in all, fifteen members of a 
commission which should pass on the disputed returns. Of the house 
representation on the commission three were democrats and two re- 
publicans, of the senate representation three were republicans and two 
democrats, and two of the justices, Clifford and Field, had democratic, 
and two others. Miller and Strong, had republican, leanings. So far, 
therefore, the commission had seven democrats and seven republicans, 
and everything would depend on the fifth justice. For this position 
it was thought, when the plan was devised, that Judge Davis would be 
named. He did not vote in the election of 1876, and he was called 
an independent. On the day the plan was submitted to congress 



EIGHT TO SEVEN 657 

Davis by democratic votes was elected United States senator from 
Illinois, and was out of the question for the commission. At this late 
hour the democrats could hardly withdraw approval from their agree- 
ment, and another justice must be taken. The choice fell on Justice 
Bradley, of known republican leaning. Thus a commission was selected 
which, if it were influenced by partisan sympathy, would have eight 
republicans and seven democrats. It began its hearings on February i . 

The first returns taken up were from Florida. Evidence was taken, 
then came secret deliberations, then more evidence, and more delibera- 
tion, while the public awaited the result in the greatest 
suspense and anxiety. It was believed that the decision decision, 
in regard to Florida would indicate the tone of those in the 
other cases. At last the verdict was given, Bradley casting the de- 
ciding vote. It announced that congress could not go behind the de- 
cision of a state, that the certificate must be accepted if the proper 
Florida authorities signed it. On this principle the commission gave 
Florida to Hayes. The same proceedings were taken in the Louisiana 
case, the commission refusing to hear evidence to show that the cer- 
tificate approved by the republican governor was not founded in fact. 
By the same vote, eight to seven, Hayes got this state. In the Oregon 
and South Carolina cases the commission unanimously rejected the 
Tilden electors, thus giving the republicans all the disputed votes. 
The commission held, therefore, that if wrong had been done it was by 
the state authorities, and that the constitution and laws did not give 
congress power to correct it. The decision supported the theory of 
state rights, but the democrats thought it strange that their opponents, 
after invading at will, in their reconstruction policy, the function of 
states, should have appeared so solicitous to preserve the authority 
of the states in the matter then under consideration. 

The decision caused disappointment to the supporters of Tilden, 
but the country at large was relieved that there would be no civil war. 
The South found special comfort in the prospect of re- 
gaining complete control of its own affairs. Before the The With- 
verdict was given, friends of Hayes, probably without his ^^^^^ °^ 
direct assurance, made it certain that if elected he would f^^^^ t^g 
withdraw the federal troops, without which the last vestige South, 
of carpet-bag government would fail. In view of the rec- 
ognition of the state by the commission, he could hardly do otherwise. 
The result in South Carolina and Louisiana was soon evident. In the 
spring, not long after the inauguration, Hayes had a confer- ^^^ 
ence in Washington with Chamberlain and Hampton, the caroUna. 
republican and democratic claimants for the governorship 
of the former of the two states, and made it plain what his policy would 
be ; and not long afterwards he recalled the federal troops in the South- 
ern states. Chamberlain had no support from the mass of whites, 
they would not pay taxes to republican officers, and the police would 

2U 



658 PARTY HISTORY, 1865-1877 

not support his assertion of power. Hampton was their governor, 
the democratic legislature took possession of the statehouse, and 
Chamberlain withdrew from the field. The people hailed his departure 
as a token of the redemption of South Carolina from alien rule. The 
same thing occurred in Louisiana, where Packard, the republican, gave 
way to NichoUs, the democrat, and a democratic legislature was rec- 
ognized by the people. In Florida an order of the state supreme court 
gave the democrats the governorship, and the republican claimant, 
without the support of federal troops, was forced to yield. 

The losers by this process uttered imprecations on a president who, 

as they said, profited by their work to get into office, and deserted those 

who had the same right to power that he had to the elec- 

V^^.- ^ toral votes which made him president. But their charge 

Position of 1 11 r • xr .1 ,• i . 

Hayes. "^^^ hardly fair, it the national government, actmg 

through the executive, could pass on a state election in 
reference to the governorship, it could pass on it in reference to the 
choice of presidential electors ; and if it could not pass on it in refer- 
ence to electors — ■ which was the verdict of the electoral commission — 
it could not pass on it in reference to the choice of governor. The key 
to the situation was our dual form of government, which now worked 
one way for the national side of the controversy and another way for 
the state's side. The republicans profited by its operation on one side 
and the democrats by its operation on the other, and the democrats 
lost in Washington while they gained in the South. 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

Most of the general works and original sources for this chapter are the same as for 
chapters XXVIII and XXIX. In addition one should consult the periodicals of the 
time, among which the most important are: The Nation, edited by E. L. Godkin 
and generally adverse to the republican party ; Harper's Weekly, edited by G. W. 
Curtis, generally independent ; The Independent, edited by Tilton ; The Christian 
Union, edited by H. W. Beecher, — the last two presenting political news and 
comment from the standpoint of the religious press. The most important news- 
papers are : The Tribune (N. Y.), The Times (N. Y.), The Sun (N. Y.), and The 
Republican (Springfield, Mass.), — • all ably edited and influential. 

Monographs on political subjects, besides those hitherto mentioned, are : Ha- 
worth. The Hayes-Tilden Disputed Election (1906) ; Ewing, The Hayes-Tilden 
Contest before the Electoral Commission (1910) ; Gibson, A Political Crime (1885), 
strongly in favor of Tilden ; McDonald, Secrets of the Great Whisky Ring (1880); 
Stanwood, History of the Presidency (1898); and Bancroft and Dunning, Car/ 
Schurz's Political Career, in Schurz, Reminiscences, vol. Ill (1909). 

Biographies that bear particularly on party aflfairs are : Foulke, Oliver P. Morton, 
2 v^ols. (1899) ; Riddle, Benjamin F. Wade (1888) ; Conkling, Life of Roscoe Conk- 
ling (1889) ; Hollister, Schuyler Colfax (1887) ; the Detroit Post and Tribune, Life 
of Zachariah Chandler (1880); Pearson, John A. Andrew, 2 vols. (1902); Salter, 
/. W . Grimes (1876) ; Adams, Charles Francis Adams (1900) ; Boutwell, Reminis- 
cences, 2 vols. (1902) ; Bigelow, Samuel J. Tilden, 2 vols. (1895) ; Merriam, Life of 
Samuel Boides, 2 vols. (1885) ; Cary, George William Curtis (1900) ; Linn, Horace 
Greeley (1903) ; Paine, Thomas Nast (1904) ; Oberholtzer, Jay Cooke, 2 vols. (1907) ; 
Hoar, Autobiography, 2 vols. (1903); Barnes, Memoir of Thurlow Weed (1884); 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 659 

Stanwood, James G. Blaine (1908) ; Storey and Emerson, E. Rockwood Hoar (1911) ; 
Bigelow, edr., IVritings and Speeches of Samuel J. Tilden, 2 vols. (1885); and 
Ibid., Letters of Tilden, 2 vols. (1908). 

For Independent Reading 

Adams, Charles Francis Adams (1900) ; Garland, Ulysses S. Grant (1898) ; Hoar, 
Autobiography, 2 vols. (1903); Young, Around the World with Grant, 2 vols. (1879); 
and Gary, G. W. Curtis (1900). 




CHAPTER XXXI 

ECONOMIC AND DIPLOMATIC HISTORY, 1856-1877 

Financial Reorganization 

The end of the civil war saw confusion in national finances. The 
debt was nearly $3,000,000,000, the interest on it was 6 per cent, taxes 
were high, and the currency was inflated by large issues of 
State of the igg^l tender notes. The situation was abnormal, and was 
Finances. endured in war times because it was thought that ante- 
bellum conditions would be restored with the advent of 
peace. The experience of a few months showed how difficult this 
was. No one objected to paying the debt or to refunding it at lower 
interest, but since a large part of the taxes were high import duties, 
the protected interests were against their reduction, and since many 
people had adjusted their business to the high prices which resulted 
from inflation, a large class, particularly the debtors, resisted the policy 
of contraction, although it was evident that the difference in value 
between gold and the legal tender notes was an embarrassment to the 
large commercial and financial dealers. Thus the tariff and the cur- 
rency became important political problems for the post-bellum states- 
men. 

At the head of the treasury department was Hugh McCulloch, a 
man of great ability. He was originally a successful banker in Indiana, 
who became comptroller of the currency in 1863, and was 
andWeUs i^^de secretary in 1865. He had a banker's instinct for 
the safe and careful management of obligations, and was 
specially interested in refunding the debt and restoring specie payment, 
which meant wiping out the difference between gold and legal tender. 
He had an able assistant in David A. Wells, special commissioner of the 
revenue. Wells was a trained economist, and devoted himself es- 
pecially to adjusting the tariff to new conditions. He wished to make 
it yield a revenue adequate to the needs of government, but with the 
schedules so arranged that the consumer should pay the smallest tax 
consistent with the demands of the situation, and that the manufac- 
turers of various protected articles should share fairly in the mild 
but progressive reductions of duties which he thought necessary. 
The two men worked together in the general plan of reform ; but it 
was soon seen that they would have powerful opposition from the 
beneficiaries of the existing system. The debtor class, strong in the 

660 



WAR TAXES CONTINUED 66 1 

West, where there was much borrowing to develop un worked re- 
sources, opposed a contraction of the stock of legal tender ; and the 
protected manufacturers fought by every means in their power against 
lowering the high war duties under which they had great advantages 
in their business. 

McCulloch's first concern was the debt. The government owed 
$500,000,000 in unfunded obligations. He discharged it in 7-30 notes, 
which the creditors of the government took without hesi- p . .. 
tation. Then he took up the task of refunding the entire ^ "° ^^^' 
debt. In three years he got the holders of much of it, including the 
7-30 notes of 1865, to exchange their holdings for new 5-20 bonds 
with interest at 6 per cent. The revenues continued to be large, and 
he used them to reduce the debt as rapidly as possible. By 1868 he 
had paid $519,000,000 of it, although the issue of $49,000,000 of bonds 
to pay for Alaska and to aid the Pacific railroads made the net decrease 
smaller than that amount. During the war, confidence in the nation's 
financial ability was severely strained, and some men prophesied the 
debt would never be paid. This sharp reduction in three years bene- 
fited the public credit and made easier later funding operations. 

McCulloch's excellent financial showing was made in the face of an 
annual reduction of the high war taxes equal to $140,000,000 in three 
years. He felt that the people had a right to relief, but he 
encountered such strong opposition that he dared not try Non-Pro- 
to lower the tariff. He made his reforms in the other j^^^ 
taxes, that is, in the internal revenue and the tax on in- Lowered, 
comes over $1000. The protectionists were confident of 
their power and disposed to be aggressive. In 1866 they carried 
through the house a bill for still higher rates, but the senate did not 
pass it. At that time protection was not a party issue, 
and the republican senate looked on the demands of the Protection- 

IStS AfiffiXCS" 

manufacturers as unwise and selfish. It met them by ^^^^ 
passing a bill on principles suggested by Wells, in which he 
sought to replace in a logical way the haphazard war-time rates with- 
out lowering them in general. The protectionists were suspicious of 
reforms coming from Wells and defeated the bill in the 
house. In 1867 a strong combination of wool growers and ^°°}.^"** 
manufacturers secured the passage in both houses of a wool ^^^ ^^ jgg^_ 
and woollens act, with higher duties on those commodities. 
They claimed it was needed to save their industry from, declin- 
ing prices ; but spite of the act prices still fell. Thus the only 
tariff legislation in Johnson's administration was this act raising 
rates. 

Defeated here, McCulloch had better success with his currency re- 
forms, although in that quarter he could not do all he wished. 
In 1865 the legal tender outstanding amounted to $433,000,000, and 
$145 of it exchanged for $100 in gold. He desired to secure parity 



662 ECONOMIC AND DIPLOMATIC HISTORY, 1856-1877 

of the two by the resumption of specie payment ; but he dared not 
attempt it until the amount of legal tender was greatly lessened. 
This currency, issued during the war, was at first considered tem- 
porary. It was thought tlie notes of the national banks 
Retiring would be the permanent paper currency and that they 
Tender^ would expand as the needs of business demanded. Mc- 
Notes. Culloch well knew that the people were generally unwill- 

ing to lessen the volume of money, but the commercial and 
financial interests were anxious for resumption, the country was pros- 
perous, and in 1866 he got congress to authorize the retirement of 
$10,000,000 of the legal tenders, or "greenbacks," within six months, 
and after that $4,000,000 a month. A year later came the panic of 1867, 
prices of farm products fell, money became hard to borrow, and the im- 
pression gained ground that contracting the amount of legal tenders was 
partly responsible for the situation. There was undoubtedly much 
suffering, but McCulloch and the best financiers wished to go on with 
contraction at the moderate rate ordered by congress. The opposition 
was strong in the West, where the panic was severely felt. Observing 
that his plans benefited the capitalists of the East, they questioned his 
integrity, and sectional bitterness showed itself. Western republicans 
and democrats from all quarters supported them, and 
ou^" , John Sherman, of Ohio, a good student of finance and a 
Position. ^^'^^^ politician, thought fit to support those opposed to 
further contraction. He believed that rather than endure 
the inconvenience which always accompanies contraction, it was better 
to wait until the expansion of business and population should go so 
far that the channels of trade would actively employ all the greenbacks 
then existing, with the result that the government could then support 
specie payment with a relatively small gold reserve. This would defer 
resumption several years, but the West was aroused, and the rapid 
growth of the supporters of Pendleton's "Ohio Idea" showed what 
measu"es an aroused people might demand, and Sherman's views were 
accepted by his party. February 4, 1868, congress by law ordered 
contraction to cease. McCulloch bowed to the inevitable. His 
efforts had brought the amount of outstanding legal tender down to 
$356,000,000. He retired from office with the inauguration of Grant, 
disappointed in his chief purpose, to reestablish specie payment, but 
leaving the finances otherwise in good condition. 

Boutwell, secretary of the treasury in 1869-1873, desired resump- 
tion, but felt that the country would not support it, and worked for 
other reforms. He gave most thought to paying the 
^e^Na^'"^ national debt. The tariff yielded ample revenues, there 
tionai Debt. ^^^ ^ surplus above expenses, and he used it to buy bonds 
for retirement. In his period of office the debt was re- 
duced by $368,000,000. His success strengthened the nation's credit 
and enabled him to reduce the interest, then 6 per cent on the 5-20's. 



FINANCIAL READJUSTMENT 663 

In 1870 he induced congress to authorize the refunding of $200,000,000 
at 5 per cent, $300,000,000 at 4I per cent, and $1,000,000,000 at 4 
per cent, all the bonds to run at the pleasure of the government for 
ten, twenty, or thirty years. It was also provided that both principal 
and interest of these bonds should be paid in gold. The plan succeeded. 
The financiers took all the bonds offered, and the 5-20's were retired 
at the advantage of a large saving in the interest charge. 

Boutwell, an Eastern man, was in sympathy with the protectionists. 
The majority of his party were of the same opinion, but the Western 
republicans in congress, whose constituencies had little 
interest in manufacturing, favored a reduction of the exist- . . , g 
ing high duties. The democrats were also strong in the 
West, and they desired lower duties. But there were democratic 
districts in the East, particularly in Pennsylvania, New York, and New 
Jersey, which contained manufactures, and this made a group of 
democratic representatives who supported high duties. The tariff was 
still not strictly a party measure, although the tendency to make it so 
was becoming strong. The question came up in the first congress 
under Grant, since the existing revenue was in excess of the public 
necessity. A bill was, therefore, passed in 1870 which gave some relief 
to the taxpayers. The protectionists were on the defensive, and suc- 
ceeded in throwing the burden of reduction on the non-protected ob- 
jects of taxation. There was a slight reduction of duties on imports, 
and a considerable increase of the free list, and the rates were lowered 
on sugar, tea, and coffee. The internal taxes were lowered until the 
amount from that source was only $54,000,000, and further decrease 
came by raising the exemption in the income tax from $1000 to $2000, 
with the additional provision that this tax be given up entirely at the 
end of 187 1. The income tax was ever unpopular because of its in- 
quisitorial character. The bill of 1870 showed that protection had a 
strong hold in congress. 

The Legal Tender Decisions 

The secretary did not disturb the currency compromise of 1868, but 
in 1870 the legal status of the greenbacks became a matter of great in- 
terest through the decision of the supreme court in the 
case of Hepburn v. Griswold. The constitutionality of criswow'' 
the legal tender law of 1862 had been questioned from the 
time of its enactment and was involved in this case. The decision 
was written by Chase, secretary of the treasury in 1862, and now chief 
justice. It announced that the law impaired the obligation of con- 
tracts made before it was passed, and was confiscatory to the extent 
of the difference between the value of the dollars in which a debt was 
contracted and that of the dollars in which it was paid. Chase frankly 
admitted that he was in error in 1S62, but said he thought at the former 



664 ECONOMIC AND DIPLOMATIC HISTORY, 1856-1877 

date that the law was necessary to carry on the war. Four other 
justices supported his view in 1870, and three dissented. Justice 
Miller for the latter held that it is only the state, and not 
Decision Congress, that is forbidden to impair the obligation of a con- 
tract. He held that the letter of the constitution was not 
violated by the law, and as the military situation in 1862 was desperate 
without the law, the court ought if possible to uphold it, lest the nation 
should seem to repudiate an instrument so useful in perpetuating 
the existence of the union. Chase and the majority of the court, 
however, thought only of the logical interpretation of the constitution. 
That instrument, they said, certainly sought to forbid impairment of 
contracts, although only the states were mentioned. The court must 
think of the spirit of the constitution, and from that point of view 
neither congress nor the state should do the forbidden thing. It was 
a nice distinction, and seemed to reflect the known political sympathy 
of the justices. The country took it as a partisan decision. The 
regular republicans pronounced it a repudiation of Lincoln's war policy. 
The court came to its decision in November, 1869, but did not hand 
it down, or announce it, until February 7, 1870. In the interval 
Grier, one of the majority, resigned. As there was a pre- 
TheAppoint- vious vacancy in the bench the president now had two 
Bra'diey and appointments to make, and he sent the nominations to the 
Strong. senate on the very day the decision was announced. He 

named Bradley and Strong, both earnest party men, who 
had no sympathy for the position taken by Chase. A cry rose at once 
that Grant had "packed" the supreme court. He denied that he 
knew what the decision would be ; and as the opinions of the court 
were usually guarded most strictly, it is difficult to suppose that any 
inkling of this decision had reached him when he made the nominations. 
He must, in fact, have taken republicans, and in the state of public 
feeling he would hardly have found two men who did not sympathize 
with the criticism most of the party hurled at the court. 

Whatever was Grant's responsibility, the legal tender act was soon 
again before the court, in two cases, Knox v. Lee and Parker v. Davis, 
both of which were already on the calendar when the first 
Q^f . decision was made. The majority of the court, including 

Reversed. ^^^ ^^^ ^^^ members, ordered them taken up and argued. 
May I, 187 1, the former decision was reversed by a vote of 
five to four, Bradley and Strong and the former minority now making 
the majority. The decision was announced at once, but the opinions 
were not read until January 15, 1872. 

Industrial Progress 

The civil war was followed by a period of business activity. Manu- 
factures prospered under the high war duties, there was much rail- 



GENERAL PROSPERITY 665 

road building in the West, agricultural products still felt the effects 
of war prices, and capital found profitable employment in many forms 
of new development. In 1867 there was a sharp business 
reaction due to the London panic of 1866, but the de- ^^ Peace*^*^ 
pression was transitory. In general, the years 1865 to 1873 
were replete with hope and development throughout the East, North, 
and West. It was only the South, blackened by ruin in its entire life, 
that did not feel the rebound of energy which accompanied the advent 
of peace. 

These eight years of prosperity showed most clearly in four 
fields of effort: i. Railroad Construction. It was the period during 
which the first transcontinental railroad lines reached the 
Pacific coast; but the 1800 miles of such roads were Fo"r Fields 
but a trifle compared with the 30,000 miles of shorter ment.^^ °^' 
lines built in every part of the country. This process 
prevailed, particularly in the upper Mississippi valley, whose develop- 
ment was stimulated by the high price of grain. 2. Agricultural 
Expansion. In 1867 the grain-growing area in the United States was 
64,418,518 acres: in 1875, although the panic of 1873 had intervened, it 
was 86,287,648 acres, and the impetus acquired was so great that, 
spite of the prevailing hard times, it was over 100,000,000 acres in 
1878. The yield of grain crops rose proportionately from 1,320,236,- 
000 bushels in 1866 to 2,290,008,000 bushels in 1878. This increase 
in grain production was more than twice as great as the growth in 
population in the same period. 3. The Increase in Capital. This 
came from both domestic and foreign sources. The wide establish- 
ment of national banks, the issues of war bonds, and the expansion 
of the currency through the issue of the legal tenders furnished a vastly 
stronger basis of domestic credit, even if we make full allowance for 
the element of inflation in most American securities. The sale of 
public bonds and railroad securities in Europe, whither a large portion 
of these securities went as investments, was a notable feature 
of the financial life of the day. The industrial growth of the 
country is indicated by the increase in manufacturing capital which 
totaled $1,009,000,000 in i860, $2,118,000,000 in 1870, and $2,790,000,- 
000 in 1880. 

4. Growth of Immigration. The growth of industry is seen in the 
influx of laborers. In 1861 the immigrants arriving in the country 
were 112,702. During the war the incoming tide did not greatly 
increase, but after 1865 it grew rapidly. In 1868 the numbers were 
326,000, in 1873 they were 460,000, and in 1879, a year of great 
prosperity, they were 789,000. 

The culmination of this wave of prosperity was in the years 187 1 and 
1872. The people seemed to think the good times would never end. 
Land and bonds sold at high speculative prices, and many enterprises 
were immoderately expanded in the hope of still further gain. Con- 



666 ECONOMIC AND DIPLOMATIC HISTORY, 1856-1877 

fidence in the possibilities of American enterprise has ever been great, 
but it frequently leads the community too far ; and this happened in 
these wonderful years. The result was a collapse in 1873, and it began 
with the failure of a great banking house, whose name was synony- 
mous with business reliability. 

Jay Cooke and Co. had earned a good reputation during the war by 
marketing bonds for the government. The securities they sold proved 
a good investment with the rise in bonds after the war, and 
Operafaons ^.j^^^ j^^^ ^ large clientelle among sober and thrifty inves- 
and Co. ^o^^- After the war they began to deal in railroad bonds 

The Northern Pacific was then being built through a wide 
undeveloped area, and this firm undertook to finance it. They took 
its bonds in exchange for cash, expecting to sell them and take other 
bonds as construction proceeded. For some time the plan worked 
well, but always some bonds were left on their hands, and all their 
resources, with much of their credit, was embarked in Northern Pacific 
securities which were not sold. The road was well planned, but could 
not make money for some years. What Jay Cooke and Co. was doing 
for this enterprise other bankers were doing for others. Thus it 
happened that the capitalists by 1873 were stocked with vast quan- 
tities of bonds which the public could not buy. In May, 1873, there 
was a sharp local panic in Vienna. Europe, also, recovering from 
the Franco-Prussian war, had been speculating largely, and took the 
Austrian recession as a sign of danger. Her financiers became cau- 
tious and ceased to buy American bonds. The situation might 
seem to demand curtailment of railroad construction, but that 
was difficult, since material was ordered, and contracts and labor en- 
gaged for a long time ahead. Jay Cooke and Co. used their utmost 
effort to keep the Northern Pacific in funds, hoping all the time that 
a better market might enable them to dispose of their growing stock 
of securities. 

On September 18, 1873, they had exhausted their last effort and 
announced that they were bankrupt. The news produced conster- 
nation. The firm's failure seemed to import the crumbling 
1*873*^ °^ of the very foundations of credit. Leading stocks fell from 
twenty to thirty points in a day, and September 19 saw 
the failure of nineteen of the most reputable New York firms. The 
stock exchange rang with offers to sell stocks at ruinous prices, with 
no one to buy. On the twentieth the committee in charge stopped 
the demoralization by closing the exchange, and it remained closed 
for eight days. Money was so scarce that the clearing house issued 
clearing-house certificates to banks for 75 per cent of the amount of 
good securities, and received them in the settlement of balances. 
People who had money withdrew it from the banks to hoard until 
confidence was restored. This produced runs on the banks, and three 
failed on the twentieth. So strong was the tendency to hoard that 



PROLONGED HARD TIMES 667 

the banks ceased to pay large checks but indorsed them " Good through 
the clearing house." By such efforts the terror was stayed, but it 
was not until the end of September that the public felt that the worst 
had passed. 

In the early stage the panic reached only the speculators in stocks 
and bonds, but it soon spread to all branches of industry. The 
financiers could no longer furnish money, and railroad 
building was curtailed. Manuiacturers of material found p ^f°^'^^ 
their orders countermanded, laborers in factories and on 
railroads were throwm out of employment, the general purchasing 
power of the community was lessened, manufactures of general mer- 
chandise must cut down production, and in the face of the resulting 
depression land and other speculation in ten thousand localities 
collapsed. The "hard times" were general and severe. 

They were destined to last several years. The crisis happened just 
as the agriculture of the world entered a new stage of its progress. 
In 1866 Prussia and Austria were at war, and in 1870-1871 
Germany conquered France. The intervening period and J-.^'"^ 
these years also were a period of unrest in industry in Eu- longed. 
rope, and production there was limited. As a consequence, 
we exported large quantities of grain at the high prices which sur- 
vived the war. Wheat often brought $2.50 a bushel during the war, 
in 1867 it reached $2.85 in Chicago, and $2.00 a bushel was for a long 
time a reasonable price. These high prices were the cause of a strong 
movement to the Western lands, a movement which once formed no 
hard times could quickly check. The return of peace in Europe threw 
vast energy into agriculture there. At the same time extension of 
railroads into the wheat-growing plains of Russia opened a large new 
area of production. In three years, 1875 to 1878, the world's wheat 
increased 262,000,000 bushels. The fall in price was startling. In 
1872 it was $ 1.38 a bushel in gold, in 1878 it reached 98 cents. 

As the land-hungry people of our West cut up county after county 
into homesteads in the face of this increasing general distress, the West- 
ern farmer settled down to financial misery. He was in debt for his 
land, or his improvements, and, each succeeding crop failing to lift 
the growing burden, his gloom but increased. In the middle years of 
the eighth decade, late in the ninth and early in the tenth he was in 
a stage approaching desperation, and the effects were seen in more than 
one plan for relief through governmental action. So long did wheat 
sell at about ninety cents a bushel, that experienced operators in the 
grain market said openly that the world would never again see " dollar 
wheat." They were unduly discouraged. The world's wheat supply 
had only run ahead of the demand, and in the United States the excess 
was marked. But in time the world's demand would increase rela- 
tively with the supply : then, and not sooner, would prosperity return 
permanently to the American wheat farmer. 



668 ECONOMIC AND DIPLOMATIC HISTORY, 1856-1877 



Resumption of Specie Payment 

After the panic of 1873 many people came to see that the too 
rapid progress which preceded it was partly due to the inflated con- 
dition of the currency; and this strengthened the desire 
Resumption Qf business people to see legal tender redeemed in specie. 
le^ss°Dffi- "'■^ ^^^ noted, also, that at the intimation of hoarding the 
cult. public preferred greenbacks to national banknotes, and this 

seemed to show that if resumption were attempted the legal 
tender notes would not be offered in large quantities for redemption. 
It was further evident that the increasing volume of business was ab- 
sorbing the amount of these notes in the channels of trade, as was 
shown by the steady fall in the premium on gold, until January i, 
1874, it was no. The conclusion of thoughtful men was that re- 
sumption was easier in 1874 than in McCuUoch's day. 

But the ruling hard times were a serious impediment. They gave 
rise to a widespread belief that the volume of money was inadequate 
and ought to be increased by congress. This sentiment 
jjjg was so strong that in the panic of 1873 the secretary was 

Popular impelled to exchange for bonds $26,000,000 of legal 

Demand for tender which McCulloch withdrew but did not destroy, 
more Legal i]^^^^ raising the amount outstanding to $382,000,000. 
The secretary would go no further of his own authority, 
and then congress took up the matter, passing, February 
4, 1874, a bill to increase the outstanding amount by $18,000,000. 
The house passed the bill by a large majority, so strong was inflation 
with its members ; but the senate, more conservative, gave the bill a 
majority of only five. It was evident that the country was swinging 
back toward paper money. Under these circumstances Grant's veto 
of the bill was an act of heroism. It was denounced in the West as 
truckling to the Eastern capitalists, and it was an important cause 
of the republican defeat in the elections of the following autumn. 

This stunning blow put the republican leaders to thinking. Hitherto 
bent chiefly on carrying their Southern policy, they had been in- 
clined to pay respectful attention to the West; for it 
New was easier to "wave the bloody shirt" there than in the 

Financial East. But that issue was receding, finances and currency 
the Re- vfere becoming prominent, and they must decide whether 

publicans. they would depend on the inflationists or on the sound 
financial ideas prevalent among all classes in the East. 
They wisely chose the latter, losing strength in the West, no doubt, 
but hoping to make up the loss in the East. The party was to do essen- 
tially the same thing twenty years later with reference to another 
financial issue, the free coinage of silver. The result of the choice 
of 1874 was the resumption act of January, 1875, passed in the last 



A "DEATH-BED REPENTANCE" 669 

days of republican power. The East received it gladly, and pro- 
nounced it " the death-bed repentance of the republican party." The 
West denounced it ; but the conditions were such that they could not 
repeal it in the succeeding congress. In fact, the West was yielding 
to the march of capitalistic industry in the transalleghany region. 
As the states there ceased to be dominated by the agricultural classes 
they gave up the cause of inflation. This was shown when in 1875 
Hayes was chosen governor of Ohio on a sound financial platform. 

The resumption law of 1875 was championed by John Sherman, 
whose political insight showed him the shifting nature of the situation 
before him. It provided that the legal tender notes be 
retired as new national bank notes were issued until the '^^^ ^.^" 
greenbacks outstanding were $300,000,000. This, it was Act^of^Sys. 
thought, would reduce the issue of the latter to an amount 
which could be safely managed by the treasury. January i, 1879, 
so the law ran, the secretary of the treasury should begin actually 
to redeem in specie. To get gold for that purpose and to maintain 
resumption he was to sell bonds for coin until he had $100,000,000 
of specie on hand. This specie was not to be a special reserve fund, 
but the law contemplated that it be left in the general fund in the 
treasury ; and it was, therefore, liable to be drawn upon to defray the 
expenses of government. When in Cleveland's second term the 
revenues failed through the inadequacy of the McKinley tariff law to 
meet the large appropriations of 1890, this fund was seriously impaired 
to save the treasury from bankruptcy. It was then maintained that 
the law of 1875 authorized future and indefinite bond sales to maintain 
an adequate reserve to redeem the paper currency. Much controversy 
arose over that situation, but it did not trouble the men of 1875. 
The law they passed was a long step toward the restoration of sound 
financial conditions, and secured in 1879 the object for which it was 
enacted. It is generally conceded that had McCulloch's advice been 
taken, the same result might have been reached several years earlier. 

Diplomatic Affairs under Grant 

The union emerged from the civil war with increased force at home 
and abroad. We were ourselves conscious of ability to play a larger 
part than formerly in international affairs. Our eyes 
were particularly directed to the states south of us, and The Civil 
there was observable an enthusiastic hope that our power ^^^'^ ^"- 
would be increased in that quarter. Two questions re- ourDiplo- 
mained to be settled at the end of the war ; the removal macy. 
of the French from Mexico and the adjustment of our 
claims on England for failure to enforce her neutrality obligations. 
Both problems were taken up in Johnson's administration, and the 
first was settled by excellent handling under Seward's direction. 



670 ECONOMIC AND DIPLOMATIC HISTORY, 1856- 187 7 

The other went over to Grant's first term, and the glory of solving it 
fell to Fish, his secretary of state. 

But Seward failed in the English negotiations, not so much on 
account of his own deficiencies as those of other men. Charles 

Francis Adams, minister throughout the war, remained 
Our Claims ^ London after the return of peace ; but he had been so 
Endwid. persistent a fighter for American rights during the struggle 

that he was not the man to conduct the delicate negotia- 
tion the present problem demanded. His demands accomplished 
nothing, and in 1868 he was succeeded by Reverdy Johnson, of Mary- 
land. His warm manners, so much in contrast with the correct and 
cool air of his predecessor, pleased the English, and he was received 
with a friendliness that convinced him he should succeed in his chief 
business. England on her part had been given opportunity to reflect 
on her position. Her covert aid to the confederates was chiefly from 
sentiment, and time brought reason into play. As the greatest trad- 
ing power on the sea she was peculiarly interested in establishing rules 
to protect neutral commerce in time of war. If she herself should be 
engaged with an enemy, the United States, by following the course 
she had followed wdth regard to the confederacy, could let loose such 
a fleet of commerce-destroyers as her merchants would never forget. 
She was willing, therefore, to settle the claims, but she did not dream 
of paying what we asked. Most Englishmen of the day thought 
Americans shrewd, grasping, and given to swaggering, and they did 
not take seriously the amount of our demand. 

Seward and Johnson both wished to settle the claims for the credit 
it would give the administration, and for this reason the radicals 

would willingly have the negotiations fail. Reverdy John- 
Reverdy ^^^ shared the anxiety of his superiors, and in trying to 
England.* accomplish the task, his eagerness led him to bungle it 

sadly. He caught at the signs of complaisance in Eng- 
land, forgot all the rebuffs offered his predecessor, and revelled in acts 
of good will. He made many speeches to English audiences in the 
warmest tone of friendship, and went out of his way to show partiality 
for public men who had most espoused the confederate cause. This 
made a favorable impression on the British, but to Americans it 
seemed that he discredited Adams and threw away the national dig- 
nity. The radicals, desiring to weaken the administration at every 
possible point, made much of his failings. Johnson had his faults, 
no doubt, but it is also certain that the country was not disposed to 
be fair toward him. 

The agreement this American minister made was known as the 
Johnson-Clarendon convention. It provided for a commission to 
select an arbiter to whom should be referred for settlement all the 
disputed claims on each side, the decision of the arbiter to be final. 
Two commissioners were to he named by each side, and if they could 



"OUTRAGEOUS" DEMANDS 671 

not agree on the arbiter, he was to be chosen by lot. Probably a 

settlement like this would have been acceptable in the United States 

within a year after the end of the war ; but what with 

the feeling aroused against Johnson and the national self- '^^^ 

assurance from the success in the Mexican affair, the ?>?„°^°f' 
11 1 • • r,^ T -ii Clarendon 

nation would not tolerate it in 1869. it was especially Convention. 

bad to submit our rights in the matter to the choice of an 

arbiter by lot. The convention was completed January 14, 1869, 

and went to the senate soon afterwards. It came up there April 13, 

when Andrew Johnson was no longer president, and was defeated by a 

vote of 54 to I. Sumner alone spoke against it. As chairman of the 

senate's foreign committee he felt it his duty to sum up the case for 

the United States, and his speech was printed for the information of 

the people. 

Through his bold handling, our case against England became far- 
reaching. He demanded satisfaction, first for all the losses of Ameri- 
cans through England's recognition of belligerency for the 
confederacy, secondly for losses due to the activity of the f "^'^'^'''^ 
Alabama and other ships which England's negligence of Our Case. 
suffered to take the sea, and thirdly for the expenses of 
prolonging the war through the hope of the South that England would 
assist her. From the first class, he said, the losses amounted to 
$100,000,000, from the second to $15,000,000, and from the third the 
inference was — although he would name no figure — a loss of 
$2,000,000,000. Mr. Rhodes pronounces Sumner's claim "out- 
rageous." It is evident that Sumner himself did not expect England 
to pay the amounts specified, but stated them in this way so that 
England and the world might realize the vast wrong done us. But it 
was an unwise utterance. It raised too high the ex-pectation of the 
American people, and if it were insisted upon by the government, it 
made impossible further negotiation by England. John Bright, one 
of our best friends in England, said that either Sumner was a fool or 
thought the English people were fools. No immediate action, how- 
ever, followed the speech, and after a time the passions it raised were 
cooled by sober thought. It was for the skillful hand of Hamilton 
Fish, Grant's secretary of state, to reopen the question in a more 
reasonable spirit and carry it to successful solution. Before this 
could be done. Grant precipitated his ill-advised project to annex 
Santo Domingo. 

This negro republic, occupying the eastern part of the Island of 
Haiti, was threatened with revolution. Its ruler thought 
he would have a safe exit from difficulties he could hardly Grant's 
hope to surmount, if he sold his country to the United Do^ngo 
States, he himself to get most of the purchase price. Treaty. 
Grant was approached, and saw in the scheme an excel- 
lent opportunity to acquire a valuable territory. The minions of 



672 ECONOMIC AND DIPLOMATIC HISTORY, 1856-1877 

jobbery who surrounded him approved the scheme, and he sent one 
of them, Babcock, to Santo Domingo to investigate the proposition. 
Babcock was only an unofficial agent of the president, but he did not 
hesitate to act as if he were a commissioner with full powers. He 
returned with glowing accounts of the riches of the country, and with 
boxes of minerals and other products to substantiate his words. He 
brought, also, an informal treaty of annexation. At a succeeding 
cabinet meeting Grant submitted the treaty and displayed Babcock's 
collection of specimens. It was the first time the secretary of state 
or any of his colleagues were informed of the affair. The communi- 
cation was received in silence and astonishment. Cox found his 
tongue long enough to ask if we wanted to annex Santo Domingo. 
There was then an embarrassing pause, which the president ended by 
taking up other business. 

It was not like Grant to give up a thing to which he had once com- 
mitted himself. He sent Babcock back to Santo Domingo with the 
necessary power, and in due time the treaty came to Washington in 
regular form and was sent to the senate for ratification. Grant 
exerted himself in its behalf. He saw Sumner, and evidently under- 
stood the chairman of the committee on foreign affairs to promise to 
favor it ; but when it came from the committee it was reported 
adversely, and the chairman was one of its opponents. Grant was dis- 
appointed, and as the outspoken Sumner supported his opposition 
with a speech, a bitter quarrel resulted. The two-thirds majority 
necessary to ratification could not be obtained, and the project was 
defeated. In 1870 Grant sent it to congress again and asked for a 
joint resolution for annexation ; but public opinion had now been 
aroused against it, and all he could get was a committee to visit Santo 
Domingo to investigate the situation there. The report favored an- 
nexation, but the senate did not act on the report. Grant was 
chagrined at his failure. His quarrel with Sumner progressed with 
increased vehemence, and the anger of the senator brought estrange- 
ment between him and Fish. At last in 1871 the president insisted 
that the senate's committee on foreign affairs should have a 
new head, and his influence was sufficient to secure his desire. 
Sumner was deeply disappointed. He had served long and faith- 
fully in this important position, and his displacement in connection 
with his part in this particular incident brought him much sym- 
pathy. 

Fish did not approve of the Santo Domingo treaty, but supported 
it through loyalty to his superior. In return he was allowed a free 

hand in negotiations with Great Britain, a far more im- 
'^/w'^'^^h^*^ portant matter. He pressed that affair wisely and steadily, 
ton, 1871.^ ^^cl England yielded so far that January 9, 1871, Sir John 

Rose arrived in Washington with authority to make a 
treaty to settle all matters of dispute between the two powers. These 



THE GENEVA ARBITRATION 673 

were the Alabama claims, the rights in fishing on the banks of New- 
foundland, and the exact boundary between the United States and 
British Columbia in the region of Puget Sound. An agreement 
known as the Treaty of Washington was now made in which it was 
provided that the first and third questions be determined by tribunals 
of arbitration, and the second by a joint commission. The treaty 
opened the way to a fair settlement of the Alabama claims by ex- 
pressing formally England's regret for the escape of the "Alabama 
and other vessels," and for the losses they inflicted. It also adopted 
rules defining more strictly than formerly the obligations of a neutral 
in avoidance of succor to a belligerent ; and it was evident that if the 
proposed tribunal of arbitration followed them, our own cause would 
be much strengthened. In accordance with this treaty the German 
emperor was selected to arbitrate the northwestern boundary, and 
soon rendered a satisfactory decision. The fisheries commission began 
deliberation, but encountered many difficulties, and the matter was 
not finally adjusted until 1877. The Alabama claims required more 
careful consideration. 

The tribunal to arbitrate them embraced five members, to be chosen, 
one by England, one by the United States, and one each by the rulers 
of Italy, Brazil, and Switzerland. The men designated 
were Chief Justice Cockburn, of England, Charles Francis IJ^l^^^^ 
Adams, Count Sclopis, Vicomte dTtajuba, and Jacques Tribunal. 
Staempfli. The two first were well known in their re- 
spective countries, and the three last were men of recognized learning 
and character. England's position on the sea made her fear to in- 
trust her cause to representatives of rival commercial nations ; and 
she felt that she was more likely to be treated fairly by citizens of 
such states as Italy, Brazil, and Switzerland. She was, in fact, in a 
difficult position ; for if national feeling was to influence the tribunal, 
not even these small nations could be expected to tolerate principles 
which smacked of her assertion of superiority at sea. 

The tribunal met for the first time December 15, 1871, at Geneva, 
but did not open the case until the following summer, at the same 
place. The American case was presented by J. C. Ban- 
croft Davis, who was appointed for the purpose. His tions begun 
instructions were to demand damages for actual losses, at Geneva. 
but of his own authority he added demands for losses 
through the exclusion of American commerce from the seas and for 
the expenses of conducting the war after July 4, 1863. He argued 
that the confederacy would have collapsed at that date but for the 
countenance it had from England. He thus resurrected Sumner's 
sweeping claims of 1869 and took a position Fish had discreetly 
abandoned in negotiations previous to the treaty of Washington. His 
contention aroused the greatest indignation in England, and the 
peop'e there with one voice demanded the dissolution of the tribunal. 



674 ECONOMIC AND DIPLOMATIC HISTORY, 1856-1877 

Fish was alarmed, and interfered over the head of Davis, intimating 
that we would not insist on indirect damages. England was appeased, 
and the deliberations proceeded quietly when the tribunal excluded 
indirect claims from consideration. The Americans professed satis- 
faction at this decision, saying they only brought forward the excluded 
claims to have them passed upon definitively. 

The question before the tribunal was now a concrete one : Did 
England exercise due diligence in regard to the escape of the Alabama, 
Florida, and other confederate cruisers? Argument and evidence 
was submitted, Adams and Cockburn each presenting the contention 
of his own country in an able manner. The decision thus rested with 
the arbiters representing the neutral powers. It came late in August, 
the neutral members unanimously accepting England's responsibility 
in the contention submitted and adjudging her to pay damages to 
the amount of $15,500,000. The award occasioned great satisfaction 
in America : in England it was received with incredulity. The people 
there had not been informed as to the merits of the case : they only 
knew they had lost, and the amount of damages conceded seemed 
preposterous. It took some reflection to make the judgment accept- 
able, but it was at length approved by the ministry, and the money 
was paid. At that time Canada was full of unrest, and a revolt against 
Britain seemed a possibility. If such an event should come, it was 
evident that the United States, if they lost their Alabama case, 
would fit out many Alabamas for the benefit of the revolutionists. 
With the exception of the Virghiius affair (see page 783) the rest of 
our diplomacy under Grant was uneventful. 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

For general works, original sources, biographies, and writings of leading men see 
Bibliographical Notes on chapters XXVIII, XXIX, and XXX. 

For references on economic subjects see : Dewey, Financial History of the United 
States (1903) ; Bogart, Economic History of the United States (1907) ; Bolles, Finan- 
cial History of the United States, 1861-1S85 (ed. 1884); Noyes, Thirty Years of 
Finance (1898), reissued in revised form as Forty Years of Finance (1909), an excel- 
lent book; Knox, The United States Notes (ed. 1888) ; Ibid., History of Banking in 
the United States (1900) ; White, Money and Banking (ed. 1902) ; Burton, Financial 
Crises (1902); Stanwood, American Tariff Controversies, 2 vols. (1903); Taussig, 
Tarijf History of the United States (ed. 1899) ; Curtiss, The Industrial Development of 
Nations, 3 vols. (191 2), an important work, the third volume of which treats Ameri- 
can industry. 

On diplomatic matters see : Moore, Digest of International Law, 8 vols. (1906) ; 
Bancroft, Life of Seward, 2 vols. (1900) ; Foster, A Century of American Diplomacy 
(1900) ; Ibid., American Diplomacy in the Orient (1903) ; C. F. Adams, 2d, Lee at 
Appomattox and other Papers (1902), has a paper on the treaty of Washington; 
chamberlain, Charles Sumner and the Treaty of Washington (1902) ; Chadwick, 
Relations of the United States and Spain, Diplomacy, 2 vols. (1909); Latane, 
Diplomatic Relations of the United States and Latin America (1900). 

For references on immigration see : Smith, Emigration and Immigration (1892) ; 
Hall, Immigration and Its Ejffects upon the United States (1907) ; Austin, Immigra- 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 675 

lion into the United States, 1820-iQOj (Bureau of Statistics, Treasury Dept., 
1903)- 

For Independent Reading 

Burton, John Sherman (1906) ; McCulIoch, Men and Measures (1888) ; Williams, 
Anson Burlinghame, and the First Chinese Mission (191 2); Foster, A Century of 
American Diplomacy (1900); and The Harriman Alaska Expedition, Alaska, 2 
vols. (1901). 



CHAPTER XXXII 

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FAR WEST 
The Rocky Mountain Region 

In i860 civilization had marked out for its own all the domain of 
the United States from the Atlantic to a line running with the western 

borders of Minnesota and Iowa, across the center of 
Physical Nebraska and Kansas, along the western limits of Arkansas 
istics. ^^^^ across Texas at nearly its middle points. It had also 

established itself on the Pacific coast, holding in a thin 
line most of California and a great deal of the Columbia valley in 
Oregon and Washington ; and there were a few settlements of Spanish 
origin in New Mexico. All the rest of the Far West, plain, mountain, 
and desert, was uninhabited by white men, save for the Mormon 
settlement in northern Utah and for some hardy fur traders who had 
founded stations among the Indians — chiefly in the upper Missouri 
valley. It was a vast region, a thousand miles from east to west, and 
nearly as much from north to south. Its rivers were not numerous, 
its rainfall was less than that of the central Mississippi valley, and it 
did not attract the agriculturalist as much as the region to the east. 
It was inhabited by powerful Indian tribes, suspicious of the encroach- 
ments of the whites, and capable, in case of necessity, of making a 
determined stand against invasion from either east or west. They 
had been driven before the advancing frontier for many decades, and 
as they saw a new rim of settlements planted on the Pacific border 
they realized that they were caught between two movements which 
threatened to close on them in final destruction. The years between 
i860 and 1880 were destined to realize all their fears. Their game, 
their homes, their very tribal organization were to go step, by step, 
until at last their hunting grounds were theirs no more and they 
themselves were fain to accept American citizenship. It was the last 
struggle of barbarism and hard nature on the one hand against civili- 
zation and the will of the white man on the other; for this vast 
region, with its ramparts of stone, its stretches of alkali plain, and 
its area of stunted grass interlaced by river valleys, had riches which 
the world demanded, and which nature must at last give up. 

The first notable invasion of the white man was made by the 

676 



GOLD AND SILVER MINING 677 

hunters of gold and silver. The discovery of the former metal in 
California created the supposition that more could be 
found in the Rockies, and an army of prospectors explored Jj^^jje ^^®'^* 
the country. Though many left their bones in forgotten Miners, 
valleys, others found precious hordes, opened fields of 
industry, settled towns, and established regular roads of approach. 
They made the region a white man's country, rolled back the veil of 
mystery which hung over the Far West, and cleared the way for 
herdsmen and farmers who discovered the favored spots in which 
could be planted farm and hamlet. 

The first notable mining success in this region was in "the Washoe 
Country," then a portion of Utah. In 1859 a rich silver deposit 
was discovered high up on the side of Mount Davidson, 
6000 feet above the sea. A throng of miners flocked ^f Nevada" 
thither at once, shafts were sunk, and much ore was 
extracted. The veins were rich, but "dipped" downward and made 
deep shafts necessary, and into these came water faster then the 
pump could draw it off. Then a wonderful engineering feat was per- 
formed. Sutro, an inventive genius, constructed a great tunnel to 
which his contemporaries gave his name. It came in from the side 
of the mountain 2000 feet before the opening of the mines, and by a 
network of branches carried the water in the flooded shafts into the 
plain at the foot of the mountain. The destruction of the mines was 
averted, the region continued to prosper, and out of the mining camps 
grew a definite community which took the name, Virginia City. It 
was a long way from Sacramento, the seat of authority, and the settlers 
desired a more regular government than California could give. In 
1 86 1 the people asked for a territorial form of government, and the 
request was granted. Three years later came other honors : congress 
admitted it into the union as the state of Nevada, chiefly because 
two more free-state members were desired in the senate. At that 
time the state was thought to have a bright future. But most o^ 
its area was hopelessly arid, and later growth was extremely slow. 
It is only jn the most recent years that the growth of population has 
been enough to warrant the gift of statehood in 1864. Gold as 
well as silver was mined in the region of Virginia City, called sometimes 
the Comstock region, from the name of its chief lode, and the two 
metals taken out of the earth in the first twenty-five years were 
worth $300,000,000. 

Other mining ventures resulted in the founding of Colorado. In 
1858 gold was discovered at Idaho Springs, 750 miles east of Virginia 
City and in the eastern spurs of the Rocky Mountains. ^. 
A stream of adventurers soon turned thither, and the sur- 
rounding country was explored. Other finds resulted in the settle- 
ments at Boulder, Denver, and Leadville. At the last-named place 
the lead deposits in connection with silver yielded much the greater 



678 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FAR WEST 

profit. In 1 86 1 congress created the territory of Colorado, to em- 
brace these several communities, and in 1876 the territory became a 
state. 

Six hundred miles to the northwest, on the eastern slope of the 
Rockies, in 1861, there was another rich discovery of gold. An im- 

mense number of miners went into the country, and many 

profitable mines were worked. From one, the Alder 
Gulch, they took in three years $25,000,000 in gold. In the midst of 
this rich region grew up the town of Helena, at a place first called 
"Last Chance Gulch." The surrounding country yielded fast to the 
miners, and in 1864 it was organized into the territory of Montana. 
But it was far away in the northwest, and agriculture and grazing 
developed slowly. It was not until 1889 that it became a state. 

The first gold mined was washed out of the earth in basins, or 
"cradles," and this was called placer mining. It was slow and 

wasteful, and was only possible when the dust was found 
r^^°rf°f in gravel. But much of the deposit was in quartz veins, 

and Laws. ^^^ ^^ ^^^ necessary to crush the stone and remove the 

metal by chemical process. Placer mining was practiced 
by individuals working singly or in small partnerships, and it required 
little capital. Quartz mining, however, required large enterprises. 
Companies were formed, machinery was installed, and the industry 
went into the stage of capitalistic production. The policy of the 
government toward the miners was very liberal. Mines were given 
to those who discovered or first claimed them on the same principle 
that homesteads were given free to farmers. A prospector might 
stake off any unclaimed surface and begin to dig. There were many 
such claims on every stream which seemed likely to yield gold, and 
the large majority were abandoned and lapsed. The country was 
wild, the miners were reckless, and the ownership of many claims was 
disputed. Most of the paying claims were eventually purchased by 
the mining companies. No part of the wealth taken from the earth 
was reserved by the government. No other nation has given away 
its rich gold and silver mines so recklessly. 

Hundreds of the adventurers in this broad country failed to find 
the precious metals, and becoming discouraged settled down as farmers, 

herdsmen, or hunters where the locality pleased them. 
Wvon^e Sometimes, also, members of the caravans that toiled 

westward to California lost heart and turned settlers. 
As the mining country developed, such agricultural communities found 

a market for food and cattle. Thus came into existence 
New Mexico ^|^g communities organized as Idaho Territory in 1863 
Arizona. ^"^ Wyoming Territory in 1868. The region of the old 

Spanish settlements was also explored by the searchers 
for gold. Thus New Mexico received a share of the immigration, 
although its stores of gold and silver were not so great as those in the 



SETTLEMENT OF UTAH 679 

regions to the northward ; and under this impulse Arizona Territory- 
was erected in 1863. Agriculture, however, promised little both here 
and in New Mexico. 

In 1874 General Custer was in the Black Hills seeking the hostile 
Sioux. Among his followers were some who had been miners and 
who recognized traces of gold. Investigation showed a 
considerable quantity of the metal in the southwest corner jj^jjo^g 
of what is now South Dakota. The discovery attracted 
attention, and miners came to begin operations, but the region was 
so remote from railroads that little progress was made for ten years. 
It was the earternmost phase of the gold-seeking movement which 
did so much for the development of the Rocky mountain region. 

Meanwhile the eastern part of Dakota had been reached by the 
wave of agricultural settlers. The territory had been erected in 
1 86 1. Soon after the war, settlements were made along the upper 
Missouri valley. The land was the home of the fierce Sioux, who 
resented the approach of white men. But between the miners of 
the Black Hills and the farmers around Yankton they could have no 
chance of ultimate success. Their appeal to arms was unsuccessful 
(see page 683), and a series of treaties were forced from them by which 
from 1876 on they ceded their lands, which the government threw 
open to settlement. In 1887 the people were so numerous that they 
applied for statehood, agreeing to divide their country into two 
states. North and South Dakota. Their request was granted in 1889. 

Utah alone of the Far West remains to be mentioned The region 
from the Wasatch Mountains to California was spoken of in 1845 as 
the "Great American Desert." Much of it was entirely arid, and the 
rest partly so. In the northern part, west of the mountains, was the 
Great Salt Lake and west of that the Salt Lake Desert. To this 
region, shunned alike by travelers and trappers, came Brigham Young 
and some Mormons in 1847. Some of the party wished to settle in 
the fertile California valleys, but the leader ordered otherwise. He 
desired to escape the intrusion of his opponents, and he knew it could 
not be done in California. "If the Gentiles," he said, "will let us 
alone for ten years, I'll ask no odds of them." His band was only 
the advanced guard of his whole church, who followed soon afterwards, 
settling wherever an oasis promised fertile soil. They quickly 
learned that the earth was very rich when watered by irrigation. In 
less than ten year? their grain fields and herds provided them with 
abundance. They learned how to conciliate the neighboring Indians, 
the fierce Utes, and from the name of that tribe came Utah, the name 
of the new settlement. In 1849 came the wagon trains bound to Cal- 
ifornia, breaking into the Mormons' coveted isolation ; but the caravans 
purchased supplies for the journey at good prices. Less than twenty 
years later came the Union Pacific railroad, and Utah was opened to 
the outside world. Now the "Gentiles," some of them apostates and 



68o 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FAR WEST 



many more actual settlers, became a large part of the population, 
and between them and the strongly organized church of the settlers 
arose many a conflict. An active propaganda brought converts and 
settlers from many parts of the world. The powerful Mormon hier- 
archy directed everything, religious, economic, and social. Polygamy 
also helped in the rapid increase of the population, but it brought 
down the condemnation of the American people generally. Thus, 
the territory, organized in 1850, was denied statehood for many 
years. It was not until after the church denounced the practice in 
1890 that congress began to think seriously of admitting Utah into 
the union.^ 

The Transcontinental Railroads 

The growth of the Far West was dependent upon railroads. As 
soon as we acquired California men began to talk of a railroad to the 
Pacific, but nothing definite was done. The civil war 
brought home to the government the exposed position of 
that region, and the result was two acts, 1862 and 1864, 
authorizing the construction of a transcontinental line. 
It was to be in two railroads, the Union Pacific, from the 
frontier to a point near Salt Lake, in Utah, and the Central Pacific, 
from Sacramento to connect with the Union Pacific. In aid of each 
division the government lent its bonds at the rate of $16,000 a mile 
for the part of the line that crossed the plains, $32,000 a mile for the 
part in the hill country, and $48,000 for the part in the mountains. 
The loan should be secured by a second mortgage on the property. 
Besides this, the roads were to have ten alternate sections on each side 
of the road within each mile of track and extending back twenty miles. 

1 The following table shows the development of the Far West from the earliest time to 
the present. 



The Union 
Pacific and 
the Central 
Pacific. 







1^ 


< 

Sco 


POPtTLATION 




1850 


1860 


1870 


1880 


1890 


1900 


1910 


Utah . 

Nevada 

Colorado 

Arizona 

Idaho . 

Montana 

Wyoming 

New Mexic 

Dakota 

North Dak 

South Dak 


. 

ota 
Dta 


1850 
1861 
1 861 
1863 
1863 
1864 
1868 
1850 
1861 


i8g6 
1864 
1876 
1912 
1890 
1889 
i8go 
1912 

1889 
1889 


11,380 
61,547 


40,273 
6,857 

34,277 

93,516 


86,786 
42,491 
39,864 

9,658 
14,999 
20,595 

9,118 
91,874 
14,181 


143,963 
62,266 

194,327 
40,440 
32,610 
39,159 
20,789 

119,565 

135,177 


207,905 
45,761 

412,198 
59,620 
84,385 

132,159 
60,705 

160,282 

190,983 
348,600 


270,749 
42,335 
539,700 
122,931 
161,772 
243,329 
92,531 
195,310 

319,146 
401,570 


373,351 
81,875 
799,024 
204,354 
325,594 
376,053 

154,145 
327,301 

577,056 
583,888 



THE RAILROADS TO THE PACIFIC 68 1 

The selection of the eastern terminus was preceded by much con- 
troversy. In the Middle West St. Louis and Chicago were the com- 
mercial competitors, and each wished to be on the main 
line to the Pacific. The former suggested that the road Rivalry 
begin at the western boundary of Kansas, connecting ^^tween 
with a proposed road from Kansas City to this beginning, g^,^^ °"*^ 
and as Kansas City was connected with St. Louis by an- Chicago, 
other road this would make nearly an air-line communica- 
tion from St. Louis to the junction in Utah. Chicago, on the other 
hand, was connected with the Missouri river by lines extended to 
Council Bluffs, Iowa, and desired the new road to start at Omaha, 
opposite their western end, to pass through the southern part of 
Nebraska and Wyoming straight to northern Utah. Each side pre- 
sented its claims to congress. Chicago had the support of the lake 
states, New York, and New England, all in more or less direct com- 
munication with the northern route. St. Louis would ordinarily 
rely on the South for support, but the South was not represented in 
congress in 1862, and the result was Chicago won, spite of the fact 
that her route was the longer of the two by nearly the length of Ne- 
braska. St. Louis's feelings were partially salved by a branch line 
to run from some place in Missouri to a junction point on the main 
line in southern Nebraska. It was because this compromise sought 
to unite the two plans that the road was called the Union Pacific. 
The Central Pacific was a California corporation, but congress gave 
it the same aid and privileges as the Union Pacific ; and concessions 
were also made to the connecting branches in Nebraska and Kansas. 
The land granted in aid of these roads was a total of 33,000,000 
acres, an area larger than the state of New York. The two main lines 
were completed in 1869. 

The discussion of these plans brought suggestions for several other 
routes. One was for the Northern Pacific from St. Paul or some 
point on Lake Superior through Dakota, Montana, Idaho, 
and Washington to Puget Sound on the Columbia river. ^^® 
It was pointed out that it would pass through a more pacific'^'^ 
fertile region than the route through Utah and Nevada, 
and that it could be carried over the Rockies less expensively. The 
projectors were able to get a charter in 1864. Bonds were not lent, 
but the road received lands amounting to more than 40,000,000 acres. 
It was not until 1870 that work actually began, and this beginning 
was interrupted by the panic of 1873. The road was reorganized in 
1875, and in 1883 it had reached the western slope of the Rocky 
Mountains, near Helena, Montana. It was not until ten years later 
that it completed a connection with Puget Sound. 

In 1866 congress gave a charter to the Atlantic and Pacific, to 
begin in Missouri and run through New Mexico to the 
Colorado river, thence to the Pacific. It was authorized ^^ °* ^' 



682 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FAR WEST 

to connect with the Southern Pacific, already incorporated by 
the state of California. From the earliest consideration of a trans- 
continental line a southern route uniting the lower Mis- 
Y\^ . J sissippi with California through Texas and New Mexico 
Pacific. ^^^ been urged, and Jefferson Davis, when secretary of 

war under Pierce, had given much effort to bring it into 
reality. But more important matters intervened, and during the 

war nobody urged a southern road to the Pacific. The 
V^^ return of peace brought a renewal of the plan, and the 

System. Atlantic and Pacific charter was a revival of the old idea, 

but with St. Louis instead of New Orleans for the eastern 
terminus. The proposition was not practicable, and the road as 

planned was not built. But the project was eventually 
V^^th combined with others, and the result was the Santa Fe 

Pacific. system. Meanwhile the Southern Pacific, of its own 

accord, acquiring lines through Texas, came at last to the 
Gulf, thus completing the fifth line from the Mississippi valley to the 

Pacific. Still a sixth was to be constructed, the Great 
NortSra* Northern, from Duluth, on Lake Superior, to Puget 

Sound. 
These roads were vital forces in the settlement of the Far West. 
They were built at vast cost, and it was predicted they would never 

pay expenses, for they were mostly in advance of the 
Conditions settlement of the country they penetrated. The earliest 
struction. invaded the homes of the Indians, and troops were needed 

to protect the construction gangs. Most of the engineers 
and many of the laborers had served in the civil war. They carried 
rifles to their work, and many a time dropped pick and spade to beat 
off the savages. But the iron bands they laid at length united East 
and West and heralded the advent of cities, farms, and common- 
wealths. 

Valuable as these roads were, it seems evident that the aid they 
received from the federal government was more liberal than was 

necessary. The bonds lent the Union and Central Pacific 
Evils of aggregated $55,000,000. Long stretches of the former 

^^(^vernmen ^^^^ ^^eTe built for less than the bonds the company got. 

When the roads reached the level plains of Utah, each com- 
pany rushed operations to get the largest possible part of the profit- 
paying mileage. Parallel roadbeds were actually constructed for 
miles, each company hoping to outstrip the other in laying the rails. 
The Central Pacific, in order to get the promised $48,000 a mile for 
construction through the mountains, asserted boldly that the Sierras 
came to within the neighborhood of Sacramento, and by means of a 
specially prepared map induced President Lincoln to decide that they 
came within 24 miles of that town. Issuing charters and amending 
them gave rise to much lobbying, and the impression was created 



THE INDIAN ALARMED 683 

that irregularities were practiced. The vast land grants especially 
seemed unwarranted. From 1850 to 1871 congress voted to railroads 
an acreage five times as large as that of Pennsylvania, to be actually 
granted as the roads were constructed. By 1902 less than two-thirds 
of this had been handed over to the roads. In 1890 it was enacted 
that lands reserved in fulfillment of promises to railroads not com- 
pleted should be subject to other bestowal. Important political 
movements grew out of the popular dissatisfaction with these power- 
ful agents in the industrial life of the Far West. 

Indian Wars 

The advent of the whites alarmed the Indian. He saw with in- 
creasing ill will the ordinary tokens of occupation. The wandering 
gold hunters were tolerated, unless they could be killed 
for their plunder, but after them came the mining towns. J^'^. 
The caravans winding across the country were robbed. Alarmed, 
but there was not concerted war against them, for they 
always passed through. After these came the railroads, and who 
could doubt their permanency ? Out of the Indian's fears came his 
hostility, manifesting itself in many acts of violence. Such acts led 
to reprisals by the whites, and thus was created a state of irritation 
which made war easy. 

The Indian's bitterest complaint was the destruction of game. The 
buffalo herds were his harvest fields, furnishing food and clothing, and 
through the sale of hides his chief source of ready money. 
He found them in numbers on the plains, and hunted Destruction 
yearly without visibly depleting the supply ; and smaller Game, 
game was abundant. When the white men appeared this 
vast food supply began to be exterminated. The gangs of railroaa 
builders subsisted on it, which was to be expected. Then came those 
who slew for sport, and others, far more wasteful, who slew for hides. 
In three years, 1872-1874, the loss was 4,500,000, two-thirds for 
the hides. In 186S vast herds of buffalo were seen from the windows 
of the Kansas Pacific railroad trains, and sometimes the engine must 
stop to allow them to cross the track. A few years later a traveler 
rarely saw a group of more than twenty. The government took no 
interest in this wanton waste of an important food supply, but to the 
Indian it meant suffering, and it aroused his sense of shame that his 
interests were ignored. 

In 1850 the important Indian tribes east of the Rocky mountains 
were the Sioux, in what is now the Dakotas, the Cheyennes, in the val- 
leys of the Yellowstone and North Platte, the Arapahoes, j^^^^^^^^ ^^ 
associated with the Cheyennes, the Crows, west of the the^xribes. 
Cheyennes and Arapahoes, and the Assiniboins, north of 
the Cheyennes and extending into British America. These were 



684 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FAR WEST 

chiefly in the great upper Missouri valley and blocked the ordinary 
routes to the Pacific. To insure their good will a treaty was made 
with them in 1851 at Fort Laramie. The senate did not ratify it, 
but the Indians thought it effective, and some features of it were 
executed. It secured peace for a time. South of these tribes, beyond 

the Arkansas, lived Comanches, Kiowas, and Apaches, 
Treaties ^-^j^ whom a treaty was made also, 1853. It allowed the 

whites to construct roads and pass peacefully along them, 
and promised the Indians an annuity of goods worth $18,000. Thus 
the relations between whites and Indians were maintained on a peace 
footing through the sixth decade of the century. 

The arrival of the gold hunters in the Montana region alarmed 
the southern Cheyennes, and trouble was feared. In 1861 a treaty 
was made by which these tribes, and the Arapahoes associated with 
them, accepted a reservation of 25,000 square miles in the southeastern 
part of Colorado, each tribe to have an annuity of $30,000 for fifteen 
years. This was followed by three years of peace, which were at last 
broken by the following incident. 

In April, 1864, a white man wholly unknown came to an American 
military camp within the reservation, saying Indians had taken his 

stock. Rumors of Indian depredations were continually 
War being circulated, and the troops on the plains were usually 

with the willing to reply sharply. In this case a lieutenant and 
Che'^^rmes ^^rty men were sent to disarm the alleged marauders, 
and They met a band, some of whose horses were claimed by 

Arapahoes. the complainant. The lieutenant ordered them to disarm ; 

they resisted for a while, and rode away with their arms 
in their hands. They were said to be Cheyennes, and the military 
authorities thought they ought to be punished. Next month Major 
Downing with a body of troops was sent against the Cheyennes. He 
surrounded a sleeping village, killed 26, wounded 30, and burned 
lodges and other property. It was an event which might mark the 
beginning of war. But the Indians desired peace, and although there 
was desultory fighting during the summer, they sent a messenger to the 
military commander asking for an agreement. He referred it to the 
governor of the territory of Colorado and gave the Indians protection 
in the meantime. Relying on his word, about 500 Indians, men, 
. , women, and children, gathered at Fort Lyon, where they 
Massacre"^ were attacked and slain most cruelly by a regiment of 

Colorado soldiers commanded by Colonel Chivington. 
Women were shot while praying for mercy, children had their brains 
dashed out, and men were tortured and mutilated. War now came 
in earnest, the southern Cheyennes and Arapahoes beginning a con- 
test which 8000 troops could not end for a year. Finally in October, 
1865, a treaty was made, by which the Indians were to have larger 
annuities and be moved to a place selected by the president. It 



GENERAL SHERMAN AND THE INDIANS 685 

satisfied neither party, but there was an interval of peace in Colorado 
and western Kansas. 

Next year trouble began in the north of the Far Western plain. 
The most popular route to the Montana gold fields ran through the 
land of the Sioux, by way of the Powder river valley, a 
region full of buffalo. The passing caravans killed the T?® ^f "ofifi, 
game or frightened it away. The Sioux protested, but jg^g^ 
with no result. Then they learned that garrisons were about 
to be established on the route, and in December, 1866, went on the war- 
path, the northern Cheyennes helping them. The whites retaliated 
mercilessly. The superintendent of an express company ordered his 
guards to shoot any Indian on sight. General Hancock, commanding 
the troops, attacked and pursued whatever band he met. The Sioux 
were well mounted and numerous. For two years they cut off travelers, 
fell on unprotected posts, annoyed the railroad builders, and raided 
the settlement relentlessly. It was the theory of the army that the 
red men would never be quiet until they were thoroughly beaten ; 
and Hancock pushed vigorously against a quick and active foe which 
always eluded him. 

Meanwhile, the Comanches and Apaches, in New Mexico and Ari- 
zona, showed signs of hostility. They had long scourged Mexico 
on both sides of the Rio Grand, and they willingly turned 
their hands against the new owners of the two territories. '^^^ Coman- 
General Carleton commanded in this quarter and gave Apaches, 
orders to hunt down the Indians, recognize no flag of truce, 
and clear the land for the whites. His severe policy tamed the wild 
Comanches and broke the spirit of the Apaches. 

In the East this policy of extermination created sympathy for the 
objects of it, and congress appointed a commission to visit the tribes, 
establish a firm peace, and colonize the Indians in a suit- 
able place in the Rocky mountains. The savages were The Indian 
generally tired of war, and treaties were made with the of°i™^'f^*°° 
Apaches, Comanches, Kiowas, Cheyennes, and Arapahoes. 1868. 
But Red Cloud, chief of the warring Sioux, would attend 
no council unless the garrisons were withdrawn from the Powder 
river. After months of negotiation he was given what he asked, and 
in 1868 the frontier was pacific, and the commission took up the second 
part of its duty, to devise a means of securing permanent peace. 
It proposed to erect a new Indian territory in the western part of 
what is now South Dakota, but the dissension of its own members 
defeated an agreement. The civilian part approved the proposed 
territory and were at first in the majority, but the officers on the com- 
mission, General Sherman leading them, favored severity. At last 
one civilian changed to the other side, and the report of the com- 
mission recommended that the recent treaties be amended and that 
the Indian bureau be placed in the war department. 



686 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FAR WEST 

The policy of conciliation was now checked, and the Indians again 
showed a bad spirit. At the same time, General Sheridan was put 

over the department of Missouri. None of that sym- 
^^^ pathy he showed for the freedmen in Louisiana now ap- 

^868^^^ ' peared in his attitude toward the Indians. The Cheyennes 

and Arapahoes had not received the annuities promised 
in the spring of 1868 by the recent treaty, nor had they been moved 
to a reservation, and meantime white settlers crowded into the Indian 
home. When General Sheridan visited the plains in 1868 they asked 
for a hearing, but he refused to meet them. He had heard and 
accepted many stories of their depredations, and was convinced 
they should be punished. In November, 1868, therefore, he marched 
against the Cheyennes and Arapahoes, then on the Washita, in the 

present state of Oklahoma. General Custer with a de- 
" Battle tachment surrounded a sleeping Cheyenne village and 

Washita." killed and captured nearly 300 men, women, and children. 

This stark way of dealing alarmed the Indians ; the 
Kiowas and Comanches, weak nations, came in and submitted, but 
the Cheyennes and Arapahoes fled northward. They did not escape, 
however, for Sheridan pursued, forced them to submit, and thus 
crushed resistance in the South. 

It was soon reopened in the North. A band of Piegans, a Blackfeet 
tribe in Montana, committed outrages and went to the British domain. 

They could not be punished, but Sheridan thought it 
Baker's would have a good effect to punish their kindred. The 

Piegans'!^ Montana authorities remonstrated lest the blow fall on 

the innocent. But the general had his way, and January 
23, 1870, Colonel Baker, under Sheridan's orders, surprised a Piegan 
encampment not charged with wrongdoing and killed 33 men, 90 
women, and 50 children, besides taking about 100 prisoners. That 
this action was needlessly barbarous cannot be doubted. It gave 
rise to a controversy between the military and Indian authorities. On 
one side it was charged that the Indian agents wished the Indians 
undisturbed because war interfered with the profits of the agents and 
the corrupt interests which fattened off the distribution of supplies. 

It was also held that the conciliating policy of the civilians 
Effect of encouraged the savages to defiance. On the other side 
CoSst!°^ it was charged that the army was brutal, and that its 

avowed policy was extermination. It seems that there 
was truth in each contention. It is certain that Sheridan's energy 
broke the defiance of the tribes. The young braves ceased to go on 
raids, the bands confined themselves to the reservations and hunted 
buffaloes where they could be found, and those warriors who had 
gone to the British possessions remained there or came back and sub- 
mitted. Sheridan's pacification bore fruit for many years. 



CAUSE OF THE WAR 687 

The Sioux War of 1876 

By the treaty of 1868 the Sioux were to Hve in the west of what is 
now South Dakota. They were given hunting privileges in the 
region west of this reservation, and it was agreed that no 
white man should settle in, or pass through, this hunting Invasion of 
range. Spite of the restriction, white prospectors appeared L^. ^*^ 
there. Here were the Black Hills, rich in gold, to which whites. 
General Custer, in 1874, conducted an exploring expedi- 
tion. The explorers reported that the country contained gold and 
valuable timber, and adventurers began at once to visit it. The 
Indians were dissatisfied, and protested in a meeting at the 
Red Cloud agency. They were assured that soldiers would remove 
the intruders. The miners were, indeed, warned to leave, and prom- 
ised to go; but if they kept their word, they were soon back. They 
charged that the Indians stole their stock, which may have been the 
fact. The hunting range abounded in game, and some Sioux tribes 
spent most of their time there. They were less tractable than their 
brethren on the reservation, and felt strong enough to defy the govern- 
ment. They had a capable and independent-minded leader. Sitting 
Bull, who was daring enough to challenge the American troops in 
battle. The people of Montana looked longingly at the rich Black 
Hills, and hoped for an occasion to take them. 

General Sheridan, apparently ignorant that the treaty of 1868 al- 
lowed the Sioux to hunt on the range, determined to punish the wan- 
derers, and ordered all the Sioux to return to their reservation by 
January 31, 1876. To this the offenders replied that they 
were hunting buffalo and would return in the spring. This Sheridan's 
was defiance, and in February General Crook took the field, jg-^^ ' 
At the same time the Sioux on the reservation were or- 
dered to give up their arms and ponies. This alarmed the young 
braves there, who escaped to the the open country as they could, the 
war spirit hot in them. It was charged that the ponies and arms 
actually surrendered were never restored, and that the ponies were 
often sold by the authorities as low as $5 each. The war which 
followed was fiercely fought by the Indians, probably on account 
of the superior ability of Sitting Bull. 

Three columns of white troops were sent out, commanded respec- 
tively by Generals Crook, Terry, and Gibbon. Crook marched first, 
in a winter campaign. He encountered a band under 
Crazy Horse, burned their lodges and took their horses. Campaign 
But the horses were retaken and the cold weather forced ^^rUkV * 
the soldiers to return to camp. In the spring campaigning sioux. 
was resumed. The Sioux, aided by the northern Chey- 
ennes, numbered five or six thousand. In June a portion of them 
fought a drawn battle with Crook, and then by a rapid movement 



688 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FAR WEST 

united all their forces to attack Terry and Gibbon, who were also 
united. Terry, not knowing the size of the force threatening him, 
sent Custer with 600 cavalry to scatter and pursue it. He found 
the Indians commanded by Sitting Bull near the junction of the Big 
Horn and the Little Big Horn in southern Montana. They were 

about to retreat when they observed the weakness of 
f-*T*B-^*^^ Custer's force and quickly prepared for battle. Con- 
Horn. '^ cealing most of their forces in ravines, they displayed the 

rest on a ridge and awaited attack. Custer sent one 
portion of his command to strike their right, another to fall on their 
left, while he with 260 men charged their center. Before he reached 
the ridge the concealed host revealed itself and opened fire, and he 
was instantly battling for life. At few of the recent encounters when 
the whites surprised and wiped out sleeping villages had quarter been 
given, and in many cases women and children had been slain by the 
soldiers. This was done when Custer fell on the Cheyenne village 
at the battle of the Washita. It is not to be expected that the Indians 
should have shown less mercy now that Custer and his brave band 
rushed on the ridge filled ^^■ith infuriated Cheyennes and Sioux. Not 

a soul sur\'ived of the 260 men who followed him up the 
C^*tr° ridge. The end probably came quickly, for only 52 of 

the Indians were killed before the rifles of the whites ceased 
to fire. The dead were mutilated — all but Custer, whose impressive 
figure and countenance won respect from his enemy. One mingles his 
admiration for the gallantry of the heroic Americans with his sym- 
pathy for the Indians, whom a hundred wrongs had nerved for the signal 
vengeance which chance threw into their hands. 

But the battle of the Little Big Horn only prolonged the war, 
Sitting Bull remained at large, declaring he would fight until the claim 

to the Black Hills was allowed. In August, 1876, congress 
The Sioux created the Sioux commission in the interest of peace. 
jg_g^ * ' They visited the reservation and heard the Indian's story 

of his wrongs. It was a pathetic story. One chief said : 
"If you white men had a country which was very valuable, which had 
always belonged to your people, and which the Great Father had 
promised should be yours forever, and men of another race came to 
take it away by force, what would your people do? Would they 
fight?" Another said bitterly: "Tell your people that since the 
Great Father promised that we should never be removed we have been 
moved five times ... I think you had better put the Indians on wheels 
and you can run them about wherever you wish." The commission 
reported that the wrongs of the Indians "were portrayed in colors so 
vivid and language so terse that admiration and surprise would have 
kept us silent, had not shame and humiliation done so." All the 
reservation Sioux were ready for peace. They gave up their hunting 
range in exchange for annuities. They were promised schools for 



A PATHETIC INCIDENT 68g 

their children and supplies of food. And those who would remove to 
Indian territory were to have aid in moving and lands in severalty 
when they arrived. But the Sioux were opposed to removal and the 
point was not pressed. 

Sitting Bull's bands did not join in this settlement, but fled to British 
Arr-^rica, suffering many hardships. In 1879 they agreed to return 
to the reservation if they were granted amnesty. They came back, 
men, women, and children, in great destitution, and Sitting Bull, 
defeated but proud, accepted the tame life of the reservation. In 
1890 the Sioux were excited by the preaching of an Indian Messiah, 
and it was thought prudent to arrest the man most likely to encourage 
the movement. He resisted, and was slain with his son. Sitting Bull 
was the last great leader of his race, and his defeat meant that the 
Indian must bow his neck to the yoke of civilization. 

We shall see something of the Indian's situation and his persistence 
— as well as something of the spirit in which the white men imposed 
the yoke — from the story of Dull Knife's Band, north 
Cheyennes. In 1877 they were taken to Indian territory. X^f, ^*^-r ?^ 
They had intermarried with the Sioux, and farming in the gand. 
South was disagreeable to them. They asked permission 
to return, but it was the purpose of the government to force them into 
civilization, and the request was refused. Then they started north- 
ward to the number of 300. They were pursued, fought off the troops 
for 480 miles, and were taken prisoners in northern Nebraska. When 
told they would be sent southward they refused to go. They were 
imprisoned in a fort and left without food, water, blankets, or fire — 
although it was January — in hope of breaking their spirits. After 
five days they leaped through the windows of the prison, fired at the 
guard, and rushed toward the hills carrying their women and children 
with them. They were hunted into the hills and many of them killed 
before they would surrender. The soldiers would now have given 
them up through compassion, but General Crook ordered the chase con- 
tinued. Fresh troops were sent out, and the fugitives were surrounded 
and forced to a last stand, fighting with desperation. When their 
ammunition was exhausted they struck with knives until there only 
remained a pile of motionless bodies. Out of the pile the soldiers 
took three squaws unhurt, five wounded squaws, and one wounded 
buck. These only survived of the 300 who began the journey. The 
incident shows how much the tribes of the Far West were demoralized 
by the army's policy. They had passed below the stage of strong 
tribal resistance. Twelve years of resistance had broken their power 
and reduced them to a series of weak and isolated groups, dependent" 
on the bounty doled out at the agencies. 



2Y 



690 THE DEVELOP:MEX'r OF THE FAR WEST 

A New Indl\x Policy 

The Sioux war and the report of the commission of 1S76 called popu- 
lar attention to the situation of the Indians, and much was said and 

written on the subject. In iSSo the Protestant Episcopal 
Opinion church urged congress to take steps to protect the ri~h<-s 

Changing. ^^ the red men. Other activities followed, and thus it 

came about that the government's Indian policy was at 
last remodeled. The purport of the reform was to break down the 
tribal system and to induce the Indians to become citizens. This 
process had been aided, though not intentionally so, in 1S71, when 
congress ordered that in the future no tribe should be "recognized 

as an independent nation . . . with whom the United 
No More States may contrac: by treaty." This language was 
Treaties slightly inadequate, since Marshall held in 1S31 tliat an 
1871. ' Indian tribe was a "dependent nation"; but it indicated 

that the go\-ernment felt strong enough to take the tribes 
directly in hand, and this was a step toward tribal dissolution. 

The Dawes act, 1SS7, marked the culmination of the impulse for 
reform in an attempt to secure for the Indians ownership of land in 

severalty. Holdings had been allotted before this, but not 
Act, 1887. ^y general law. It was now pro\ided that allotments 

be made to such indiNnduals as the president might desig- 
nate, to be held in trust for twenty-five years, at the end of which time 
the holder was to have full title with the right to sell. When an Indian 
received such an allotment in trust he was to become a citizen, with full 
personal, property, and political rights. The lands were given in 
trust lest he sell them wastefuUy, and having the ballot was supposed to 
be educati\"e. Experience showed some features of the Dawes act 
unwise. The Indian became discouraged on account of the long period 
he must wait before he had complete title, and this bore hard on the 
capable individuals. On the other hand, the majority of the men 
were not ready for citizenship, and showed it by their exercise of the 
suffrage. They fell into the hands of ringsters, who took them to the 
polls in herds and rewarded them for their votes ^^•ith dinners. ]\Iore- 
over, as a citizen he had the right of a citizen to buy liquor, and the 
Dawes act, on that account, increased drunkenness. The law clearly 
needed amending. 

This was done in the Eurke act, 1006, which provided: [i^ that 
an Indian should not become a citizen when he received land in trust, 

but only when he had full title ; {2) that individuals 
Act, 1006. should have full ownership of the land when the president 

thought them worthy of it ; and (3) intoxicating liquors 
must not be given or sold to Indians not citizens. The law was not 
retroactive. Under it S24S allotments in fee were made between iqo6 
and 191 1, and the commissioner of Indian affairs reported that the 



EDUCATION, LAND, AND CITIZENSHIP 691 

tendency was for the Indians who got such lands to sell them, fre- 
quently to spend the money aimlessly. In 191 1 there were under 
government supervision 1 22, 7<So unallotted Indians, 88,182 holding 
trust patents, and 76,023 holding |)atents in fee, a total of 296,320 
Indians under government supervision. In that year the total number 
of Indians reported for the whole country, some of whom were not 
under supervision, was 322,715 ; and of these 28,315 lived east of the 
Mississippi. 

Of late years the government has made extensive efforts to educate 
the Indians. This policy was inaugurated in 1830, when $10,000 was 
ai)pr()])riated for this purpose. Jiut for many years the amount 
granted was small In 1870 it was only $100,000, but in 191 1 it 
was $3,757,495, which was expended on 39,800 pupils. For many 
years money was given to mission schools, many of which were con- 
ducted by Roman Catholics. This provoked controversy, with the 
result that in 1896 it was ordered that no more money be appro- 
priated to church schools. In recent years there is a growing opinion 
that the large amount of money spent on the Indians has weakened 
them in several important respects. 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

On the history of the Far West see : Bancroft, History of Nevada, Colorado, and 
Wyoming (1890) ; Il)id., History of Arizona and New Mexico (1889) ; Il^id., History 
of Utah (1889) ; Ibid., History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana (1890) ; Jouciiiin 
MiWcr, History of Montana (1874); Dimsdalc, Vigilanls of Montana (1866); Snook, 
Colorado History and Government (1904), for schools; Sumner, Equal Suffrage in 
Colorado (1900); Ladd, .SVorv of Neiv Mexico (1891), a valuable book; Raine, 
Wyoming, a Story of the Outdoor West (1909) ; and Angel, edr., History of Nevada 
(1881). 

For early descrijjlions see: Bayard Taylor, Colorado, a Summer Trip (1867); 
Bowles, Colorado, its Parks and Mountains (1869) ; Fosset, Colorado (1880) ; Rus- 
ling, Across America (1784) ; and Hinton, Handbook to Arizona (1878). 

On early life see: Dodge, Plains of the Great West (1877); Talbot, My People 
of the Plains (1906); Tnman and Cody, The Great Salt Lake Trail (1898); 
Inman, The Old Santa Fe Trail (1898) ; Chittenden, edr., Life and Travels of Father 
deSmet, 4 vols. (1905) ; Lummis, Land of Poco Tiempo (1893) ; Drannan, Thirty-one 
Years on the Plains (1900) ; Porter, The West from the Census of 1880 (1882) ; Rae, 
Westward by Rail (1874); Bowles, Our New West (1869); Bracket, Our Western 
Empire (1882); McCoy, Cattle Trade of the West and Southwest (1874); Shinn, 
Story of the Mine (1896) ; Ibid., Land Laws of Mining Districts (Johns Hopkins 
Studies, 1884); iind Reminiscences of Senator Stewart (1908); Wright (Don de 
Quille, pseud.), History of the Big Bonanza (1876). 

On Indian wars see: Many})enny, Our Indian Wars (1880); Forsyth, Thrilling 
Days of Army Life (1902); Barrett, edr., Geroiiimo's Story of his Life (1907); 
Sheridan, Personal Memoirs, 2 vols. (1902) ; Miles, Personal Recollections and 
Observations (1896) ; Custer, My Life on the Plains (1:874) ; and Mrs. Custer, Tent- 
ing on the Plains (1884). On recent phases of the Indian see : Jackson, A Century 
of Dishonor (1885), overdrawn; Leupp, The Indian and his Problem (1910) ; and 
Humphrey, The Indian Dispossessed (1906). 

On Western economic londitions see : Coman, Economic Beginnings of the Far 
West (191 2) ; Newell, Irrigation in the United Stales (1906) ; Price, Irrigated Lands 



692 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FAR WEST 

in the United States, Canada, and Mexico (1909) ; and Smythe, Conquest of Arid 
America (1905). 

On transcontinental railroads see : Davis, The Union Pacific Railway (1894) ; 
Smalley, History of the Northern Pacific Railroad (1883) ; Raper, Railway Trans- 
portation (191 2), based on Hadley's well-known book ; Adams, Railroads, their Origin 
and Problems (1888) ; and Johnson, American Railway Transportation (1908). 

For Independent Reading 

Dodge, Plains of the Great West and their Inhabitants (1877) ; Lummis, Land of 
Poco Tiempo (1893) ; Warman, Story of the Railroad (1903) ; Custer, My Life on the 
Plains (1874) ; Hayes, New Colorado and the Santa Fe Trail (1881) ; Lummis, Som.e 
Strange Corners of our Country (1892) ; and Shinn, Story of the Mine (1896). 



CHAPTER XXXIII 

POLITICAL AND FINANCIAL READJUSTMENT, 1877-1881 
Hayes and his Party 

When President Hayes withdrew the troops from the South our 
history entered a new phase. The conflict against slavery came to 
a definite end and political and economic matters became 
paramount. Theoretical discussion became less important ^^y. 
in congress and more time was given to propositions to condhions. 
reform government and to promote industry. Political 
leaders were now less conspicuous than formerly, parties became more 
machine-like, and captains of politics directed them in much the same 
spirit that captains of trade managed industry. The wide growth of 
corporations brought concentrated capital into intimate relation with 
lawmaking, it seemed to bring a lowering of morality of the law- 
makers, and this brought an increased watchfulness by the people to 
see that their rights were not sacrificed through the designs of heedless 
industrial agents. The great reform movements since 1877 have been 
connected with the civil service, the protection of industry, the regula- 
tion of railways, and the restraints of trusts : they have all been phases 
of a greater conflict in which the American democracy has been seeking 
to establish its control over every force within its domain. 

Rutherford B. Hayes, whose administration ushered in this era of 
striving, was esteemed by his friends a good man who would do no 
harm. He was quiet in deportment, reliable, religious, 
truthful, serious, and straightforward. He was one of ^^^®^^^®°* 
those public men who are put forward to save the party 
when probity must undo the mischief that recklessness has worked. 
It was on this account he became governor of Ohio, and on this ac- 
count he was called upon to redeem the folly of the politicians who 
surrounded Grant. In office he found himself confronted by the same 
graceless group. It was a surprise to them and to the country that 
he refused to be a nonentity and tried to improve the situation before 
him. 

Hayes was a party man, but back of him were the independents. 
They grew out of the liberal republican organization of 1872. De- 
feated in that year, and without hope of setting the stand- 
ards for democratic conduct, they remained a balance be- gndents 
tween the two other parties. William Cullen Bryant, Carl 
Schurz, and George William Curtis made excellent leaders, and the 

693 



694 POLITICAL AND FINANCIAL READJUSTMENT 

large number of literary men in the group who aided them gave the 
faction an influence beyond its voting strength. It had much sym- 
pathy for Tilden because of his opposition to Tammany and the 
New York canal ring, but looked at him askance in the presidential 
contest because he would not openly declare for civil service reform. 
Hayes supported that measure and had their approval in his long 
fight against the spoilsmen in his own party. They opposed the 
attempt to nominate Grant for a third term in iS8o, and voted for 
Garfield, who defeated Grant in the nominating convention. Four 
years later they found a favored leader in Grover Cleveland, and were 
the deciding factor in his election. He did not always please them, 
but he retained their admiration until his retirement from public 
service. The success of civil service reform took away their best 
bond of life, but they reappeared in igoo as a weakened force in oppo- 
sition to the policy of expansion. The passing of the older leaders 
has obscured the activity o^ the movement, but it survives in a 
growing habit of independent voting. 

In the make-up of the cabinet President Hayes paid due regard 
to the conditions before him. He avoided the factional quarrel be- 
tween Conkling and Blaine and pleased New York by 
making Evarts, of that state, secretary of state. Over the 
treasury he placed John Sherman, of Ohio, who since 1859 had served 
either on the house committee of ways and means or the senate 
finance committee and was acquainted with the intimate history 
of the finances from the beginning of the civil war. Sherman op^^osed 
McCuUoch's plans for redeeming the legal tenders but favored 
the resumption law of 1875 and supported Hayes's sound money can- 
vass in Ohio. This did not quite take away the nervousness of the 
East at the appointment. It feared lest he should favor the payment 
of bonds in greenbacks. On the other hand, it was an advantage to 
have a secretary who understood the wishes of the West and had its 
confidence. 

The other members of the cabinet were George W. McCrary, of 
Iowa, secretary of war ; Richard W. Thompson, of Indiana, secretary 
of the navy ; Charles Devens, of Massachusetts, attorney-general ; 
David M. Key, of Tennessee, postmaster-general ; and Carl Schurz, of 
Missouri, secretary of the interior. Schurz was a liberal republican 
in 1872, and Key was an ex-confederate soldier: their choice indi- 
cated Hayes's spirit of conciliation. 

It also indicated the president's purpose to act for himself. Much 
to the disappointment of the party leaders he quickly took the Southern 
question into his own hands. He conferred in Washing- 
the^South ^^^ with Chamberlain and Hampton, the rival claimants 
for the South Carolina governorship, and announced that 
he would withdraw the troops from the Columbia statehouse. He 
would not longer use them to protect one side in a state quarrel. 



THE REPUBLICANS DIVIDED 695 

Chamberlain must rely on his own resources. As the whites were all 
for Hampton and his opponent dared not arm the negroes, the with- 
drawal of the troops left the democrats in power. He dealt with 
Louisiana in the same way. A commission he sent thither to investi- 
gate reported that the republican claimant was kept in office only 
by the use of troops : these were withdrawn, and Nicholls, the demo- 
crat, took the power of governor supported by a democratic legisla- 
ture. Chamberlain was soon among the discontented ones, but in 
1901 he said : "If the canvass of 1876 had resulted in the success of 
the republican party [in South Carolina] that party could not, for 
want of materials, even when aided by the democratic minority, have 
given a pure or competent administration." John Sherman expressed 
Hayes's view in saying: "The president is not made the judge of 
who is elected governor of a state, and an attempt to exercise such a 
power would be a plain act of usurpation." 

Hayes's action was supported by his cabinet and by liberal-minded 
republicans ; but it disappointed the group of politicians who domi- 
nated the party under Grant. Men like Morton, Simon 
Cameron, and Zach Chandler, the political heirs of Thad " ^^^^"„ 
Stevens and Benjamin Butler, were chagrined at the ^^^ ^ 
abandonment of the Southern policy for which so much "stalwarts." 
had been done. They expressed open contempt for the 
president and the independents and dubbed them " half-breeds." 
They themselves were called " stalwarts." The two names were freely 
used for the next three years, and the rivalry between the factions 
became bitter. The real bone of contention was power. "The men 
who saved the union should govern it," said Blaine. He had raised 
the Southern issue in 1876 and was disappointed at the quiet manner 
in which the president now ignored it. But as time passed, and 
public opinion came to Hayes, Blaine left the " stalwarts." He was 
probably much influenced by the support which they received from 
Conkling, his steady enemy. 

Course of the Democrats 

The democrats benefited by Hayes's Southern policy but loved 
him none the more on account of it. To them he was a 
usurper and a republican, and withdrawing the troops Measure/ 
was an act of necessity, not of grace. They attempted 
two means of strengthening themselves before the country in antici- 
pation of 1880. 

The first was to investigate the election of 1876. The democratic 
house appointed a committee for this purpose, the majority reporting 
for Tilden and the minority for Hayes. The house could not unmake 
a president, but it hoped to uncover facts which would convince the 
country that Tilden was the victim of bad practices, and through 



696 POLITICAL AND FINANCIAL READJUSTMENT 

this means to secure his election next time as a vindication. Their 

hopes were defeated by the republican senate, whose committee on 

privileges and elections investigated one of the many 

1. Investi- charges that were made in reference to the election. In 
Itectfon of ^^^^ ^'^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ democrats offered $8000 for an elec- 
1876. toral vote in Oregon. By a subpoena the committee got 

possession of 30,000 cipher telegrams sent by both parties 
in the contest. Before they were returned to the telegraph company 
the important republican dispatches were destroyed and copies were 
made of certain democratic dispatches, which were soon afterwards pub- 
lished in the New York Tribune. They contained corrupt propositions 
to Tilden. He showed satisfactorily that he countenanced none of 
them, that they were made unsought by him, and that they were not 
communicated to him. The calmer portion of the people were 
satisfied, but party prejudice was high, and the incident at least took 
the edge off the plan for Tilden 's vindication. 

A more successful matter was the attempt to repeal the federal 

election laws. By several enactments federal authority was extended 

over elections, supervisors were appointed, federal judges 

2. Repeal of ^^j^^ marshals took jurisdiction over cases concerning the 
Laws. right to vote, and troops might be used to execute their 

judgment. The system bore hard on the democrats in 
the South and in New York, where a supervisor named Davenport 
had arrested many persons, mostly democrats, because their naturali- 
zation papers were said to be irregular. The courts decided against 
Davenport, but he was not punished. The democrats could not re- 
move him, since he was appointed by the president. They struck at 
the system instead, aiming first at the use of troops. If this were 
forbidden, the system would be crippled, since the federal court had 
no constabulary to give quick effect to its decrees. They did not 
control the senate and must do what they did in the house. 

In 1877, in the last short session of Grant's administration, they 
amended the army appropriation bill by forbidding the use of troops 

at elections. The senate refused to concur, the house 
Filibuster stood for its point, and the appropriation bill failed. In 

the succeeding June the army was without pay, and 
Hayes had to call an extra session in October to vote supplies. The 
democrats waived their power for the time and allowed money to be 
granted, but in the regular session, which came in December, they 
returned to their position. The army, they said, could be used con- 
stitutionally only "to execute the laws of the Union, to suppress 
insurrection, and repel invasion"; and its use at elections was un- 
constitutional and dangerous to liberty. They were unquestionably 
in accord with the early spirit of the government. They had popular 
support, and rather than again imperil the army appropriation bill 
the senate gave way. June 18, 1878, it was enacted that troops be 



DEMAND FOR INFLATION 697 

no longer used in elections. This success was in keeping with the 
president's liberal treatment of the South. It left that section still 
freer to manage its own affairs. It was, also, a step in check of cen- 
tralization. 

In 1878 the democrats elected all but four of the 106 Southern 
representatives, and the senate contained thirty men formerly con- 
nected with the confederacy. In this respect they profited 
by the recent removal of disability imposed on ex-con- oftgig" 
federates. The party controlled the senate by eight votes 
and had 148 in the house to 130 republicans and 15 greenbackers. 
They felt able to demand the repeal of the last features of the federal 
election laws. They again resorted to "riders," placing them on the 
appropriation bills to forbid the use of funds paying election super- 
visors or marshals who were concerned in elections. Hayes vetoed 
the bills, and the houses could not pass them over his veto. They 
then passed a bill repealing the election laws outright. It was vetoed, 
and congress could not carry it over the veto. The democrats hoped 
the people would approve their position in 1880, but other forces 
were in play which were to take the election of that year out of their 
hands. 

The Bland- Allison Silver Coinage Law 

While the republicans quarreled with Hayes over his Southern 
policy and received the democratic onslaught on the federal election 
laws, the country experienced the first of several waves of 
agitation for the free coinage of silver. The movement rj^ediTr" 
was connected with the hard times of the years after the 
panic of 1873, during which the prices of both grain and cotton fell 
to points lower than were known since the war. The West had bor- 
rowed money to develop its farming resources and the South to repair 
the waste of war. Both sections were against lenders in the East 
and opposed the redemption of the legal tenders. Accustomed to the 
chaotic Western and Southwestern ante-bellum bank notes and the 
depreciated war currency they now found a perfectly satisfactory 
money in the greenbacks, only slightly below par. They thought 
business would improve if there were more, and not less, of them. 
This feeling was strong in both parties in the West and South. 

Moderate inflationists remained in the old parties, but extreme 
men in 1875 began to secede, denouncing both organizations as being 
bound to the bondholders. They openly advocated fiat 
money ; and in a national convention at Indianapolis in ^ 
1876 they nominated Peter Cooper of New York for presi- party, 1876. 
dent, declared for the repeal of the resumption act of 1875, 
demanded the issue of legal tender notes bearing interest at 3.65 
per cent in which the maturing bonds should be paid, and pronounced 
the sale of gold bonds to foreigners an enslavement of the people to 



698 POLITICAL AND FINANCIAL READJUSTMENT 

alien taskmasters. They also protested against selling bonds for 
silver for fractional currency as an action beneficial to the owners of 
silver mines but burdensome to the people. This allusion to the 
mine owners derives peculiar interest from the subsequent con- 
nection of that class with the free silver movement. The green- 
back party cast 81,737 votes in 1876, and of these 53,503 came 
from Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, and Kansas. In this elec- 
tion they chose no member of congress. 

The theories of the greenbackers were too extreme, and although 
they had a popular vote of 308,578 in 1880, the movement was never 

formidable. Its greatest impression was made in the con- 
Decline gressional elections of 1878 when it cast a million votes 

and elected 15 members of the house. In 1884 it gave 
173,370 votes for Benjamin F. Butler, their candidate for president. 
The moderate inflationists were far more numerous. They rejected 
fiat money and sought to increase the volume of the currency through 
free coinage of silver. 

The silver movement has had three periods of agitation, one in the 
Bland-Allison bill of 1878, another in the Sherman silver law of 1890, 

and still another in the Bryan campaign of 1896. The 
Origin gj.gj. ^j.Qgg [^ j-}^g following manner : 

Coinage. ^ ^^^ ^^ ^^37 provided for the free and unlimited coin- 

age of silver dollars containing 41 2^ grains of standard 
silver. For many years thereafter very little silver was mined in the 
country, and from 1789 to 1873 barely $8,000,000 was coined. At the 
latter date the bullion in a dollar was worth 102 cents, and none was 
offered for coinage. Probably for this reason in revising the coinage 
laws in an act of 1873 congress said nothing about coining standard 
silver dollars, although a trade dollar of heavier weight was ordered 
for use in the Orient. This aroused no interest at the time, and many 
congressmen asserted afterwards that it was done without their 
knowledge. But it was known to others, and there was no justifica- 
tion for those who later called it "the crime of 1873." ^^ the same 
year Germany adopted the gold standard and began to sell her silver 
coins as bullion. In the same year, also, very rich silver mines were 
opened in Nevada. The price of silver began to fall. In 1874 the 
bullion in a dollar was for the first time in thirty years worth less 
than a hundred cents. The mine owners were disappointed when 
they learned of the recent legislation, pronounced it dark and sinister, 
and asked for remonetization. Their demand fitted in with the 
general Western desire for more money. From then until the collapse 
of the free silver movement they were important but designedly in- 
conspicuous partners in the agitation. 

Free coinage was popular in both parties in the South and West. 
It manifested itself in several bills in congress early in 1876. None 
of them passed, but the popularity of the cause impressed itself on 



GOLD AT PAR 699 

the representatives in the elections of that year, and it had a strong 
hold on the new congress. It found, in the house, also, a persistent 
and capable leader in Richard P. Bland, a democrat from 
Missouri. His earnest fight for silver won him the nick- p^ggg^ 
name of "Silver Dollar Dick." In the extra session of 
October, 1877, he introduced the "Bland Bill," proposing the free 
and unlimited coinage of silver dollars weighing 41 2| grains, at the 
ratio with gold of 15.62 to i, silver bullion then selling at 90. Under 
the rule of the previous question the bill was forced through the house 
without debate by a vote of 164 to 34. The democrats supported it 
as a party measure, and Western republicans dared not oppose it. 
The republican senate feared to reject it outright, and offered a com- 
promise which the house accepted thinking that it was the best 
they could do for silver. It was proposed by Allison, of Iowa, and 
omitted free and unlimited coinage, but ordered the secretary of the 
treasury to buy each month for coinage into silver dollars, exclusive 
of coinage already issued, from two to four million dollars of silver, 
provided the amount invested in silver at one time be not more than 
$5,000,000. Bland yielded reluctantly, and gave notice he would 
continue the battle for free silver. If he could not get it, he said, 
he would favor issuing "paper money enough to stuff down the bond- 
holders until they are sick." The act passed in 1878. Before Bland 
could renew the fight, revived prosperity withered his hopes, and his 
plan was laid away until a more favorable time. 

Resumption of Specie Payment 

The act of 1875 to authorize resumption was passed by a group of 
repudiated representatives who had nothing to hope and nothing to 
fear from their constituents. It has been called a "death- 
bed repentance of the republican party. " It was, in fact, ^^^0™^*'°° 
better than existing political conditions warranted. The pushed, 
democrats denounced the law and carried a bill through 
the house to repeal it. But the senate blocked the attempt, and Sec- 
retary Sherman proceeded with his plans for resumption. Through- 
out a part of 1877 and all of 1878 he gradually sold bonds for gold 
until he had on hand $114,000,000 of the precious stuff, $95,500,000 
of which came from bond sales. Meantime, the price of gold fell, 
and December 17, 1878, it was at par for the first time since 1861. 
The large banks aided the operation by abandoning "gold deposits." 
By getting the sub-treasury admitted to the New York clearing house 
Secretary Sherman was able to settle balances without the use of 
large quantities of gold. All this strengthened public confidence, 
and resumption was actually accomplished on New Year's day with- 
out the slightest difficulty. 



.700 POLITICAL AND FINANCIAL READJUSTMENT 

To the general public the affair was eminently successful, but 
experienced observers saw that grave danger was still ahead. Could 

resumption be maintained ? The year opened with busi- 
Maintained? ^^^^ exceedingly bad. Immense foreign wheat crops had 

put the price so low that the large American crop of 1878 
was marketed at ruinous prices. The market for cotton, iron, and 
nearly every other product was depressed. The low price of wheat 
in Europe made it seem certain that we should send little abroad 
throughout the winter and spring. Low prices abroad gave a check 
to business, and it was to be expected that some of the many American 
bonds recently bought there would be resold on this side. With 
light exports ruling we should likely have to send gold abroad to pay 
the balance of trade, and with this extra demand the stock of the 
precious coin in the channels of trade would be so depleted that in- 
roads must surely be made on the government's hoard. To get this 
gold was easy enough : the country was full of legal tenders which 
must now be cashed as presented. Of course, no one would send 
these notes abroad in settlement of accounts. The secretary of the 
treasury knew this situation thoroughly, and week after week watched 
it with great anxiety. The spring passed safely, but in the second 
week in June, $1,250,000, taken directly from the treasury vaults, 
was sent abroad. Was it the beginning of the long-expected disaster ? 
Three months must pass before exports would again be large, and if 
during this period the same amount went out weekly, further bond 
sales alone could preserve resumption. 

From this threatening situation we were saved by the luckiest 

possible event. A backward spring reduced the British 
FaUure ^^°P prospects, wheat rose in price, and foreigners began 

in Europe. ^^ call for the large surplus we had carried over from the 

preceding harvest. The balance of trade turned in our 
favor, exchange fell, and our gold remained with us. 

But this was not the whole story. Cold rains continued in the 
British Isles during the summer, blight appeared, and crops yielded 

less than half the usual quantity. On the continent 
YeM°°f '^ similar but less distressful conditions lowered production to 
Prosperity, eighty-five per cent of that of normal years. While famine 

conditions thus threatened in Europe, America had un- 
usually fine weather, an acreage in wheat 500,000 acres larger than in 
1878, and a total harvest exceeding that of any preceding year. As 
Americans saw this vast supply coming to maturity they gave them- 
selves up to the gloomiest thoughts. The first intimations of con- 
ditions abroad did not reassure them, for they felt their own surplus 
would more than overcome Europe's shortage. But the realization of 
the foreign calamity drove away their dismay. Prices rose forty 
cents a bushel in six weeks, and in September three and a half times as 
much wheat went to Europe as in the same month, 1878. This year 



GOOD TIMES AND POLITICS 701 

foreign production generally was bad, and Indian corn and American 
meat were also called for to a larger extent than before. As though 
Providence would give equal benefits to all parts of the country, there 
was this year a failure in the cotton crop of India, and American 
cotton rose in consequence. The completion of a pipe line from the 
Pennsylvania oil wells to the coast in the same year brought an increase 
of 2,000,000 barrels in petroleum exports. Far less of stimulus than 
that which came from these several fields of activity would have 
placed business generally in excellent condition. As it was, 1879 
was a wonder year in our industrial history. 

With hard times went political discontent. Inflation was no 
longer popular in the West and South, and specie payment was secure. 
Secretary Sherman saw his gold reserve grow from 
$120,000,000 at the end of June to $157,000,000 at the pj-Q^l^l^y 
end of October. There was so much gold in the hands of 
our business men that they began to take it to the treasury to ex- 
change it for legal tender notes, which were more convenient in hand- 
ling. Moreover, the years 1880 and 1881 brought a continuation of 
prosperity. Europe still suffered from poor crops, while we had 
quantities of food to spare. It was not until 1883 that our fat years 
again gave place to lean ones. 

The Election of 1880 

The return of prosperity made republican success in 1880 a prob- 
ability, and each faction undertook to control the nomination. The 
stalwarts were determined to avoid a man like Hayes, 
the reformer. They had among themselves no one half P'^^^J^- . 
so likely to be chosen as Grant, whom some of the leaders xerm. 
began to urge for a third term more than a year before the 
convention met. Under him the good old days would undoubtedly 
return, and a politician might call his soul his own. Grant was then 
leisurely traveling around the world, received with distinction in 
three continents, and the Americans saw in this a reflection of national 
honor which heightened their esteem for the hero. The movement 
to nominate him was skillfully managed by Conkling, General Logan, 
and J. Don. Cameron. Grant himself was pleased at the prospect of 
another term, and timed his arrival in America with reference to the 
plans of his friends. He landed at San Francisco, September 20, 
1879, when most active preparations were being made for the coming 
nominations. After the splendid reception which a grateful people 
tendered him, he made a trip to Mexico and the countries south of it, 
procedure both dignified and prudent. 

His opponents were not able to unite on one man. The reformers 
looked to Edmunds, of Vermont. John Sherman had strong support 
in the West and Blaine had a following among those Eastern 



702 POLITICAL AND FINANCIAL READJUSTMENT 

men who did not favor Grant, while other candidates had small 
followings. Blaine was the ablest of them all, but he was objec- 
, tionable to the reformers because he was suspected of par- 

OpDonents ticipation in the scandals under Grant, and his breach with 
Conkling was an additional embarrassment. However, 
they all opposed Grant bitterly, and were prepared to give up much 
to keep out of power the men who sought his election. 

The first test of their strength in the convention (Chicago, June 2, 
1880) came when Conkling moved to apply the unit rule to state 
delegations. To adopt it would give the large states to Grant and, 
as it came out, that would have meant his nomination. The motion 
was lost ; and on the first ballot Conkling's man got only 304 votes 
and after that no more than 313 of the 379 necessary to a nomina- 
tion. Ballot after ballot showed little change, until on the thirty- 
sixth James A. Garfield, of Ohio, was nominated by a union of the 
Sherman and Blaine forces. In the interest of harmony Conkling 
was allowed to name the candidate for vice-president. He declared 
for Chester A. Arthur, whom Hayes removed from the New York 
customhouse when he decided to reform it. One who knew him well 
exclaimed, when he heard later of Arthur's elevation: "'Chet' 
Arthur President of the United States ! Good God !" The nomina- 
tion was bad in itself, but the third term movement was defeated, 
and that was the main point. Garfield was respected as an able and 
high-minded man, and the people were disposed to forgive the unfit 
vice-president on the ground that it was necessary to conciliate the 
stalwarts. 

The democrats were at sea. Tilden was not available because of 
a certain suspicion that he did not quite clear his name from sus- 
. picion in connection with the former election, because 
Ca^ldtUes ^^ ^^^ ^^® avowed opposition of Kelly, the leader of 
Tammany, and because he had recently experienced a 
physical collapse which rendered it improbable that he could fulfill the 
duties of president if elected. Several smaller men were spoken of, 
but none seemed so promising as General W. S. Hancock, a brave and 
handsome soldier, but as inexperienced in politics as Grant before 
1868. He was nominated with W. H. English, of Indiana, for vice- 
president. The greenbackers nominated James B. Weaver, of Iowa, 
and the prohibitionists Neal Dow, of Maine. 

The campaign was full of personalities. Garfield was charged 
with participation in the Credit Mobilier scandal but showed that 
the charge was unjust. Other moral obliquities were 
Elected alleged against one candidate or the other. The demo- 

crats were arraigned for their policy of intimidation in the 
South. Probably the prosperity of the country was the most im- 
portant argument on either side. It made for the republicans, who 
had 214 electoral votes to 155 for their opponents. A plurality of 



HAYES'S POSITION 703 

less than 10,000 in the popular vote showed that the election was 
really very close. The republicans also carried the house of repre- 
sentatives, where they had 150 members to 131 democrats and 12 
greenbackers. In the senate they had 37, the democrats a like num- 
ber, and the balance was held by two independents, Davis, of Illi- 
nois, and Mahone, of Virginia. 

In the election of 1880 Hayes took no part. He was out of step 
with his party, and awaited retirement with a quiet dignity which 
brought him much sympathy. His successor would have 
a better party following, but it was pleasant to reflect that p^*.'"^, 
he would not abandon the reforms for which Hayes steadily currents. 
contended. The administration just closing was, in fact, 
an important period in which politics shifted from an old to a new 
basis. It marked the end of reconstruction and the beginning of an 
era in which the people showed a determination to control their own 
rulers, to eliminate abuse, and to make democracy a greater reality. 
Had he been a more practical statesman the break with the past 
could not have been so sharp, and the keynote of the future would 
not have been so clearly sounded. 

President Hayes gained much from the admirable bearing of his 
wife, who illustrated the highest qualities of American womanhood. 
Grant's free and easy ways introduced into the White __ _ 
House something of the atmosphere of the camp. Mrs. 
Hayes's sense of purity and simple comfort made it as clean as a New 
England manse. She considered it her home rather than an official 
residence. The politicians in Washington were aghast when she 
decided not to serve wine at the president's table. Secretary Evarts 
refused to attend, and the usual diplomatic dinners were suspended. 
The Temperance Women of America showed their admiration by 
placing her portrait in the executive mansion, and fair public opinion 
admired the manner in which she asserted her position in her own 
family. 

Garfield's Short Presidency 

The announcement of a cabinet brought trouble, chiefly of Conk- 
ling's making. Blaine, of Maine, was secretary of state, William 
Windom, of Minnesota, secretary of the treasury, Robert q.. ^ . . 
T. Lincoln, of Illinois, secretary of war, William H. Hunt, 
of Louisiana, secretary of the navy, Wayne MacVeagh, of Pennsyl- 
vania, attorney-general, Thomas L. James, of New York, postmaster- 
general, and Samuel J. Kirkwood, of Iowa, secretary of the interior. 
Conkling resented Blaine's prominence in the group, fearing his 
influence with Garfield was paramount, and considering the low rank 
of New York in the cabinet a token that his own influence was neu- 
tralized by his rival. He was slightly appeased when his supporter, 



704 POLITICAL AND FINANCIAL READJUSTMENT 

Levi P. Morton, was made minister to France, but this was overcome 
by the news that Robertson, an anti-Conkling man, was to be head of 

the New York customhouse. He now became an avowed 
^^c^^^°^ opponent of the administration and published a letter 

showing that Garfield, whose inaugural address gave sup- 
port to civil service reform, had in the preceding campaign coun- 
tenanced campaign contributions from officeholders. He then took 
his quarrel to the senate, where the democrats and the republicans 
had equal numbers, with two independents who refused to vote on 
party matters. Two months passed in vain attempts to organize the 
body, when a truce was made to allow the confirmation of the presi- 
dent's nominations. Conkling was thought to have planned to have 
the senate adjourn as soon as his own friends were confirmed; and 
Garfield tried to block this by sending in first the nomination of 
Robertson. Its approval was the occasion of a great battle, in which 
the New York senator was defeated. Seeing failure before him, 
Conkling and his colleague, T. C. Piatt, resigned their seats, hoping 
for an immediate reelection by the New York legislature. They lost 
their calculation. The legislature, tired of the strife, sent other men 
to Washington. Piatt was a young man and eventually recovered his 
feet. Three years later he was at peace with Blaine ; Conkling retired 
to private life. He had great mental and practical ability, but he 
was arrogant, intolerant, and uncompromising. Had he remained in 
the senate he would have made life uncomfortable for the president 
and the secretary of state. 

Garfield yielded enough to the demand for reform to appoint as 
postmaster-general, James, who had applied the merit system in the 

New York post ofiice. James soon began to investigate 
V^^ the contracts to carry the mail over the "star routes," as 

Frauds. certain routes in parts of the West were called in the 

department. It appeared that Brady, second assistant 
postmaster-general under Hayes, and Senator Dorsey, of Arkansas, 
had conspired with mail contractors of this class to defraud the gov- 
ernment through extravagant prices or the multiplication of useless 
services. Indictments were secured, and the trials became one of the 
great events of the year. The defendants were actively aided by 
many of the leading "machine" politicians of the republican party. 
Brady at last threatened to produce evidence against Garfield if 
the prosecution was not dropped. No relief coming, he published a 
letter from Garfield to "My dear Hubbell," chairman of the repub- 
lican congressional campaign committee in 1880, condoning the habit 
of levying contributions for campaign purposes on the salaries of 
government employees. As this was one of the worst abuses of the 
spoils system, it discredited Garfield's open protestations of friend- 
ship for reform. The proof of fraud in the star- route cases seems over- 
whelming, but the important defendants managed to wriggle through 



PRESIDENT ARTHUR 70S 

the clutches of the law. Public disgust was great, and the opinion 
was strengthened that the country needed a reformer. 

Before this feeling went far the president, on July 2, 1881, was shot 
down in a Washington railway station. The assassin, Charles J. 
Guiteau, a disappointed office seeker, cried out that he was -. . . 
a "stalwart" and that Arthur would now be president, q^^i^ 
He was executed for the crime, but his mind was probably 
unbalanced by the bitterness of party strife in which he steeped it. 
The victim of his madness lingered through the summer between life 
and death, and died September 19. His fortitude and gentleness in 
suffering won all hearts, and in the shadow of the national sorrow 
political asperities softened. So sober a paper as the Nation showed 
the change in sentiment. In May it pronounced the letter to Hubbell 
"a painful surprise" ; in September it said of the deceased, "He will 
always remain one of the saints of American story, without a spot on 
the whiteness of his garments." 

When Arthur became president the Conkling quarrel was still in 
an active condition. He showed his interest in it by going to Albany 
in May to secure his patron's reelection to the United 
States senate. It was considered an unworthy thing for ^j^Jj/^* 
a vice-president to stoop to such work, and the prospect 
of Arthur's elevation alarmed many people. But the shock of the 
tragedy deeply impressed the vice-president. He dropped the role 
of the politician and revealed unsuspected dignity and good sense. 
Through the same sobering agency the people were prepared to accord 
him a fair trial in the high ofhce he now assumed. At the end of 
three years he retired with the respect of the nation and the esteem 
of his party. 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

For general works see : Sparks, National Development (1907) ; Andrews, The 
United States in our Own Time (1903) ; Wilson, History of the American People, 5 
vols. (1Q02); The Cambridge Modern History, Vol. VII (1903); Stanwood, 
History of the Presidency (1898) ; and Woodburn, American Political History, 1776- 
1S76 (1Q06), republishes articles by Alexander Johnston in Lalor, Cyclopedia of 
Political Science, still useful since some of the phases of previous history are carried 
over into Hayes's administration. 

The important sources are : Congressional Record, for debates in congress ; 
McPherson, Hand-Book of Politics (1878, 1880, and 1882), contains votes in con- 
gress; Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 10 vols. (1896-1899); 
MacDonald, Select Statutes (1903); Appleton's Annual Cyclopedia, new series; 
and the various almanacs, as the World's Almanac, and the American Almanac. 
The legislative reports for the period are abundant, for which see Poore, Descriptive 
Catalogue of Government Publications to 188 1 and the Annotated Index to the Public 
Documents (1902). 

For biographies and works of leading men see : Keeler, Rutherford B. Hayes 
(1910) ; Gilmore, Life of Garfield (1880), the best of the campaign lives; Bigelow, 
Life of Tilden, 2 vols. (1896) ; Ibid., ed.. Letters of Tilden, 2 vols. (1908) ; Boutwell, 
Reminiscences of Sixty Years (1902); Hoar, Autobiography, 2 vols. (1903); Andrew 
D. White, Autobiography, 2 vols. (1905); Hamilton [Dodge], Life of James G. 



7o6 POLITICAL AND FINANCIAL READJUSTMENT 

Blaine (1895) ; Stanwood, James G. Blaine (1906) ; Sherman, Recollections of Forty 
Years, 2 vols. (1897) ; The Sherman Letters (ed. 1894) ; Burton, John Sherman 
(1906) ; Mayes, Lucius Q. C. Lamar (1896) ; Hinsdale, Works of James A. Garfield 
(1882) ; Ibid., President Garfield and Education (1882) ; Balch, Life of Garfield 
(1881), uncritical; Conkling, Life and Letters of Roscoe Conkling (1889); Ogden, 
Life and Letters of E. L. Godkiti, 2 vols. (1907) ; Wilson, Life of C. A. Dana (1907) ; 
Autobiography of T. C. Piatt (1910) ; Coolidge, Orville H. Piatt (1910) ; Gary, 
George W. Curtis (1900) ; and Bancroft and Dunning, Carl Schurz^s Public Career, 
(in Schurz, Reminiscences, vol. Ill, 1909). 

For Independent Reading 

Sparks, National Development (1907) ; Blaine, Twenty Years of Congress, 2 vols. 
(1884-1886); Hoar, Autobiography, 2 vols. (1903); Andrew D. White, Autobi- 
ography, 2 vols. (1905); and Burton, John Sherman (1906). 



CHAPTER XXXIV 
POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC REFORM, 1881-1893 
Civil Service Reform 

The most glaring political abuse of the day was the spoils system. 
Scandals occasionally appeared in the higher offices, but in the vast 
army of clerks and postmasters office was a reward for 
electioneering, and officeholders paid campaign contribu- Jj°°^^.*'?,° °^ 
tions for fear of losing their appointments. As a result service, 
the service was filled with inefficient clerks, and the appeal 
to the voters was on the lowest level. The type of politician whom this 
system developed was apt to be defiant of public opinion. It was felt 
that the beginning of reform was the adoption of some sort of merit 
system in appointments. American sentiment was influenced by the 
progress of a similar movement in England, where in 1853 Charles E. 
Trevelyan and Sir Stafford H. Northcote reported a plan for reform- 
ing the civil service. They recommended a system of competitive 
examinations, but for some years various things united to prevent its 
adoption. 

One of the Americans most in touch with British affairs was Charles 
Sumner. He was interested in the work of Trevelyan and Northcote, 
and in 1864 introduced a bill in the senate to apply com- 
petitive principles to appointments in America. The bill iji"conCTes8^ 
attracted much attention, but reconstruction soon en- 
gaged Sumner's attention, and he did not press the matter. It was 
taken up by Thomas Jenckes, a representative from Rhode Island. 
His first bill was lost, 1865 ; but he got a committee created to investi- 
gate the situation, and himself became the chairman. Its report, 
May 25, 1868, described the systems in force in England, France, 
Prussia, and China and contained a bill creating a competitive system. 
Congress paid no heed and Jenckes turned to the people, where he 
found supporters, prominent among them being Carl Schurz, William 
Cullen Bryant, and George William Curtis. Grant himself, a candi- 
date for the presidency, declared for the reform. He redeemed his 
promise in his second annual message, and several bills were intro- 
duced, none of which could pass. The spoils system was too inti- 
mately grafted on the political life of the day to be abandoned by 
congress until a vast amount of public opinion was created on the 
subject. 

707 



7o8 POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC REFORM 

The reformers were persistent, and late in the session, 1871, were 

able to attach a "rider" to the appropriation bill in which congress 

established what is known as the first civil service com- 

Fu-st Com- mission. It authorized the president to prescribe rules 

mission • 

1871. ' ^^^ admission to the civil service and to appoint a com- 
mission to inquire into the fitness of applicants; and it 
gave $25,000 for the expenses of the same. The commission was 
named at once, with Curtis for chairman. It formulated rules for 
appointments, which Grant adopted and promulgated, April, 1872, 
for use in the departments in Washington and the federal offices in 
New York. Trouble now began. Individual congressmen urged the 
president to appoint their friends. In some cases he made bad selec- 
tions, which disgusted the reformers, and finally Curtis resigned in 
despair. Grant had little patience with the situation ; he gradually 
yielded to the arguments of practical advisers who declared reform 
an impossible dream, and when congress in 1873 refused to renew 
the appropriation he ceased to enforce the rules of 1872. The com- 
mission continued a formal existence with Dorman B. Eaton as 
chairman. 

Hayes would have revived the energy of the commission if congress 
had given the necessary money, for the law of 187 1 was unrepealed. 
As it was, he tried to reform the New York custornhouse. 
Hayes ° ^ Committee appointed by him reported that one-fifth 
of the clerks there should be dismissed as unnecessary. 
Hayes followed the suggestion, removing the collector, Chester A. 
Arthur, a favorite of Conkling, because Arthur would not indorse 
the reforms. He also applied the merit system to the New York 
post office, placing at the head of it Thomas L. James, a reformer. 
Senator Conkling resented this policy. He thought the reform 
movement contained a great deal of cant, and once expressed his 
contempt in the following words uttered with a withering drawl, 
"When Doctor-r-r Ja-a-awson said that patr-r-riotism was the 1-a-w-s-t 
r-r-refuge of a scoundr-r-rel, he ignor-r-red the enor-r-rmous possi- 
bilities of the word r-refa-awr-r-rm !" The house of representatives 
in something of the same spirit made Benjamin F. Butler chairman 
of its committee on civil service reform. Hayes realized the utter 
opposition of congress and dared not attempt to reform the depart- 
ments, as he might have done under the law of 1871. 

Meanwhile, the movement progressed outside of congress. Associa- 
tions to promote it were formed in many cities, and in 1881 a national 
civil service league was organized. A mass of literature 

dArth ' S'Ppeared in support of the movement, and among its 

Attitudes. defenders were leading men of thought. Garfield when 

candidate for the presidency gave open allegiance, and 

his election gave hope to the reformers. The accession of Arthur, 

Conkling's friend, and victim of Hayes's New York reforms, filled 



THE REFORMS WIN 709 

them with dread. They breathed easily when in his first annual 
message he discussed competitive examinations mildly, pointed out 
some defects, but said that he would execute such a plan fairly 
if congress adopted it. No law followed at that session, but 
when the elections of 1882 went against the republicans, they were 
willing to pass one. The fact that Garfield's assassin was a dis- 
appointed office seeker was an added motive for adopting the merit 
system. 

The "Pendleton Act," 1883, took its name from George H. Pen- 
dleton, chairman of the senate committee on civil service reform, 
but it was written by Dorman B. Eaton. It created a- p ., . 
classified service, to be organized by the president and to ^®|^ j|g°° 
apply to clerks in the departments and in post offices 
and custom houses having over fifty employees. Examinations in 
keeping with the requirement should be given, and they were to de- 
termine appointments, and applicants should bring no other recom- 
mendation than as to residence and moral character. They were to 
be taken as nearly as possible from the states in proportion to popula- 
tion. The president might by his order include within the classified 
service employees not originally included, and strict measures were 
taken to abolish campaign contributions by employees. The presi- 
dent was to appoint a commission of three members to supervise the 
examinations, keep records, recommend clerks on the approved 
lists, investigate alleged violations of the law, and report annually 
to the president and congress. 

Arthur, true to his promise, executed the law faithfully and placed 
Eaton at the head of the commission. In 1884 both parties indorsed 
it ; and although its enforcement has sometimes been 
evaded, its expediency has generally been granted. Sue- Execution 
cessive presidents have extended its scope. Cleveland's ^^thur and 
party came into power with an office-hunger created in a Cleveland, 
long period of exclusion, and he had much trouble to 
keep them from overturning the system. But he respected the clas- 
sified service, and satisfied his supporters out of the unclassified offices. 
The reformers complained that he did not keep the spirit of the reform. 
Some of his appointments were undoubtedly bad, which brought 
other complaints. But Cleveland personally favored the law, and 
just before he went out of office brought the railway mail clerks 
under the civil service rules. 

The republicans, returning to power in 1889, were greatly incensed 
at the railway mail order. It was, they said, a trick to give immunity 
to recently appointed democrats. Harrison suspended 
the operations of the order, made many removals, and Harrison, 
when it was at last operative, few railway clerks were 
democrats. Cleveland resisted the party pressure for removals as 
much as he could. In his entire term 20,000 occurred : under Harrison 



710 POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC REFORM 

there were 35,850 dismissals within a little more than a year after 
his inauguration. Clarkson, controlling appointments in the post- 
office department, was so active that he was called "the headman." 
But Harrison enforced the rules within the classified service and 
brought within the rules a part of the Indian service, hitherto liable 
to peculiarly bad appointments. He did the same for the fish commis- 
sion and the clerks of free-delivery post offices ; but none of these 
steps were taken until the offices affected were generally filled by 
republicans. 

Harrison appointed Theodore Roosevelt, of New York, to the 
civil service commission, and afterwards made him its chairman. 
This vigorous young reformer wished at first to be assist- 
Roosevelt ^^^ secretary of state, but Secretary Blaine desired a 
missioner. milder spirited man for an assistant. Until then the com- 
mission had sought to obtain its objects without antago- 
nizing congressmen. Membership on it was so inconspicuous that 
Roosevelt's friends advised him not to accept. He disregarded the 
advice and gave the civil service commission a new kind of force. 
There was no more hesitation in its actions: whoever criticized it 
was met by a rejoinder which took away his argument. Foolish 
assertions that the examinations were fantastical, that appointments 
went by favoritism, and that the commission was nerveless, were 
dispelled. Once when the press said that it was well known that only 
republicans could get office, Roosevelt took a striking means of 
refuting the charge. He called before him the Washington corres- 
pondents of the Southern newspapers, told them the South had not 
its full share of clerks, and asked them to induce more Southerners 
to take the examinations. He told them to say in their papers that 
politics would play no part in the appointments. The result was a 
large increase in appointments from the section indicated, and most 
of them went to democrats. The discomfited politicians ceased to 
call the civil service commission a nonentity. 

Roosevelt's activity piqued congress, and in the committee-of- 
the-whole, where the yeas and nays were not taken, it cut down the 
appropriation for the commission. When the bill came 
^•tti^^*'^^ up for final action, where the voters must go on record, 
gressmen. ^^^ discontented ones would refuse to vote, and the appro- 
priation would be restored. This happened several times. 
Once the opposition cut down the appropriation for examinations. 
Roosevelt omitted to hold them in the districts of the members 
who thought them unnecessary, much to the dissatisfaction of the 
constituencies concerned. He thus appealed to the people over the 
head of the representatives. As a result, he was little loved but 
much feared by the spoilsmen, but the people trusted him and admired 
his fearlessness. 

Cleveland was not popular with his party in his second term, and 



RECENT EXTENSIONS 711 

could ignore the democratic spoilsmen. Some of his appointments 
were made without due investigation, and he made others 
to force the repeal of the Sherman silver law ; but he Cleveland's 
widely extended the classified service, adding 29,399 places xerm. 
by one order. His successor, President McKinley, had 
trouble to keep congress from revoking all such orders. Delay and 
reflection was secured by creating a senate committee appointed to 
investigate the subject. After a while it reported that the classified 
service should be reduced. It looked gloomy for the 
advocates of reform, but at just this moment war with ^J^ 
Spain intervened and drew away the attention of the 
spoilsmen. The war created many new places, and this served 
partly to divert the attack on the classified service. The subject 
was taken up again in 1899, when the president removed 3693 places 
from the classified service and transferred 6414 from the oversight of 
the commission to that of the secretary of war. It was a questionable 
step, though defended on the ground that the places involved had to 
do with expert service or with confidential clerkships, and that in 
such cases competitive examinations ought not to apply. The 
reformers replied that even if this was true in principle, the number 
of positions involved in this instance was far too large. Since 1899 
the classified service has been several times extended, last of all by 
President Taft, but the traces of the spoils system have not been 
removed from our public life. The agitation for national reform 
stimulated action in some states, notably New York, Massachusetts, 
Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Louisiana, and Connecticut, where the 
reform system was wholly or partially adopted. 

Ballot Reform 

Closely connected with civil service reform was the fight for better 
laws, which depended on state rather than federal action. The 
old ballot system was weak in that it was not secret, that 
the ballots were privately printed and capable of various co^j^ons 
forms of juggling for party interests, and that they were 
printed on various small slips confusing to the voter, and by this 
means profitable to the party tricksters. Abuses under this condi- 
tion had existed from early times, but it was only the new reform 
spirit that resented and sought to remedy them. This was made 
easier by the rapid growth of the evil practices in the early eighties. 
The increasing prominence of the tariff in elections is supposed to 
have brought forth large campaign funds which might be used cor- 
ruptly. It also went with an open manifestation of the manufacturer's 
desire to control the vote of his operatives. Agents of employers 
were known to hand ballots to employees and see them safely deposited 
in the boxes. Black-lists were sometimes kept by which refractory 



712 POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC REFORM 

voters were dropped from the factory pay rolls. In the agitation of 
the day the amount of such an evil would naturally be exaggerated, 
but it cannot be doubted that it existed extensively. 

Bribery also flourished. Both parties used it, and conservative 
people could see no way of abolishing it outright, while less sensitive 

. people only smiled at it. There existed a purchasable 

vote which was as willing to sell itself as the purchaser 
was willing to buy. This abuse was most glaring in the election of 
1888, and soon afterwards arose the movement for reform. It 
demanded the "Australian Ballot," the chief features of which were 
that the ballot be secret and oflicially printed in "blanket " form. The 
system originated in Australia, but it had been adopted in England. 
The movement in the United States had rapid success. The first 
step forward was when the New York legislature, 1888, passed a 
law of the desired kind, but the veto of Governor Hill robbed the 
state of the honor of leading in the reform. This distinction went 
to Massachusetts instead, which in the same year passed such a law 
and put it into operation in her election of 1889. The ice was now 
broken, and nine states followed in 1889, seven in 1890, and eighteen 
in 1891. Five of these laws were pronounced "poor" or "bad" 
by the reformers. They were later amended, and in 1909 thirty-nine 
of the forty-six states had blanket ballots, and of the others only 
four — Connecticut, North and South Carolina, and Georgia — used 
unofficial ballots. In the last throe the voting is entirely public. 

Tariff Reform 

Most of the political reformers were also tariff reformers. The 
inequalities they saw in protection appealed to them in nearly the 

same way as the j)olitical evils. On the other hand, 
K^^d^^f '^"^ '^'^ tariff reformers were political reformers. The large 
Reformers, majority who favored a lower tariff acted from economic 

reasons, or because party loyalty demanded it. Among 
tariff reformers were at least two classes, those who would readjust 
the schedules slightly and conformably with the revenue needs of gov- 
ernment, and those who were theoretical free-traders. Many of the 
political reformers belonged to this second class of tariff reformers. 

Numerous new industries sprang up during the war, and under 
protection some made large, and others small, profits. The first 

class did not want the tariff reduction, and the second 
^f^th^****^ could not afford it. The mass of consumers, when they 
Tariff, gave the matter serious thought, felt they were paying 

to support a system artificial in itself and badly adapted 
to revenue purposes. But it yielded large sums to the treasury, and 
these were needed to pay the war debt and aid in reestablishing the 
public credit after the war. 



CONTINUING THE WAR TARIFF 713 

Existing taxes were of four kinds ; internal revenue taxes, an 
income tax, duties on articles not produced in considerable quantities 
in the United States, and duties on articles largely produced 
here. Taken together, they were a burden, and it was 
inevitable that they shoidd be lowered. The plan of reduction 
favored by the protectionists was to give relief from high taxes by 
lowering the internal revenue and the income tax. This went on so 
rapidly that by 1870 the former taxes were taken otT nearly everything 
but liquor and tobacco, and public opinion insisted that these be 
taxed in the interest of good morals. At the same time it was arranged 
that the tax on incomes should disappear with the year 1871. Forced 
to give up something else, the protectionists now agreed that the duties 
should be lowered on the second class, as coffee, tea, and sugar ; and 
in this they were usually successful. The reformers pointed out that 
by throwing the burden of the revenue on the protected schedules 
congress was fixing protection in our system, but the people were 
pleased to have any visible relaxation, and accepted free cotTee and 
tea thankfully. This process was gradual, and was embodied in 
four tarift" bills, as follows: 

I. In 1867 the house of representatives passed a bill to raise duties. 
The senate was for reform, and substituted a bill by David A. Wells, 
special commissioner of the revenue and a trained econo- 
mist. It lowered rates on most manufactured articles g?j"g * 
and to a larger extent on raw materials. It sought to 
make a wise readjustment and gradual reduction by which protected 
interests should suffer in the least i)ossil)le degree. It was unaccept- 
able to the house, and was not passed. But one feature of it, a higher 
rate on wool, was passed by a special bill in the same year. 2. In 
1870 congress again took up the tariff in response to a popular demand 
for reform. The duties on several unprotected articles were lowered, 
but the only protected article reduced was iron ore, the rate on which 
was cut from nine to seven dollars a ton. On many other articles, 
as steel rails, marble, and nickel, the duty was raised. 3. In 1872 
there was a surplus revenue of $100,000,000. It was useful for 
paying the debt, but it called attention to the excessive taxes, and 
again congress was forced to take action. In anticipation of legis- 
lation the lobby became active. It was a fair oppi)rtunity for manipu- 
lation, and congress, a{)parently to avoid the liability of being over- 
reached in the adjustment of individual rates, adopted the principle 
of horizontal reduction. Ten per cent was taken from existing 
rates on the important protected articles, that is, woollens, cottons, 
most metals, paper, glass, and leather, while tea and coffee were made 
free and considerable cuts were made on salt, coal, and some other 
articles not manufactured in the ordinary sense. The bill passed against 
the opposition of the manufacturers. 4. The panic of 1873 brought 
about a reduction of imports and lessened the revenues. The pro- 



714 POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC REFORM 

tectionists supported the need of high rates, and in 1875 the ten per 
cent taken off in 1872 was restored. 

There was no disposition to meddle with the tariff during the 
four lean years that followed 1875, but with the advent of prosperity- 
came abundant revenues, and in the eleven years from 
Surplus. ^^^ beginning of 1880 to the end of 1890 the average surplus 

was $103,900,000 a year. It went to pay the debt, 
$1,105,000,000 worth being extinguished in this interval at a saving 
in interest of $69,000,000 a year. It was a wonderful record, and no 
other nation has done as much, but the results brought serious com- 
plaints. The financiers said the surplus disarranged the course of 
trade, the national banks complained that they must pay ruinous 
prices for bonds to secure their bank notes, and the public complained, 
because for the government to buy bonds at high premium was 
extravagance. Surplus financiering, it was also pointed out, causes 
extravagant spending. In this, however, the danger was lessened 
by the fact that the democrats, ever inclined to economy, were gen- 
erally in control of one or both houses of congress during the years 
of the surplus. 

In 1882 the surplus was $145,600,000, and four per cent bonds rose 
from 112 to 121. It was the year for congressional elections, and 
the tariff was an issue. There was a group of Eastern 
Sentii^nt democrats, chiefly from Pennsylvania and New Jersey, 
in 1882. "^ho dared not favor reduction, but most of the party 

were for reform. Most of the Eastern republicans were 
against it, but a small group of Western republicans felt compelled 
to vote for it because of the feeling in their districts. In later years 
the alignment was more distinct, but in 1882 it was clear enough to 
show which was a high and which a low tariff organization. The 
democrats stood openly for lower duties, and when in the election 
they converted their minority of 19 in the house into a majority of 
77, it was believed that the country indorsed them. Their opponents 
understood the warning, and in December, after the election, Arthur, 
supported by Folger, his secretary of the treasury, recommended a 
reform of the tariff. 

Weary of "tinkering," desirous of avoiding the assaults of the 

lobby, and convinced of the iniquities of a horizontal reduction, 

congress, still republican, appointed a tariff commission. 

Tariff Com- -pj^g^j- g^ group of experts shall readjust the duties so as 
mission 01 *~> i. X J 

1882. to lop off a given number of millions in order to reduce 

the revenue, and do it in such a way as to distress 
industry least is an attractive idea. But it is too much to expect 
that congress should surrender the tax-levying power to such a group. 
The tariff commission of 1882 was given the power to recommend 
reduction. This pleased the protectionists, for it tended to quiet 
the people, it postponed action, and it left the question finally in 



THE DEMOCRATIC SUCCESSES 715 

congress, where they would have an opportunity to oppose it. The 
commission was ordered to suggest "a revision of the existing tariff 
upon a scale of justice to all interests." At the head of it the presi- 
dent, after receiving several declinations, placed John L. Hayes, 
secretary of the American Wool Manufacturers Association, an assur- 
ance that the tariff would be reformed by its friends. Yet the com- 
mission's report favored a reduction of about 20 per cent. The republi- 
can house, unwilling to concede this much, prepared a bill with smaller 
reductions, and slowly debated it, thinking it would not become 
law in the existing short session. The senate, with 37 democrats, 
37 republicans, and 2 low tariff independents, prepared a bill, with 
still lower rates, attaching it as an amendment to an internal revenue 
bill then before it. Conferences between the two houses ensued, 
and the result was the tariff of 1883. The zeal that now 
possessed the republicans was due to the recent democratic gf ° 
success. If the coming congress made a tariff bill, it 
would be more extreme than one made by the existing session, whereas 
a bill passed now might so satisfy public sentiment that the republican 
president and senate would be safe in blocking the way to a bill in 
1884. Under this impulse the tariff of 1883 was enacted. By some 
shrewd manipulation in conference several rates were made higher 
than was proposed originally in either house. Three men destined 
to be influential in future tariff legislation. Senator Aldrich and 
Representatives Thomas B. Reed and William McKinley, Jr., were 
prominent in connection with the bill ; but the last-named refused to 
vote for it because the schedules were too low. He represented the 
Cleveland, Ohio, district, in which iron interests were very strong. 
Nineteen democrats, led by Samuel J. Randall, of Pennsylvania, most 
of them Eastern men, voted against the law. Their action indicated 
a party division which was to bring to naught many other democratic 
hopes of tariff reform. 

In the next congress, 1884, the democrats undertook to redeem 
their promise by introducing the Morrison bill. It placed salt, 
lumber, and coal on the free list, and reduced other articles 
20 per cent. It was thought a horizontal reduction would 31^"^'^°° 
avoid juggling and preserve the existing ratio of advantage 
between various interests. Forty democrats joined Randall in help- 
ing the republicans to defeat the bill in the house, while only 4 re- 
publicans, three from Minnesota and one from New York, voted for it. 

The bill of 1883 made little change in the surplus: that of 1884 
would have lowered it $30,000,000. In the latter year a 
temporary check of prosperity reduced the imports, and f"'^^^"^/! b 
the surplus for the year 1885 fell to $63,500,000. This HajdTimes. 
tended to quiet the sentiment for tariff reform, but 
the feeling revived in 1887, when the surplus again reached $100,- 
000,000. 



7i6 POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC REFORM 



The Election of 1884 

The election year of 1884 found the republicans divided. Arthur's 
success as president gave him a claim, and persons who disliked some 

of the party tendencies favored him as a safe and respect- 
Republi- _ q]^\q ^^^^^ without special defects. A larger portion of 
nate °"' the party supported Blaine. He was always a strong 
Blaine. leader, and the retirement of Conkling gave him an 

opportunity to unite the New York republicans in his 
support. He did it through the aid of Piatt, who remarked with 
unexj')ected coyness that it was now Blaine's turn. There was, also, 
a group of reformers who supported Edmunds, of Vermont. Besides 
these, Logan, Sherman, and Hawley were "favorite sons" respec- 
tively of Illinois, Ohio, and Connecticut, each with a small following. 
The convention assembled at Chicago, June 3, 1884 ; and the air was 
tense with feeling in behalf of Blaine. It was evident that other 
candidates would have to fight hard for victory. On the first ballot 
he led with 3340 votes to 278 for Arthur, 93 for Edmunds, and 112^ 
scattering. On the second, Blaine gained, chielly at the expense of 
the reformers ; on the third he continued the progress, and on the 
fourth he was nominated. John A. Logan was made the candidate 
for the vice-presidency. The result was received harmoniously by 
all the factions, except the reformers, who, however, were not 
strong enough to make serious trouble at Chicago. Their sup- 
porters were less pacific, and took steps to oppose the nominee at 
the polls. 

The eyes of the democrats were drawn, in the meantime, to a figure 
which had recently appeared above their horizon. Grover Cleveland, 
elected mayor of Buffalo in 1881, and governor of New York by a 
plurality of 192,000 in 1882, seemed their most promising man. 

On the other hand, he was not popular with his party. 

eve an ^[q ^g^g j-ig^y to the service, downright in his honesty, 
Nominated. . ., , ,.' iVr • 

impartial, opposed to ordinary methods of party organiza- 
tions, and too blunt to be liked by the politicians. Tammany, the 
most important organization within the party in New York, had 
strong intuitions against him. With some difficulty its leader, 
John Kelly, was brought to favor his nomination, but he lived to 
regret it. Cleveland's best card was the probability that he could 
carry New York. The democratic tide showed recession in some 
elections iij 1883, but it was likely that it would persist to a degree 
sufficient to decide the result nationally in 1884. It was also in 
Cleveland's favor that the independent republicans would largely 
favor him against Blaine. He was nominated on the second 
ballot, and Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana, was named for vice- 
president. 



BLAINE'S RECORD ASSAILED 717 

The campaign soon brought Blaine's record to the front. His 
name was associated with some of the irregular transactions of Grant's 
time, but he was not shown to l)e guilty. He was less 
lucky in regard to the "Mulligan Letters." In i860 ^'it „• 
he sold to friends in Maine some bonds of the Little Rock Letters.^^" 
and Fort Smith Railroad C()m|)any. It was a mushroom 
concern, and purchasers ordinarily got with their bonds equal amounts 
of preferred stock, common stock, and land bonds, four dollars in 
securities for each dollar of cash paid. In this case Blaine retained 
the land bonds himself. After a time the company fell into difificulties, 
the Maine i)urchasers began to repent their bargain, and Jilaine feared 
lest the retention of the land bonds should become known and damage 
him politically. He exerted himself to the utmost and raised money 
enough to refund the purchase money, taking all the securities on 
his own hands. If these should fail, he would lose nearly all the 
property he had ; and the market for them was l)ad. But he sold 
a large part of them to the Union Pacific and other railroad companies 
at prices considerably above the market. When this was known 
people asked why should the Union Pacific, a company continually 
affected by legislation, pay Speaker Blaine more than Fort Smith 
stock was worth. So much was said that Blaine in April, 1876, 
when he was a candidate for the presidential nomination, demanded 
an investigation. The house appointed a committee which sat 
late in May. Before it came James Mulligan, a former clerk of the 
Boston business firm from whom Blaine got the stock, a firm with 
whom he had much corres])ondence. Mulligan told the committee 
he had some letters from Blaine to the Boston house, and was directed 
to produce them next day. This filled Blaine with dismay. He 
sought Mulligan at his hotel and saw the letters in the presence of 
a third party, finally getting permission to have them over night on 
the promise he would return them next day. In the morning he 
refused to give them up, claiming Mulligan had them wrongfully ; 
nor would he submit them to the committee. News of this got 
abroad, and his opponents, democrats and republicans, presented it 
in as bad light as ])ossible. Blaine could not stand the pressure, and 
resolved to meet the charge in a most dramatic manner. He api)eared 
in the house as an injured man whose private affairs were pried into 
by democratic oj^ponents, some of whom were Southerners. He 
denounced the trick they played on him, declared he had a right to 
withhold the letters, but announced he would read them of his own 
will to show how little wrongdoing was in them. Interlarded with 
his own comment, and with a wonderful personal mastery of the 
audience, the letters were made to ap])ear harmless. He finished 
the scene with a master stroke of acting. He knew a cablegram in 
his favor had been received by the democratic chairman of the investi- 
gating committee. It had not been announced; and Blaine finished 



7i8 POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC REFORM 

his speech by boldly walking down the aisle to the seat of the chairman 
and charging him with suppressing important evidence in behalf 
of the defendant. The chairman had no defense, quailed visibly, 
and the audience broke into an uproar of applause. 

The enthusiasm of congress was transmitted to the press by the 
reporters, who were carried off their feet by the speech of Blaine, and 

the republicans throughout the country were satisfied. 
Effect -^^^ ^^"^^ brought reflection, and in the cold type of the 

Congressional Record the letters seemed to have something 
which was not explained. They probably prevented Blaine's nomina- 
tion in 1876 and in 1880. The campaign of 1884 was hardly opened 
before these letters were brought out, and September 15 the papers 
contained other letters from Blaine to the same correspondent, not 
hitherto made public. Curtis, editor of Harper's Weekly, declared 
that they corroborated the first installment. As a whole, the Mulligan 
letters placed a blot on the name of a great man, which the defense 
uttered has not removed. 

The campaign was noted for personalities. The republicans, writhing 
under the charges against their candidate, attacked the private 

reputation of Cleveland, charging him with grave sexual 
Attacked irregularities. The charge had some apparent foundation 

in his early life, but it was widely exaggerated and the 
offense was long since atoned for. An investigation showed how 
unfairly it was presented, and before this and before the frank attitude 
of Cleveland himself the matter was overlooked. 

The reformers in the republican party were bitterly opposed to 
Blaine. At Chicago they supported Edmunds, giving him 93 votes 
on the first ballot and 41 on the last. Among them were Senator 

Hoar, W. W. Phelps, Andrew D. White, and two young 
ReLrmers "i^n, Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge, 

As politicians they would not jeopardize their careers 
by repudiating the nomination, but there were other reformers un- 
embarrassed with political expectations. Soon after the convention 
adjourned an address was issued by a committee of which George 
William Curtis was chairman, calling on independents to vote for 
Cleveland. It received vigorous response in many parts of the union. 
The public was impressed when it saw such men as Henry Ward 
Beecher, Carl Schurz, James Freeman Clarke, George William Curtis, 
and William Everett turning to the democratic party. The editor 
of the New York Sun, who had a keen dislike for reformers, dubbed 
them "Mugwumps," a word hitherto of doubtful meaning, probably 
of Indian origin. They had the support of several important news- 
papers and literary men. 

As the canvass proceeded it was evident that New York would 
decide the battle. The state was filled with speakers, processions 
of various kinds addressed the candidates, and feeling was exceedingly 



CLEVELAND PRESIDENT 719 

warm. A small incident at the end of the campaign probably had 

much influence on the result. One of the addresses to Blaine was 

made by Rev. S. D. Burchard, a New York minister and 

a warm Blaine supporter. He assured the candidate phard"'" 

that he and his friends would not vote for the party of 

"Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion." Blaine in reply did not notice 

the thrust at the Catholics, and the democratic press loudly charged 

him with insulting that important portion of the voters. He tried 

to explain, but it was too late. The vote proved so close that this 

might have been the turning point. 

When the count was made it was seen that Cleveland had 219 
electoral votes. They came from the Solid South, Delaware, Indiana, 
Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York. Blaine had 
the rest, 182 electoral votes. In the popular vote the ^j f^j 
democratic plurality was only 23,000. In New York 
Cleveland had the lead by only 1149 votes. With such a narrow 
margin the issue in the state might have been determined by Dr. 
Burchard's remark, the opposition of the mugwumps, the hostility 
of the prohibitionists, or some slumbering Conkling defection. The 
Nation said: "The real force which defeated Blaine was Blaine 
himself. He had created during his twenty years of public life a public 
distrust too deep to be overcome by even the most formidable com- 
bination of political wiles, money, and treachery ever organized in 
this country." 

Cleveland and his Party 

Outwardly the election of Cleveland was a break in party history ; 
inwardly it was only an incident. A new party control was, indeed, 
established, but it did not have power in congress, and the * n ji t 
deadlock of Hayes's administration continued. Cleveland 
had definite purposes in regard to tariff reform, but a republican 
senate blocked the way, and only routine affairs could be transacted 
in congress. In party history the first administration of Cleveland 
rescued the democracy from the condition of an opposition 
group and made it a definite and aggressive force. Mere Cleveland 
opportunism ruled it in 1868, 1872, and 1880. In 1876 party* 
Tilden gave it a positive character, but this was adopted 
for temporary expediency, to take advantage of a situation which the 
folly of its opponents created. The nomination of Cleveland was much 
for the same reason, but once in power he imposed on his supporters 
a positive program, the first since 1856. His principles became demo- 
cratic principles, and the American people fought for or against 
them for several years. 

Cleveland used his own judgment in selecting his cabinet. T. F. 
Bayard, of Delaware, was secretary of state, Daniel Manning, of 
New York, known hitherto for shrewd political management, became 



720 POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC REFORM 

secretary of the treasury, W. C. Endicott, of Massachusetts, secre- 
tary of war, W. C. Whitney, of New York, secretary of the navy, 
A. H. Garland, of Arkansas, attorney-general, W. F. Vilas, 
of Wisconsin, postmaster-general, and L. Q. C. Lamar, 
of Mississippi, secretary of the interior. Bayard, Garland, and 
Lamar were experienced in national affairs, but they were Southerners, 
and by that fact were slightly handicapped. Not one of the four 
others had seen experience in Washington. Endicott's highest office 
hitherto was a judgeship, in which he acquitted himself well, and 
Vilas had served in his state's legislature and presided over the recent 
national nominating convention. At this time the democratic party 
had met its opponents in congress on equal terms for ten years. It 
is indicative of the unformed state of its Northern branch that not 
an experienced man of that wing was called to a cabinet position. 

The president was pledged to support civil service reform. He 
was at once beset by a horde of office seekers, and his supporters 
in congress marshaled them. The recently established 
T e Spoi s- classified service was mostly kept intact, but removals 
for partisanship occurred freely in the unclassified service. 
Vilas created dismay among the reformers by announcing such a 
policy for fourth-class postmasters. The Baltimore post office was 
under civil service rules, but the postmaster there made removals 
and filled the places with democrats, saying in reply to his critics, 
"I am sure my course in this respect has met the approval not only 
of democrats, but also of fair-minded republicans, and I shall not 
concern myself as to the views of Mugwumps." Henry Watterson 
defined offensive partisanship thus: "Officially every man is offensive 
who is not in sympathy with the party in power." In view of this 
feeling Cleveland did well to remove no more than two-thirds of the 
officials not under the civil service rules. He wished to avoid a split 
with his party and announced a policy of equalization which he 
observed in general. Many of the reformers believed he did the best 
he could, but others were displeased and forsook him. 

As a reformer Cleveland, had no sympathy from two groups of 
democrats, a "machine" element somewhat like the "stalwarts" 
among the republicans, and the high tariff democrats of 
cf^^~\ d ^^^ East. Of the former, Senator Gorman was a promi- 
Democrats. ^^^^ leader. He rose to power in Maryland by the ordi- 
nary methods of machine politics, and maintained himself 
through unusual ability. He was a silent, bland, clear-headed man 
an astute leader, and an unyielding opponent. He and the men whom 
he represented had no taste for reform. Tammany Hall, controlling 
the party in New York City, was equally opposed to reform. Gov- 
ernor Hill, of New York, was in sympathy with Tammany and openly 
declared his objections to the administration. His election to the 
United States senate, in 1891, gave an able leader to the malcontents 



CLEVELAND AS TARIFF REFORMER 721 

and a worthy assistant to Senator Gorman. Cleveland was also 
viewed unfavorably by the high tariff democrats. They were led by 
Randall of Pennsylvania and were strong in that state, New York, 
and New Jersey. Randall showed his antipathy to reform in 1886 
by introducing into the house a bill to repeal the Pendleton act. 
The democrats dared not pass it, but it strengthened the mover with 
a certain section of the party. 

Tariff Reform under Cleveland 

The democratic platform of 1884 reflected the divided opinion in 
the party. It merely promised tariff revision in the spirit of fairness 
and without injury to American industry. Cleveland, 
however, went further, and in his first annual message, 
December, 1885, suggested the adoption of a tariff for revenue only. 
A bill to that effect was introduced into the house, but thirty-five 
Randall democrats united with the republicans to prevent its consider- 
ation. In the autumn after congress adjourned, 1886, the democratic 
majority in the house was reduced from 40 to 12, and Morrison, leader 
of tariff reform, was among the rejected ones. Symptoms of panic 
appeared in the party, but they did not reach the president. In the 
message of 1886 he renewed his arguments for reduction. Congress 
paid no heed, and the short session passed without a tariff bill. 

The situation within the party was now little less than war. Cleve- 
land felt that he must win his fight by appealing to the country over 
the heads of the congressmen. His annual message of 
1887 was entirely devoted to the tariff. He demanded a Tf^*^ . 

• JVXcssflSfG or 

tariff for revenue and pointed out most forcibly the dangers jgg„_ 

of surplus financiering. He disclaimed the advocacy of 

free trade, which his opponents imputed to him, and said, in a phrase 

that was often repeated, "It is a condition that confronts us, not a 

theory." 

The message was followed by the Mills bill, 1888, in which the duties 
were to be reduced from an average of 47 per cent to an average of 40 per 
cent. It rejected horizontal reduction, embodied in the 
Morrison bill, and gradual reduction through the enlarge- gj^ ^ggg^ 
ment of the free list, embodied in the ill-fated bill of 1886, 
and took up the task of general revision, schedule by schedule. The 
president watched the bill closely as it went through the house by 
a majority of 13, and was believed to have secured its passage by 
threatening to veto bills for public buildings. It was not considered 
in the senate, where the republicans ruled and were preparing a bill 
expressive of their own ideas. Each bill was really a manifesto for use 
in the election then at hand. 



3A 



722 POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC REFORM 

The Election of 1888 

In 1887 Cleveland's chances for nomination were considered doubt- 
ful, and Hill, the leading anti-Cleveland man and favorite of the 

New York democracy, was much talked of. But Cleve- 
Rl^n^'*°** land's course in the following winter and spring removed 
nated. ^^^ ^his doubt. He gave his party its issue and was so 

evidently the logical candidate that even Hill said he 
should be nominated. He was chosen without opposition by the 
party convention at St. Louis, June 5, and Allen G. Thurman, of 
Ohio, was named for his running-mate. The platform was all Cleve- 
land wished. 

This situation pleased the republicans, who believed that so many 

tariff democrats would join them that they must surely win. Their 

. most likely candidate was Blaine, who had lost little 

NoSnated ^^ ^^^ popularity through the defeat of 1884. He was 

traveling in Europe in the first half of the year and would 
not say whether or not he desired the nomination. Either his health, 
or the fear of defeat, or an aversion to another campaign of personal 
abuse finally decided him, and he definitely declined at the very time 
the party convention met in Chicago, June 19. Several other candi- 
dates were before the convention. Blaine, in withdrawing, suggested 
Benjamin Harrison, of Indiana, and after three days of balloting he 
was selected, with Levi P. Morton, of New York, candidate for the 
vice-presidency. The platform was long, but its most important 
plank gave open allegiance to "the American system of protection" 
and — with a squint at the surplus — demanded liberal appro- 
priations for the navy and pensions. 

The campaign was noted for a freer use of money by both sides 
than hitherto. The democrats, spite of the Pendleton act, are 

believed to have received large contributions from the 
The Cam- officeholders, as well as from other sources. The repub- 
1888. licans could not appeal to this class, but they had a greater 

resource in the manufacturers. The solicitation of funds 
from such persons was popularly called "fat-frying." It was beUeved 
that votes were freely purchased. Probably both sides were guilty, 
but the greatest blame was laid at the door of the republicans. 
Dudley, treasurer of the republican fund, is known to have written 
to a lieutenant in Indiana, "Divide the floaters into blocks of five 
and put a trusted man with the necessary funds in charge of these 
five, and make him responsible that none get away, and that all 
vote our ticket." 

New York was again the deciding state, and several causes united 
to make it favorable to Harrison. In the first place he had not the 
bitter enemies who opposed Blaine in 1884. Also, Tilden's friends in 
the state were discontented because they thought their leader had 



CLASSES OF POLITICIANS 723 

received scant courtesy from the democratic administration. Some 
of the civil service reformers were disappointed in Cleveland's ap- 
pointments. More important than all else was Tam- 
many's open defection. It was charged that its devotees Ei"ted° 
"traded" Cleveland votes to elect their champion, 
David B. Hill, governor of the state. The fact that he ran ahead 
of Cleveland at the polls by 14,491 votes and was elected seems 
to prove the charge. All these things, irrespective of the tariff 
question, would have accounted for the change from a democratic 
plurality of 1149 in 1884 to the Harrison plurality of 13,002 in 1888. 
The electoral vote was Harrison 233, and Cleveland 168, but in the 
popular vote the democrats had a plurality of 100,000. 

The Republican Party in a New Stage 

If the democrats showed a renewal of life the republicans showed 
even more plainly that they were entering on new conditions. The 
party was a more perfect machine and less under presi- 
dential authority than ever before. Moreover, the per- ^g^g^g 
sonnel was shifting. In it Sumner had no modern counter- 
part, Schurz and the liberals were in revolt and acting with the enemy, 
Garfield had no successor, and even Conkling, powerful through his 
intellect, could not be matched in an organization which surrendered 
itself to men like Senators Quay of Pennsylvania and Piatt of New 
York. Bishop Potter characterized them as holding "the conception 
of the national government as a huge machine existing mainly for 
the purpose of rewarding partisan service." A group of new men of 
a better type existed in congress, McKinley and Thomas B. Reed 
being the most conspicuous examples, but they did not shake them- 
selves loose from the control of the machine. Of the older group 
only Blaine and John Sherman remained; both were weakened in 
health, and were borne along by forces they could not control. Blaine 
became secretary of state in the new cabinet and lent it the prestige 
of his name. Windom, of Minnesota, a politician rather than a fin- 
ancier, became secretary of the treasury, Redfield Proctor, of Ver- 
mont, secretary of war, Benjamin F. Tracy, of New York, secretary 
of the navy, W. H. H. Miller, of Indiana, attorney-general, John 
Wanamaker, of Pennsylvania, postmaster-general, John W. Noble, 
of Missouri, secretary of the interior, and Jeremiah M. Rusk, of Wis- 
consin, secretary of agriculture. They proved themselves good heads 
of department, for all they were unknown to the country. Wana- 
maker's appointment occasioned much comment because 
it was known he had made a large contribution to the cabinet 
campaign funds, and public opinion persisted in thinking 
the office was Quay's reward for it. He had risen to prominence as 
a successful proprietor of a department store in Philadelphia. 



724 POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC REFORM 

The republicans now controlled both branches of congress for the 

first time in eight years, and were determined to enact their party 

program. In the house obstruction had become a power- 

r^l^fr iT* ful weapon, and this must be broken down. A common 
Obstruction. i i r i r • i • i • 

method of defeatmg legislation was to consume time m 

dilatory motions. Another was for the minority to fail to answer a 
roll call when a few of the majority were absent and to raise the point 
of no quorum, which by the constitution must be a majority of the 
house. The republicans employed both methods freely when in the 
minority, but were now determined to abolish them. Thomas B. 
Reed, the new speaker, a blunt man who could not be confused, was 
just the man to carry out their wishes. 

The session opened with much filibustering in the house. Finally 
on January 21, 1890, Reed refused to appoint tellers on a democratic 
motion to adjourn. The omission would have been a 
P " serious breach of duty had the motion been made in good 

faith, but it was plainly dilatory, and the house sustained 
him. He also announced he would entertain no such motions in the 
future. The democrats were angry, but they became still more en- 
raged eight days later when he counted a quorum. When a motion 
was put there were 161 yeas, 2 nays, and 165 not voting, the last 
being democrats. The usual point of "No quorum voting" was 
made, when to the surprise of the minority Reed began calling the 
names of democrats before him and ordered the clerk to record them 
as present. A storm of protests arose in which mingled cries of 
"revolutionary," "unconstitutional," and "usurpation." Bland 
shouted in the face of the speaker, "You are not a tyrant to rule over 
this house or the members of this house in any such way, and I de- 
nounce you as the worst tyrant that ever presided over a deliberative 
body." Reed paid no heed to the storm, but continued calling the 
names of the democrats, remarking several times, "The chair must 
proceed in an orderly manner." The wrangle lasted a fortnight, and 
ended only when a rule was adopted to allow the speaker to count as 
present members he saw before him. This rule and another against 
dilatory motions were adopted by counting a quorum. Reed's pro- 
ceedings caused much comment out of doors. Democrats generally 
pronounced him a "Czar," but as the atmosphere cleared, his position 
was indorsed by fair-minded people, and the democrats at the next 
session in organizing the house felt constrained to accept it, although 
they gave the rules committee and not the speaker the deciding 
function. 

The McKinley Tariff and the Surplus 

The obstructionists muzzled, the majority turned to the double task 
outlined in the platform of 1888. There should be a new tariff con- 



REPUBLICANS IN ENTIRE CONTROL 725 

sonant with the aggressive school of protection, and the surplus 
should be reduced. Harrison expressed both ideas in 
his inaugural and in his first annual message, and con- p°^^^ 
gress willingly carried out his suggestion. 

While the house was closing its long debate on the Mills bill in the 
early autumn of 1888, the republican senate prepared a tariflf bill of 
its own, a kind of manifesto of protection for effect in 
the election. In the following short session it passed the ??® 
bill as a substitute for the Mills bill, and here the matter xariffr ^^ 
rested when the session ended in March. The bill sup- 
plied a working program for the next congress which, soon after 
convening, sent it to the ways and means committee, William Mc- 
Kinley, Jr., chairman. In a short time it came back with a few 
changes and was known as the McKinley bill. It easily passed the 
house and finally got through the senate after the "Silver Senators" 
were conciliated by the passage of the Sherman silver law. But the 
debates were long and the bill did not became law until October i, 
five weeks before the congressional elections of 1890. The chief 
features were as follows : 

I. The duties on agricultural products were slightly raised to please 
the rural West ; but raw sugar, yielding a total revenue of $55,000,000, 
was put on the free list, and a bounty of two cents a pound j. p j^ 
for four years was offered to domestic sugar producers. 
As the latter raised a small part of the amount consumed, there was 
in this schedule a net loss of revenue of a little less than $50,000,000. 
A duty was placed on refined sugar to protect the American refiners. 

2. The rates on bulky iron articles were little changed; in some cases 
they were actually lowered. This was because the seat of such manu- 
facturing was now in the Pittsburg-Cleveland region, and freights 
from seaboard to that district gave a large amount of protection. 

3. Less bulky articles, as woollens, cottons, and shoes, produced near 
the coast line, were given higher rates, often disguised by a compli- 
cated combination of specific and ad valorem duties. Some schedules 
were so high as to raise the suspicion that they were designed to exclude 
imports. 

4. Through Blaine's efforts a system of reciprocity was adopted, 
intended to secure trade from South American states. While the 
bill was being considered, a Pan-American congress was j^^^. ^^^.^ 
in session in Washington under the special patronage of 
the secretary of state. He desired mutual concessions by which South 
American products would come to us freely in exchange for our flour 
and manufactured articles. Congress ignored him, for all his protest- 
ing and scolding, until when the bill was near its adoption the senate 
grafted on it a reciprocity clause. In its final form it provided that 
hides, molasses, tea, and coffee, as well as sugar, be free ; but if the 
president thought a state producing these articles charged unfair 



726 POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC REFORM 

duties against us, he might impose duties on them at specified rates. 

In this form reciprocity was a club with which it was proposed to force 

our neighbors into concessions. Through it in 1892 we got reduction 

of duties in Cuba, Porto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, 

Trinidad, Barbados, British Guiana, Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, 

Gautemala, and Brazil, and some slight reductions in Germany and 

France. Only Colombia, Venezuela, and Haiti were disciplined 

for refusing to make concessions. 

In his first annual message Harrison suggested liberal appropriations 

for pensions, naval construction, and coast defenses, and the hint 

was not lost on congress. The economies of the demo- 

icy o cj-ats were thrown aside, and much was heard about ex- 
Generosity. ,. . , . .11 T • r 1 

penditures m keepmg with the dignity of the nation. 
When the congress of 1891-1893 ended it had won the title of "the 
billion dollar congress." Reed expressed the feeling of his political 
friends in the retort, "This is a billion dollar country." 

The most notable increase was for pensions. Both parties feared to 
antagonize the soldier vote, and certain politicians had learned the 

art of utilizing it by asking for grants in behalf of the sol- 
B "^rels diers which no one dared refuse. Most of these grants 

were good. No one desired to be parsimonious with the 
men who saved the union ; but there was danger that the process 
should run into extravagance. It might even become a means of 
debasing the elections. At first, relief was given to disabled soldiers 
and their dependent relatives. Under this plan there were 234,821 
pensioners in 1875 receiving $29,270,407 annually. Garfield declared 
this was probably the highest point to which pensions would rise ; 
but in 1879 arrears were granted increasing the cost by $25,000,000 
a year; and by 1885 the cost of pensions was $65,171,937. Besides 
this, each session of congress saw the enactment of many private 
pension bills, granting relief where the laws would not apply. Many 
such bills were worthy ones ; but they were rarely inspected closely, 
and had come to be granted as favors to members through a 
"courtesy" analagous to "senatorial courtesy." The presidents 
formerly signed these bills as a matter of course, but Cleveland in- 
vestigated them, and vetoed many which he thought involved fraud. 
At this time the republicans carried through congress a bill giving 
twelve dollars a month to each old soldier dependent on his own or 
another person's labor, and Cleveland vetoed this also. He was 
widely criticized as a foe to the veterans, and the republican platform 
of 1888 demanded "in the presence of an overflowing treasury" leg- 
islation to keep old soldiers from dependence on public or private 
charity. 

Thus committed, the party did not hesitate to take up a more liberal 
pension policy. "Corporal" Tanner, accepted representative of the 
soldier vote, became commissioner of pensions, and was said to have 



THE SURPLUS BECOMES A DEFICIT 727 

exclaimed, " God help the surplus revenue ! " He passed claims freely, 
and even looked up persons, some of them rich men, whom he thought 
ought to be pensioned. He was so active that Harrison 
removed him within a year. The pension act which P®°|io'i^iU 
Cleveland vetoed now became law. As a result, the ap- 
propriation for this purpose rose from $89,000,000 in 1889 to 
$159,000,000 in 1893. It remained at nearly the latter amount until 
191 2, when by the Sherwood act, which neither party was willing 
to oppose, additional gifts were made, bringing up the annual expen- 
diture to $180,000,000. The act of 1890, like its successor of 191 2, 
was of twofold purpose ; it was intended to reduce the surplus and 
thus save protection, and to have influence on the elections. To 
carry it into operation the government has paid since its enactment 
over a billion and a quarter of dollars. 

The large sums voted for the navy occasioned more satisfaction. 
By 1880 wooden ships were discarded in European navies, but they 
continued the rule in the United States. Secretary of the 
Navy Hunt, a Southerner whom Garfield appointed, took ^ 
up the task of improvement, and in 1883 two steel cruisers 
were ordered. Secretary Whitney, under Cleveland, continued to 
urge enlargement, and in 1888 he secured $17,000,000 for that purpose. 
These plans were unrealized when Cleveland went out of office, but 
the liberal gifts under his successor increased the strength of the navy, 
so that in 1893 it contained 22 steel ships and had risen from twelfth 
to fifth place among the navies of the world. 



The Tariff Legislation of 1892-1897 

When congress met in 1889 the surplus was $105,000,000. By aban- 
doning the sugar duties and levying prohibitive duties in other sched- 
ules the revenue shrank nearly $100,000,000. At the same 
time the republicans spent so largely that had some of '^^^ 
the items not required a long time for completion there ^^.^ and*^ 
must have been an annual deficit. Seven months after Finances, 
the McKinley bill was passed the treasury ceased to buy 
bonds except to fulfill the requirements of the sinking fund. The 
next year even this went by default, and in 1892 came the first quar- 
ter's deficit in many years. It was a new experience to most of the 
people, and impressed them deeply. Harrison was alarmed, and made 
efforts to check the spirit of extravagance he had let loose. Tanner 
was sent off and granting pensions was curbed, but the swollen lists 
could not be reduced. Pressure on congressional committees tem- 
pered the appropriations of 1891, and a phenomenal wheat crop, 1891, 
resulted in large importations of merchandise which increased the 
revenues and saved the administration from serious embarrassment. 



728 POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC REFORM 

Outside of congress the tariff aroused opposition. Merchants raised 
their prices and attributed it to the McKinley bill. Abroad we were 

charged with raising a Chinese wall around our trade, 
of Ts^o"^ Importations decreased, to the great loss of the merchants. 

A month after the bill passed, when its unpopularity was 
highest, came the congressional elections. The result in the house 
was 235 democrats, 88 republicans, and g Farmers' Alliance can- 
didates, a republican loss of 88 seats. 

The popular dissatisfaction lasted for two years, and in 1892 Cleve- 
land was elected president on the tariff issue (see page 753). He 

proposed a moderate reduction and readjustment to meet 
BiU 18* ^°° ^^^ large revenue needs which the permanent expenditures 

of the republicans fixed on the government. He had his 
way in the house, where William L. Wilson, of West Virginia, was 
chairman of the ways and means committee. He was a scholarly 
man, once a college professor, and always a student of finance. The 
bill he reported December 19, 1893, was the result of much labor, and 
its chief features were: i. Free raw material, as lumber, wool, coal, 
and iron ore. This would to some extent recoup the manufactures 
for reduction of duties on manufactured products. 2. It reduced 
appreciably the duties on most factory-made articles, as silks, 
woollens, cottons, glass, and crockery. 3. To repair the deficiency in 
revenues which would thus ensue, it raised the internal revenue tax 
on liquors and laid a tax on incomes more than $4000. The last fea- 
ture was afterwards declared unconstitutional. 

The house bill also provided for free sugar, raw and refined. This 
brought a protest from the American Sugar Refining Company, 

popularly called the sugar trust. Since freight was cheaper 
Schedufe "^ on refined sugar and the cost of refining was greater in the 

United States, the proposition gave advantage to the for- 
eign refiner ; but the sugar trust was very unpopular, and the house 
was disposed to let it stand on its own legs. It found a friendlier 
spirit in the senate. In the first place, the Louisiana senators opposed 
free sugar unless the bounty of 1890 was continued. As the vote was 
close they were an important factor. The senate, therefore, placed 
40 per cent duty ad valorem on raw sugar and added one-eighth of 
one cent a pound on refined. This was done after a long and doubtful 
debate in which the chances for the refiners' clause rose and fell day 
by day. Its adoption meant a yearly profit of probably $20,000,000 
for the sugar trust, whose stock rose and fell with chances for adoption. 
Finally, by the votes of a few senators under the leadership of Gorman 
and Brice, the duty was accepted. The press charged that senators 
speculated in this stock, whose value was so much affected by their 
votes. An investigation was ordered, but as the stockbrokers re- 
fused to testify it was impossible to obtain satisfactory light. Quay 
admitted having bought stock, but denied that this influenced his vote. 



DEFECTS OF DEMOCRATIC BILL 729 

The affair left an indelible blot on the fame of the upper house. The 
senate thought the bill inadequate to the needs of the revenue, and 
raised many other schedules, robbing it of its distinctively ^.^^ ^ 

low tariff features. The house accepted it unwillingly, Gorman aS! 
and it went to the president with the duties at about 
the level of the bill of 1883. Cleveland felt the situation keenly: 
the bill undid the McKinley advances and did no more. It was a sur- 
render of all he fought for in 1888, and involved, as he said plainly, 
party dishonor. He would not sign it, nor would he veto it, but left 
it to become law in ten days without presidential approval. 

As a revenue measure the bill proved a failure. It did not escape 
from a system the protectionists had long ago saddled on the revenue 
system, of reducing duties on non-protected articles in 
order to maintain them on articles of domestic manufac- p^^j^'J^^f 
ture. The free list was witness of this. If the democrats ^he Act. 
had possessed the courage to lay fair duties on such articles 
and to rely on a reduction of the other schedules to give relief to the 
consumer, they would have made a bill more in keeping with true 
tariff reform. Probably that was the only way to meet the deficit 
which the McKinley law created. 

The Wilson- Gorman bill was passed at an inopportune time. 1893 
and 1894 were years of industrial depression. The deficit which the 
McKinley bill produced was not repaired by the new law. 
To meet expenses the secretary of the treasury must use ^£5^1(1. ^^ 
part of the gold reserve, and bonds were sold to support 
specie payment by the government. In the long struggle against 
business depression the democratic party lost public confidence. In 
1894 its total majority of 83 was supplanted by a total republican ma- 
jority of 136, and it ceased to be responsible for the national finances. 
In 1896 it dared not fight the conflict on the tariff issue. What 
other plans the old leaders might have had were not developed, for 
the silver men in the West and South set them aside, reorganized 
the party on a silver basis, took William J. Bryan for their chieftain, 
and moved to the battle in utter disregard of the wishes of the East. 
The republicans nominated McKinley, protection's champion, and 
defeated their opponents in a campaign in which silver and protection 
were both prominent issues. The failure of the existing law to pro- 
vide ample revenue gave them opportunity to revise the tariff, and the 
result was the Dingley bill, of 1897. Its provisions were as follows : 

On woollens, cottons, silk, linens, glass, and crockery the rates 
varied little from the tariff of 1890, and the duty on raw wool was 
restored. On iron and steel products the lower rates of 
1894 were retained. Wonderful developments in these Tariff Act*^ 
lines had transferred the seat of manufacture to the Pitts- 
burg-Cleveland region, and the high freights on such products from the 
seaboard to this region gave it as much protection as was needed. 



730 POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC REFORM 

The same was true of copper, which was left on the free list as in 1894. 
The duty on raw sugar was doubled and the differential of protection 
for the refiner was maintained. 

The Dingley bill provided sufficient revenue, and through a period 
of twelve years after its passage tariff reform was quiescent. The 
attack of the Cleveland democracy showed that protec- 
^"^^''!i.°'^® tion was very strongly fortified in our economic system. 
Agitation. Capital and labor both felt themselves interested in perpet- 
uating it. The progress of urban life, so largely dependent 
on factory labor and internal commerce, widened the basis of the 
movement. In the eighties the tariff reform sentiment of the West 
centered in the old Northwest. In the nineties this region was mostly 
for protection. After ten years of the Dingley bill a new area of 
reform was influential in the agricultural states beyond the Mississippi. 
Through cooperation with the South, always for tariff reform in the 
main, it began the agitation resulting in the Payne- Aldrich tariff 
of 1909 (see page 837). 

BIBLOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

For general works see: Sparks, National Development (1907) ; Dewey, National 
Problems (1907) ; Wilson, History of the American People, 5 vols. (1902) ; Stanwood, 
History of the Presidency (1898); Peck, Twenty Years of the Republic (1905); An- 
drews, The United States in Our Own Times (1903) ; Curtis, The Republican Party, 
2 vols. (1904); and Johnston, American Politics (ed. 1894). The sources are the 
same as for the preceding chapter. 

For biographies see : Parker, Grover Cleveland (1909) ; Whittle, Grover Cleveland 
(1896) ; Gilder, Grover Cleveland (1910) ; Parker, Writings artd Speeches of Cleveland 
(1892), none of these books adequately describe the work of Cleveland; Burton, 
John Sherman (1906) ; Sherman, Recollections of Forty Years, 2 vols. (1895) ; White, 
Autobiography, 2 vols. (1905); Hoar, Autobiography, 2 vols. (1903); McClure, 
Recollections (1902) ; Stanwood, James G. Blaine (1905) ; Hamilton [Dodge], Bi- 
ography of Blaine (1895); Dingley, Life and Times of Nelson Dingley, Jr. (1902); 
Byars, Life and Times of R. P. Bland (1900); and Hedges, Benjamin Harrison: 
Speeches (1892). 

On tariff history see: Taussig, Tariff History of the United States (ed. 1905), 
opposed to protection; Stanwood, American Tariff Controversies, 2 vols. (1903), 
favors protection; and Curtiss, Industrial Development of Nations, 3 vols. (191 2); 
Howe, Taxation under the Internal Revenue System, lygi-iSgs (1896) ; and Dewey, 
Financial History of the United States (1903). 

On civil service reform see : Fish, Civil Service and the Patronage (Harvard Studies, 
1905) ; Tyler, Parties and Patronage (1888) ; Curtis, Orations and Addresses, 3 vols. 
(1893) ; Eaton, Government of Municipalities (1899) ; and the reports of the national 
civil service commission (1884). 

The periodical literature of the time is indispensable to the student. The follow- 
ing are most valuable and accessible : The Forum (New York) ; The Nation (New 
York); The Independent (New York); The North American Review (New York): 
Harper's Weekly (New York) ; and The Atlantic Monthly (Boston.) 

For Independent Reading 

Gilder, Grover Cleveland (1910) ; McClure, Recollections (1902) ; Austen, Moses 
Coit Tyler (191 1) ; and Storey and Emerson, Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar (191 1). 



CHAPTER XXXV 

GREAT INDUSTRIAL COMBINATIONS 
Combinations as Historical Factors 

In the Middle Ages a multitude of competing fiefs were gradually 
united in strong hands in obedience to the law of the survival of the 
fittest. Much suffering accompanied the process, and the 
immediate result was despotism, but gradually the en- '^}^^ P"^- 
larged units of government transformed despotism into r b- 
a rule of nationality out of which eventually came self- tion. 
governing states. The last phase could not have been 
attained if, in the beginning, the jangling fiefs had not been absorbed. 
The analogy between the early stages of this process and the recent 
development of industrial combinations has often been remarked. It 
is impossible to predict what the future will bring forth, but it would 
be singular if the process stops where it is and if out of the existing 
concentration of industrial forces there should not come a greater 
degree of popular control than has hitherto obtained. 

Combination in industry appeared in America in the earliest stages 
of settlement. The forests were hardly cleared before the small 
farms began to be bought up by the successful settlers; 
and the New England cod fisheries were no more than ^^^^^ ^P". 
fairly established before the small fishermen began to be America! "* 
replaced by large fishermen. In agriculture and in cod 
fishing the limit of profitable combination was soon reached. But 
in the era of great capitalistic enterprise, made possible by improved 
communications, larger markets, and abundant capital, the limits 
were wide. The world was amazed when great enterprises began to 
eat up small ones and establish monopolies. For railroads the unify- 
ing process began before the civil war, but for other kinds of industry 
it was a post-bellum affair. 

Before the coming of consolidation the competitive regime existed. 
Acting on the laissez-faire theory men felt that industry would thrive 
best if unregulated, and that the abuse of one man would 
be restrained by his opponent, each underbidding the The Com- 
other to the advantage of the patrons. When competitors system 
had free access to the same large markets, competition 
became severe. There were price wars between merchants and manu- 
facturers and rate wars between railroads, each cutting the throat of 

731 



732 GREAT INDUSTRIAL COMBINATIONS 

the other if he could and saving his own in the best way possible. 
The competitive system was immoral and wasteful, and the public 
had to pay for it eventually. 

Against this were placed the advantages of combination. Relief 
from underselling was most notable, and after it came better and 

less expensive direction, readier command of capital. 
Advantages ability to get cheaper raw material, and the advantage of a 
Conibhia-°^ market monopoly. While these things benefited the com- 
mon, bining interests, they were liable to be disadvantageous 

to the patrons, and out of this grew many efforts at re- 
striction. The fields in which combination has gone furthest are 
railroads, great manufacturing enterprises or trusts, and banking 
consolidation. A parallel tendency, as many persons think, is labor 
organizations, whose purpose is to control labor as a commodity, to 
protect it against the employers, and to fix the wages which the em- 
ployers must pay. The problems arising out of these four forms of 
combinations — railroads, trusts, banking systems, and labor unions 
— are fundamental in our recent history. 

Railroad Combinations 

Railroads came into existence in Great Britain about the time they 
were first used in the United States, but as the country was smaller 
, than ours and more densely settled, the English develop- 
ment was more rapid. The processes of growth were, 
however, the same. First, there were many small lines, built to an- 
swer local demands and frequently to give competition between the 
same places. Most of them were constructed before 1850. Immedi- 
ately began a process of absorption which lasted until 1870. Bank- 
rupt roads were bought by richer lines, sometimes there was a merger 
by common consent, and sometimes a rival was purchased as the best 
means of ending its opposition. The people of England had relied 
on competition to protect them from unfair rates. They were alarmed 
at the advance of the process of amalgamation, and the statute books 
filled with laws and the court dockets with lawsuits to restrain it. 
Nothing availed, and they began to think they must revise from the 
foundation the theory of railroad management. Some persons be- 
lieved state ownership the solution, but this was against the English 
spirit and made little headway. Finally the country came in 1873 to 
a solution which since then has been in practice with moderate satis- 
faction. It was decided to retain the great systems, consolidated 
under the operation of natural laws, and to establish a railroad com- 
mission with power to regulate rates, forbid evil practices, and enforce 
its decisions. It was expected that the commission would have much 
trouble to bring the railroads to obey its mandates. The result 
was otherwise. The removal of competition destroyed many of the 



ORIGIN OF THE GREAT SYSTEMS 733 

causes of the trouble, and the roads were as willing to operate their 
lines to the best advantage of the public as broad justice demanded. 
Thus the work of the commission was simplified. In the United 
States railroad development ran through the same three 
stages of progress, small roads, consolidated lines, and ?? *|*® 
great systems under the supervision of a railroad com- states, 
mission. It has taken longer for the process to come to 
completion, but it is not too much to say that American railroads 
under the existing railroad commission have come to a state nearly 
like that of the roads in Great Britain. 

Consolidation began in the United States about 1850. Eleven 
companies once owned the line from Albany to Buffalo, but by this 
time they were reduced to seven. By 1857 these were 
under one management, and a year later valuable tribu- ^°^ 
tary lines had been acquired. Thus was built up the Mountains, 
main section of the New York Central system under the 
domination of Cornelius Vanderbilt. The completion of the Erie 
from New York to the lake in 1851 gave a rival system, one not made 
up of short lines, but built outright with much difficulty in financing. 
Another system was the Pennsylvania, which reached Pittsburg in 
1852. It grew up under the direction of Thomas A. Scott, long its 
president, as daring and able in railroad management as the president 
of the Central. Still another great road from tidewater to the trans- 
montane region was the Baltimore and Ohio, which reached the Ohio 
river in 1851. Meantime, there was much railroad building in the 
West. The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern connected Buffalo 
and Chicago, and the Rock Island, extending westward from Chicago, 
reached the Mississippi in 1854. Other lines joined Pittsburg and 
Chicago, and from the latter city and St. Louis radiated many roads 
which kept pace with the march of population into the waste places. 
Already there was great rivalry between St. Louis and Chicago for 
the distributing trade of the West. The former lost in importance, 
and the advantages of river transportation diminished with the in- 
creased reliance on railroads. Chicago competed keenly for the new 
lines of communication, and her position at the southern point of the 
lake system and between the mountains and the Mississippi gave 
her an advantage over other points. The line of communication 
was destined to be along parallels of latitude. 

The panic of 1857 arrested railroad development, and the civil war 
prolonged the relaxation of the process. It was not until the late 
sixties that it revived, and then the tide ran strong until 
the panic of 1873. Accompanying this revival was a desire f'^'^^'d *c ^* 
for a further consolidation. It manifested itself in the tinent. 
unification with the Central, of the Hudson River road, 
from New York to Albany, and in the lease by the same line of the 
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern. Thus the Vanderbilt system was 



734 GREAT INDUSTRIAL COMBINATIONS 

able to ship in bulk from Chicago to the seaboard. The Pennsylvania 
was not a whit behind its rival. In 1S69 it leased the Pittsburg, Fort 
Wa}Tie and Chicago, and got its o'mi access to the gateway of Western 
trade. The same result was secured by the Baltimore and Ohio in 
1S74 by building an extension from the Ohio to Chicago; and the 
Grand Trunk in the same year was able to touch the Western traffic 
at Milwaukee. In 18S2 two other lines were constructed to Chicago, 
the West Shore and the Nickel Plate. The Erie was not willing to 
lose the trade that might come to it, and achieved the same goal by 
building a connecting link. These, with the Pacific roads (see page 
6S0), were the most important railroad developments of the time, but 
there were many others in various parts of the country. It was an 
era of rapid construction, especially in the newer parts of the country. 
The rate wars which followed between these lines delighted the 
people of Chicago and other competing points. But the roads 

eventually found them expensive and sought to avoid them 
Cooperation ^' cooperation. Such efforts first took shape in simple 

agreements to charge uniform rates. The most notable 
was arranged by Cornelius Wanderbilt between the five lines then 
running from Lake ^Michigan to the seaboard, but after his death in 
1S77 it was abandoned because it was difficult to get the roads to 
keep the agreement. The next expedient was pools, by which the 
roads undertook to pay their profits into the hands of a treasurer of 
the pool who would distribute them again in accordance with a previ- 
ously accepted ratio. The pool, it was thought, removed ail incentive 
to underselling. But the roads would not keep the terms of the con- 
tract, and pools were eventually abandoned. A general practice 
was secret rebates to special shippers. They were given on the 
theory that a large shipper should have a special rate. An un- 
scrupulous bargainer might expect to get very low rates by placing 
one road against another. Still another practice was special rates 
for long hauls where there were competing lines. For example, a car- 
load of freight could be sent from Pittsburg to Cincinnati and thence 
to Philadelphia through Pittsburg more cheaply than from Pittsburg 
to Philadelphia direct. Cincinnati had several lines to Philadelphia, 
and Pittsburg had only one. In the panic of 1873 two-fifths of the 
railroads of the country were in bankruptcy, and 450 went under the 
hammer, a process favorable to consolidation. 

Railroad cooperation and discrimination between shippers and 
shipping points aroused popular opposition, particularly in the grain- 
, growing Northwest, where the people were pecuUarly 

LawT"^*^ dependent on the roads. Then arose a demand for state 

regulations to prevent discrimination and to check con- 
solidation. It was like the English demand, and resulted in railroad 
commissions in many states. It was supported by a farmers' society, 
the Patrons of Husbandry, or "Granges," and the resulting legisla- 



CONTROL OF RAILROADS 735 

don is frequently called the "Granger laws." Illinois, Iowa, Min- 
nesota, and Wisconsin were the scenes of their best success. The 
courts upheld the laws creating the railroad commissions, but said the 
rates must not be confiscatory. The first decisions seemed to imply 
that in the absence of federal law to regulate interstate traffic a state 
law on the subject would be binding. In 1886 this feature was changed 
by a federal decision in the Wabash case, reserving from state juris- 
diction all cases concerning commerce between the states, whether 
a federal law on the matter existed or not. 

Before this there existed a movement for a national railroad com- 
mission, and it was accelerated by the Wabash decision. The result 
was the interstate commerce act of 1887, which made 
some general regulations, and appointed a commission Interstate 
to supervise their execution. The rate-making power ^^^ jgg„^ 
was not granted, but rebates, pools, discriminations, and 
the objectionable long hauls feature were forbidden. The commission 
might investigate violations of the law, but it had of itself no power 
to enforce its decisions, which might be appealed to the courts. 
When this feature of the law was passed on by the supreme court the 
powers of the commissioners were so limited that they retained little 
more than a right to make investigations preliminary to court hearings. 
Judge Thomas M. Cooley, of Michigan, was made head of the com- 
mission. It did much under his direction to gather statistics and in- 
vestigate evils in management, but it had not the power to remedy 
the conditions it thought bad. Rebates and discriminations went on 
as before, with only a little more secrecy. In 1898 the report of the 
commissioners declared with hopeless frankness: ''A large part of 
the business at the present time is transacted upon illegal rates. 
Indeed, so general has this rule become that in certain quarters the 
exaction of the published rate is the exception." 

Meanwhile, there was an accumulation of popular wrath against 
the railroads. By supporting expensive lobbies in the national and 
state capitals, by using all the advantages of great wealth in defending 
cases in court, and by discriminating between shippers, they lost the 
confidence of many farmers and small business men. Manipulation 
by railroad directors in the interest of their own stock speculations, 
and even the wrecking of a road in order to buy it in again, were freely 
charged, and the charges served to heighten popular distrust. The 
contest became bitter, and such epithets as "soulless corporations" 
and "demagogery" were freely exchanged. Undoubtedly the charges 
on each side contained exaggerations. But the opponents of the 
roads were strong in state legislatures, and although some of their 
efforts to deal with the problem contained crude ideas of social jus- 
tice, they carried forward the cause of efficient popular control of 
great economic factors. 



736 GREAT INDUSTRIAL COMBINATIONS 

Trusts 

To consolidate manufactures was more difficult than to consolidate 
railroads, partly because of the large number of the former as compared 
with the latter, partly because railroads are generally 
Combina- natural monopolies, and partly because of the relative 
Manu- ^^^^ ^^ enlisting capital in behalf of railroad enterprises. 

factures. The advantages of combination were realized by manu- 
facturers as early as 1870, when railroad consolidation was 
well on the way. But the impediments discouraged the boldest men 
from attempting it. Yet each year it became an easier matter, and 
this was from several causes : i . In the three decades after the civil 
war there was a notable tendency for the particular branches of manu- 
facturing to produce a larger output in a smaller number of plants, 
2, This was made possible by abundant free capital. The civil war 
saw a great increase in bonds and currency and in profits derived 
from government contracts of one kind or another. Some of this vast 
amount went into agriculture, some into city real estate, some into 
trade, and some into railroads, but a large part of it remained ready 
for exploitation by the captains of industry. 3. Another cause was 
the extension of means of communication. Merchandise was not 
only delivered over larger areas, but traveling salesmen went every- 
where. Consequently, the most efficient factories were able to secure 
the trade which otherwise would have gone to less favorably situated 
enterprises. 4. As this process advanced, the imagination of business 
men was stimulated, and they were eventually in a state of mind to be 
satisfied with nothing less than the entire market in their specific 
lines in a great nation. 

It was for the Standard Oil Company, the second trust organized, 
to demonstrate that manufactures could be organized in monopolistic 
production. The task was made easier because it had to 
Trust *°°^" do with a product found in a narrow region and in wide 
demand throughout the world. In this respect it ap- 
proached the condition of natural monopoly. The success of the 
attempt, however, depended most on the ability of John D. Rocke- 
feller, its head, who had the rarest foresight, patience, will power, and 
sagacity in the selection of his assistants. He began to refine oil in 
Cleveland in 1865 at a time when the business with ordinary care 
yielded a profit of thirty per cent. In his hands it yielded more, and 
by 1870 his company was the largest in Cleveland, and he was revolv- 
ing plans to make it the largest in the oil region. 

His first move to that end came in 1872, when he united with twelve 
of the largest refiners in Pittsburg and the oil fields in forming the 
South Improvement Company. Its business was to ship oil, that is 
to say, to get special railroad rates for the oil it could market. It 
could deliver to any road it chose a large part of the oil business, and 



ROCKEFELLER'S IDEAL 737 

neither the Pennsylvania, Erie, nor New York Central could hold out 
against it. The bargain it made shows the audacity of the men behind 
the company. It provided for a rebate on company oil, 
added the amount of the rebate to oil shipped by indepen- South Im- 
dents, and pledged the roads to pay over that amount to company, 
the company. Thus the combination was able to know 
just how much business its competitors did. The company promised 
the roads that every refiner outside of the company should have op- 
portunity to share in the bargain. How they meant to carry it out is 
seen in what follows. 

Rockefeller first got authority to enlarge his own capital stock. 
He then offered to buy out his rivals for cash or stock in the Standard 
Oil Company, of Cleveland. He told them plainly that 
to refuse would mean their destruction. Most of them jyi^^i^J^ 
refused to sell, then saw the railroad authorities and 
learned of the advantages given the combination, and finally agreed 
to Rockefeller's terms. Thus by three months' negotiation the 
Standard gained control of the Cleveland field and raised its daily 
capacity from 1500 to 10,000 barrels. It now produced over a fifth 
of the refined oil in the country. A furious "oil war" started as soon 
as the independents learned that freights would be raised at the dic- 
tation of the South Improvement Company. So fierce was the feeling 
throughout the oil region in western Pennsylvania and in Pittsburg 
that the roads made a show of annulling the contract, and the legis- 
lature took away the charter of the company. Next was organized 
the National Refiners' Association, controlling four-fifths of the 
country's output. It was really a pool formed to limit production, 
and fix the price of crude petroleum and the market for refined oil. 
It operated a year, and was dissolved in 1873 because it was believed 
that some members did not live up to their agreements. It ended 
the second attempt of Rockefeller to monopolize the oil business. 

He was not discouraged, but he abandoned the hopes of succeeding 
through cooperation. His success in the Cleveland field pointed out 
a better way, i.e. the establishment of ownership or direct 
control by the Standard. Then followed nine years of ^/Exja?" 
patient work for that end. It rested fundamentally on gj^^^ 
the surpassing success of the Standard as a manufacturer. 
Waste was eliminated, by-products were utilized as never before, 
barrels were made in its own cooperage plants, and its own cars and 
docks at the seaboard showed how much it was disposed to cheapen its 
transportation bills. Meanwhile, rebates were always secured. But 
year after year the Standard got its' hands on an increasing number of 
its competitors. Some it bought outright, some it induced to join 
forces, others it leased, and in every case it was careful that the ac- 
quisition should be kept secret. In 1882 this process was complete. 
The ideal of fifteen years was accomplished and the oil interests of the 

3B 



738 GREAT INDUSTRIAL COMBINATIONS 

country were united, and Rockefeller was at their head. It but re- 
mained to organize into a corporation the various properties so 
painfully brought into one circle. It was then that the trust was for- 
mally created. 

The nine years of consolidation were nine years of warfare. All the 
tricks of the competitive regime were here produced, and on a vastly 
Methods larger scale. Underselling was now resorted to with the 

surety of crushing the object aimed at, whereas in the 
regime of smaller traders it was always doubtful how it would result. 
The power of wealth was massed to crush him who dared oppose the 
combination. Promises were violated as freely as in the days when 
thirty salesmen stalked one buyer. And when the combination was 
successful it raised prices to the level of great profits, which, however, 
were not so high as in the days of many producers. The people have 
not yet decided whether or not the combination was economically 
successful, but they are agreed that it was relentlessly organized and 
that it is a natural monopoly. 

In 1882 Rockefeller had secretly brought into his system thirty- 
nine important refiners, producing three-fourths of the oil of the coun- 

try, and he proceeded to bring them into a unified control. 
Organized. ^^^^^ were organized four Standard Oil companies, one 

each in Ohio, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, 
and they took over the property of the combination in the respective 
states. This feature of the plan was public, and existed by state 
charter. To get further union, a central organization was established. 
Nine directors of the Standard Oil Trust were appointed, Rockefeller 
at their head, and to them the holders of stock in the four companies 
surrendered their certificates, receiving in return certificates for similar 
amounts of stock in the trust. The trust directors could not sell the 
stock they took, but held it in trust for the owners, who, however, could 
not demand it back. The trust directors received into their hands all 
the profits of the constituent companies and paid them out to the 
holders of trust certificates. Other companies besides the four men- 
tioned were taken into the trust on the same terms. Each constituent 
company retained ostensibly the management of its own business, but 
in fact it yielded to the suggestion of the central directors, who were 
chosen from the men prominent in the companies. The Standard Oil 
Trust was probably the most powerful business organization in the 
country, yet it existed without a charter, by private agreement, and 
was so secret that its existence was not known outside of Standard 
Oil circles until 1888. 

Then followed an Ohio suit to annul the charter of the constituent 

company in that state : for Ohio law forbade a state 
Dissolved, corporation to surrender control to parties outside of the 

state. The suit was won, but the oil men got leniency by 
promising to dissolve the trust. They dallied about this for some years, 



THE TRUSTS AND STOCK SPECULATION 739 

but at last took refuge in a New Jersey charter. The capital stock of 
the constituent company for New Jersey was enlarged from $10,000,000 
to $110,000,000, and the trust was dissolved, the whole property going 
to the great New Jersey corporation. 

Long before Rockefeller proved that the manufacture of an article 
could be successfully monopolized, other men were establishing 
combinations on the trust plan. The movement be- 
came strong late in the eighties. Some enterprises '^j.^tL 
were established on insecure bases, and in the panic of 1893 
many were seriously crippled. Revived prosperity in 1898- 1902 
brought another wave of trust formation. One ambitious scheme was 
the International Marine Company. It took over at extravagant cash 
prices some of the leading transatlantic lines. Another was the United 
States Shipbuilding Company, which sold stocks and bonds on the false 
assertion that influential foreigners had bought them. The "million- 
aire's panic," as the stringency of 1903 was called, sent several of these 
ventures into bankruptcy. Those that survived profited by a period 
of legal restriction and by the experience of the years. 

The organization of trusts presented an excellent opportunity for 
stock speculation. In most cases the plants of the combining companies 
represented only a part of the stock in the new concerns. 
The rest represented the increased earning capacity of the *"°.^"e**^v 
new enterprise, popularly known as "water." The owners speculation, 
of assimilated plants were paid in bonds, preferred and 
common stock of the trust, and in some cases in cash. To launch a 
trust required a certain amount of cash, and it was usually got from a 
banker in exchange for more than an equal amount of securities in the 
trust. Thus when such an enterprise began there were in the hands 
of the bankers and the former owners of the component companies a 
large amount of securities which it was desired to sell to the public. 
The occasion favored stock manipulation, and the public got the im- 
pression that the opportunity was accepted by many men inside the 
trust directorates. When in 1903 the press began to speak of the "un- 
digested securities" of the newly organized enterprises, a certain 
prominent financier made the apt remark that they were "indigestible 
securities." 

The organization of trusts elicited a great deal of opposition, not 
only from the small competitors who were forced out of business, but 
from a public which sympathized instinctively with the 
losers. This accumulating dislike was manifest in politics to^'x^sts" 
and occasioned the investigations of 1888. The facts 
then revealed were short of the truth ; for it was sometimes impossible 
to inspect the books of the trusts, and some of the officials of these 
great companies refused to testify lest they incriminate themselves. 
But enough was discovered to show how relentless was the war on 
small competitors. The issue became so important in the election of 



740 GREAT INDUSTRIAL COMBINATIONS 

1888 that both political parties were impelled to take action. Decem- 
ber 4, 1889, Senator Sherman introduced the measure now known as 
the Sherman Anti-Trust Law, which passed July 2, 1890, by a large 
non-partisan vote. It declared illegal all contracts to create mo- 
nopolies in restraint of competition and made it a misdemeanor punish- 
able by a $5000 fine or a year's imprisonment to enter into such a 
contract. The law was of wide scope. It included logically any com- 
bination which tended to monopolize the output of the branch of in- 
dustry to which it applied. It made no attempt to distinguish be- 
tween good and bad combinations. It was felt that it was passed to 
satisfy a shallow popular demand, and for several years little disposi- 
tion was shown to execute it. It was to be the basis of later efforts, 
but that is a part of another movement. 

Bank Consolidation 

The progress of trusts suggested the consolidation of banking in- 
terests, and in this Rockefeller took the lead. About 1890 he and 

other Standard Oil men acquired control of the National 
Rocke- Q^^y Bank in New York and increased its capital stock 

System. until at last it was $25,000,000, only $10,000,000 less than 

that of the bank which Jackson destroyed in 1836. Then 
began a series of extensions. Sometimes another bank was bought 
outright, sometimes it merged with the National City Bank, and some- 
times it was merely controlled by having the majority of its stock come 
into the hands of persons prominent in the affairs of that institution. 
About fifty powerful banks in various cities are said to have been 
drawn into this circle. The dozen of these in New York are organized 
in two groups, or "chains," containing, besides banks, trust companies 
and insurance companies. The two "chains" had in 1903 a combined 

capital of $108,000,000, and combined deposits of 
S stem $474,000,000. Side by side with it grew up another great 

system headed by J. P. Morgan and Company, including 
three "chains" with capital in 1903 of $97,000,000 and deposits of 
$472,000,000. The two great systems controlled $205,000,000 of the 
$451,000,000 of banking capital in the city. So vast is their power 
that it is doubtful if any great business enterprise could be started 
successfully without their help. When the tendency to bank con- 
solidation became apparent much was said about "the money trust," 

with power over every other trust. It was alleged that 
Trust "°*^ ^y contracting or expanding the bank reserves it could put 

up or down the prices of stocks as suited the interests of its 
speculating owners. Such a trust was pronounced the climax of all 
the movements toward combination. The passage of time has not 
brought the predicted evils, and it is certain that the concentration of 
banking capital has facilitated the support of the money market in 



PROGRESS OF LABOR UNIONS 741 

times of panic. In 191 2 the Pujo committee, by order of congress, 
investigated the "money trust." After taking much testimony it was 
not able to say that such an organization exists ; but it made evident 
a number of evils which have grown up in connection with the strong 
cooperation that exists among the great banking interests. 

Combinations of Laborers 

When agriculture was the chief American industry, most of the 
laborers were engaged in it. But the development of manufactures, 
mining, mechanical operations, trade, and transportation 
has been rapid and has tended to correct the preponder- E^Tio^ggg 
ance of agricultural laborers. In 1870 our agriculturalists 
were 47.5 per cent of the persons engaged in gainful occupations, in 
1880 they were 44.1 per cent, in 1890 they were 38.1 per cent, and 
in 1900 they were 35.3 per cent; while the non-agriculturalist classes 
just mentioned were 31. i per cent in 1870, 32.4 per cent in 1880, 38.5 
per cent in 1890, and 40.6 per cent in 1900. As this second group 
constitutes the laborers usually organized into unions, it will be seen 
how the significance of the labor problem grows with the relative in- 
crease of the non-agricultural laboring class. 

Local labor unions existed in the United States from the beginning 
of the nineteenth century. In 1850 the printers founded the first 
national union, and by i860 twenty- five other trades were 
similarly organized. The civil war did not interrupt the tj^ ^g* °^ 
process, and in 1866 a national labor union was estab- 
lished, chiefly to agitate for an eight-hour law for federal employees. 
It got its desire in 1869, but the act was long unenforced. In 1872 
the national organization essayed more active political partisanship 
and fell into confusion. Laborers were not willing to give up political 
associations at the behest of the labor leaders. 

In 1869 Uriah S. Stephens, a Philadelphia garment cutter, estab- 
lished the ICnights of Labor, a secret organization. It received mem- 
bers irrespective of trades and aimed to have a grand anny 
of laborers, strong enough to force the world to respect ^^ Labor 
their rights. The founder insisted on secrecy, but some 
of the members opposed him in this respect and won their battle in 
1 88 1. A leader in the new faction was Terence V. Powderly, twice 
elected mayor of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and destined to be for 
several years grand master of the Knights. He had real ability, and 
became in Cleveland's second administration head of the national 
immigration bureau. After 1881 the organization gained in member- 
ship. The ideal of a strong militant movement for labor pleased the 
workingmen, and local chapters were established in all parts of the 
country. These developments attracted much attention, particularly 
among the politicians, and great fears were entertained lest it should 



742 GREAT INDUSTRIAL COMBINATIONS 

become a ruling force in politics. Under this impression its member- 
ship was greatly exaggerated. In 1886 rumor put it at 5,000,000, 
which was seven times the right number. The leaders of the Knights 
were themselves carried away at the prospect of great power, they coun- 
tenanced the alarm of the outside world and worked zealously for the 
extension of membership. In 1886 they had thus taken 
Element ^^ many men of radical ideas, some of them anarchists 
recently arrived in the country. The conservative element 
were able to stop the influx of such men by suspending the enlistment of 
members, but those already admitted urged a violent policy, stimulated 
the resentment of the rank and file of the order against capitalists, and 
carried into operation several ill-advised strikes. They led a move- 
ment for a general eight-hour day, and May i, 1886, was set for the 
time at which labor would put it into force. When the employers 
generally refused to yield, a great many small and some large strikes 
followed. Much confusion existed, but the object of the strikers 
was not attained. 

In April a great strike occurred on the railroads of the Gould system 
centering in St. Louis. It began when the Texas and Pacific, one of 
the roads in the system, discharged a foreman for cause at 
L^*' ^ str'k ^^^^ Worth. The officials of the Knights ordered a strike 
of 1886. because he was not reinstated on demand. It soon ex- 
tended to the whole system, and the situation became 
critical in St. Louis. Here the Knights of Labor were under the in- 
fluence of Martin Irons, a violent man who kept his supporters keyed 
up to a high pitch of excitement. The strikers resorted to violence 
and set at defiance the small detachment of federal troops sent to the 
city. Special constables sworn in for the occasion were not very 
effective, the mob spirit grew, railroad property was burned, factories 
were closed, and innocent persons were killed and wounded by the 
officers. After several weeks of disorder the strike failed, through the 
exhaustion of the strikers. 

The other great strike was in Chicago, where freight handlers de- 
manded an eight-hour day, and it finally involved 60,000 persons. 
In the city were many desperate people, victims of wrong 
sf ^k^^f *^° in every part of the world, and some of them were Knights 
1886. ^^ Labor. Two, professed anarchists, edited newspapers, 

the Alarm, by Parsons, and the Arheiter Zeitung, by Spies. 
Both papers incited the strikers to violence. Parsons going so far as to 
urge the use of dynamite to dispose of "rich loafers who live by the 
sweat of other people's brows." The authorities became alarmed, 
probably unnecessarily so, and on May 4 undertook to disperse an 
anarchists' meeting in Haymarket Square. A bomb from the crowd 
fell among the police, killing seven and wounding sixty. Many 
anarchists were arrested and tried for their lives. Seven were con- 
victed, of whom four were hanged, one conamitted suicide in prison, 



A NEW LABOR ORGANIZATION 743 

and two had sentence commuted to life imprisonment. The country 
generally was shocked at the appearance of anarchy in America and 
approved of the convictions, although the evidence was circumstantial. 
Friends of the prisoners claimed that guilt was not proved. Eight 
years later Governor Altgeld, in sympathy with the cause of labor, 
pardoned the two life prisoners. He believed their guilt was not 
established and that they were victims of popular excitement. His 
action was widely condemned. 

The conservative Knights realized the discredit their order re- 
ceived from the violent element, and tried to remedy it. They did not 
succeed, and the result was large secessions from the or- 
ganization. A rival movement was about to supplant it. American 
In 1 88 1 was formed a Federation of Trades and Labor ^f Labor. 
Unions, the idea of which was that members of the same 
trades should organize in their respective interests. They were lost 
sight of in the rapid development of the Knights of Labor, but with 
the decline of that body after 1886 they came into greater prominence. 
They then reorganized as the American Federation of Labor, whose 
subsequent growth has been remarkable. In 1910 it reported a 
membership of 2,000,000, while the Knights of Labor in 1903 had 
dwindled to 40,000. The future of combined labor in the United 
States seems to lie with the federative rather than the integrated plan. 

The revival of prosperity after 1886 brought relief from strikes, but 
the depression which followed the panic of 1893 saw their recurrence. 
There were many unemployed men, and much suffering 
existed in the winter of 1893-1894. In the following spring ^^^ ^\ 
a small strike in the Pullman Car works at Chicago was j^^g. ' 

the beginning of a great conflict. The company felt the 
influence of the hard times and undertook to reduce the wages of 
4000 employees, members of the American Railway Union, a powerful 
and well managed organization. The union supported its members 
and demanded arbitration. The company declared that the question 
was one of fact, and that there was nothing to arbitrate. A strike 
followed, and the union ordered that no train should run which carried 
a Pullman car. The roads entering Chicago decided on joint opposi- 
tion, and the union tied up successfully all the lines running from the 
city to the West. Crowds of strikers impeded the operation of trains, 
and groups of violent people, with whom the strikers alleged they had 
nothing to do, pillaged freight cars. Governor Altgeld, in sympathy 
with the strikers, refused to call out the militia on the ground that it 
was not needed. When property owners were in terror lest the law- 
less element get the upper hand. President Cleveland intervened, 
sending federal troops to guard the mail trains and secure the safety 
of interstate commerce. Altgeld protested, saying that the railroads 
could not run trains because they could not get men. The facts were 
otherwise. They had the necessary men, but the strikers prevented 



744 GREAT INDUSTRIAL COMBINATIONS 

their employment. Cleveland's action was undoubtedly an unusual 
extension of the power of the central government, but it was such a 
one as may occur again if the state authorities show an unwillingness 
to protect property. In this as in other strikes the public showed a 
growing impatience at having to pay the cost of strikes, and were dis- 
posed to demand that labor and capital should not go wantonly into 
so expensive a means of settling difficulties. 

During the Pullman strike the railroads resorted to "blanket in- 
junctions," issued against officers of the union and any other persons 

whatever. They forbade interference with railroad prop- 
'' Blanket erty, and with the use of it, and they were attached to 
tions." cars, buildings, and anything else likely to be the object 

of interference. Eugene V. Debs, president of the Ameri- 
can Railway Union, was sent to prison for six months for contempt 
of court because he ignored such an injunction. In the beginning the 
i-oads had much sympathy from the public, but the resort to injunctions 
alarmed many serious person. In issuing them, it was held, the courts 
usurped executive functions and lost sight of the original purpose of 
injunctions, which were merely remedial and not intended to afford a 
method of criminal procedure. In recent labor controversies, in- 
junctions have not been so freely used. 

Labor unions were once opposed by employers as strenuously as 
the general public formerly opposed trusts ; but with the passage of 
time the opposition to each has become less bitter. This is possibly 
partly due to a conviction that each is inevitable. It seems also true 
that there is a more general recognition that each form of concentration 
has come to be recognized as useful in some ways. It is to be said, 
further, that of late both labor unions and trusts have come to realize 
to some extent their responsibility to the public. The opening of the 
twentieth century witnessed the beginning of a mighty political 
struggle for the public control of combinations of all kinds, a contest 
whose history must be reserved for another chapter. 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

An abundance of material exists on the economic side of combinations, but little 
has been prepared from the standpoint of the political bearing of the subject. The 
student of history will have to find his way through such material as is before him, 
and in doing so the following will be helpful : On the general subject : Sparks, 
National Development (1907); Dewey, Natioiial Problems (igoy), has a good bibli- 
ography; Wilson, History of the American People, 5 vols. (1902) ; and Peck, Twenty 
Years of the Republic, iSSj-igoj (1906). 

On railroad development see: Johnston, American Raikvay Transportation 
(1903); C. F. Adams, Railroads, their Origin and Progress (18S8) ; Ripley, edr., 
Railway Problems (1907) ; Meyer, Raikvay Legislation (1903) ; Haines, Restrictive 
Railway Legislation (1905); Adams and Adams, Chapters of Erie (1871) ; and 
Dixon, State Railroad Control (1896). Important documents are: Report of the 
senate committee on interstate commerce (Senate Reports, 49 cong., i ses.. No. 46, 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 745 

in two parts) ; Report of the industrial commission, vols. IV, IX, and XIX (1900) ; 
and Annual Reports of the interstate railway commission (1887-). 

On trusts see llie following general works : von llallc. Trusts or Industrial Com- 
binations in the U>iiled States (1895) ; Jenks, The Trust Problem (ed. 1905) ; Ripley, 
edr.. Trusts, Pools, and Corporations (1905), has a good bibliography. See also: 
Tarbell, The History of the Standard Oil Company, 2 vols. (1904), an excellent piece 
of investigation spite of some personalities ; Montague, Rise and Progress of the 
Sta>idard Oil Company (1903) ; and Jenks, Development of the Whisky Trust (Politi- 
cal Science Quarterly, IV). See also: Report of the industrial commission, vols. 
I, II, and XIX (1900), and Bills and Debates in Congress relating to Trusts (Sen. Docs., 
57 cong. 2 ses.. No. 147), referring to the years 1888-1903. On consolidation of banks 
see two articles by C. J. Bullock in The Atlantic Monthly, August, 1903, and May, 
1906. 

On labor unions see : Ely, Labor Movement in America (ed. 1902) ; Spahr, Ameri- 
ca's Working People (1900) ; Powderly, Thirty Years of Labor (1889), especially 
good for the Knights of Labor; Mitchell, Organized Labor (1903) ; and Buchanan 
Story of a Labor Agitator (1903). On the important strikes see : Lloyd, A Strike of 
Millionaires against Miners (1890); Ashley, The Railroad Strike of 1SQ4 (1895), 
contains statements of both the Pullman Company and the operatives ; U. S. Strike 
Commission, Report on the Chicago Strike, 18Q4 (1895) ; Carwardine, The Pullman 
Strike (1894); and the Missouri Bureau of Statistics, Official History of the Great 
Strike of 1886 (1887). 

For Independent Reading 

Lloyd, Wealth against Commonwealth (1894); Tarbell, History of the Standard 
Oil Company, 2 vols. (1904) ; Buchanan, The Story of an Agitator (1903) ; Ely, The 
Labor Movement in America (ed. 1902) ; and Lloyd, Strike of Millionaires against 
Miners (1890). 



CHAPTER XXXVI 

LAST PHASES OF THE SILVER MOVEMENT 

The Bland Law in Operation 

The $2,000,000 in silver coined each month under the Bland law 
circulated readily in the West and South, where much of the business 

was done on credit and a small volume of money was 
Notes ^^^ sufficient for cash demands. In other parts of the country 

larger quantities of cash were needed, and the people de- 
manded it in a less bulky form than silver dollars. Silver was, there- 
fore, left in the banks, which sent it to the sub-treasuries, until in 1885 
the accumulation in government vaults was $100,000,000. To force 
this out the secretary resorted to strategy. He noticed that green- 
backs of small denominations remained in the hands of the public 
longer than larger ones, and he resolved to try to keep in circulation 
small silver notes secured by the accumulated silver dollars. He first 
withheld small greenbacks until they were scarce in the channels of 
trade : then he asked congress to authorize the proposed small silver 
notes, and in 1886 the permission was reluctantly given. Two years 
later he had issued $34,000,000 of these certificates and was with- 
holding a like sum of greenbacks. Coin for these new notes was being 
stored in the treasury, but the real owners of it were the holders of the 
notes. 

The success of this experiment was helped by the shrinkage of the 
volume of bank notes through the rise in price of bonds. At existing 

prices banks preferred to sell the bond securing their 
Forced Out circulation, and it happened that from 1886 to 1890 the 

currency was diminished by $126,000,000 in bank notes, 
most of it in $5 and $10 denominations. At the same time, 1889- 1893, 
came a wave of prosperity. Business demanded more money and 
was willing to take even the bulky silver. It resulted that whereas in 
the years 1878-1886 only $150,000,000 in silver and silver certificates 
was put into circulation, in the next four years $200,000,000 was put 
out successfully, and the silver in the vaults was reduced to $20,000,000. 
Most men concluded that the readiness with which silver circulated 
showed it a satisfactory kind of money. 

Meanwhile, the free silver movement was not dead. It revived 
with the reappearance of hard times in 1885 and a free coinage 
bill was brought into the house and lacked only 37 votes of passing. 

746 



A NEW SILVER LAW 747 

The argument supporting it was simple : If times were hard, there 
should be more money ; and since silver was considered good money 
by its friends, there ought to be more silver. It mattered nothing 
that silver bullion had fallen in value steadily since the 
passage of the Bland-Allison act and was now seUing at 95 ^.^^*^®<? . 
cents an ounce, the intrinsic value of a silver dollar being ment. 
80 cents. It must be remembered that although at this 
time silver sentiment was strongest in the democratic party, it also had 
a strong hold on the republicans, and neither party dared pronounce 
against it. Its supporters were a compact group, conscious of their 
strength and determined to lose no opportunity to win their battle. 

The introduction of the McKinley tariff bill in 1889 gave them the 
desired opportunity. It was evident it could not pass the senate 
without the consent of the Far West. It gave ample 
protection to the manufacturer, wool grower, and sugar ^^.^^^i|^ 
producers, but the silver senators found little in it for their jariff Men. 
constituents, and they let it be known that they would 
not vote for it unless something were done for silver. Secretary Win- 
dom, of Minnesota, had not the Eastern fear of silver and he was a 
good politician. In his annual report, 1889, he suggested that the 
government take all the silver bullion offered and make payment in 
silver notes. He thought not more than $37,000,000 a year would be 
received. Others thought the amount would be much greater. It 
was evident that the silver men had the power to carry through a 
radical measure, and the conservatives prepared to make concessions. 

In the house the latter brought in a bill to coin $4,500,000 a month, 
and so little were the gold advocates prepared to dispute it that it 
passed the day after it came up for consideration. It 
went to the senate along with the tariff bill. The silver gJ^^Law 
senators now controlled the situation ; they substituted jgQo_ ' 
a free coinage bill, laid the tariff bill on the table, and 
awaited results. The situation was tense, for it was believed Harrison 
would veto a free silver bill, in which case the silver senators would 
defeat the tariff bill. The silver bill went to conference, where, by 
much address and largely through the efforts of Senator Sherman, a 
compromise was arranged. It provided that 4,500,000 ounces of 
silver be bought monthly and paid for in notes redeemable in gold or 
silver at the option of the government. The law contained the follow- 
ing clause: "It being the established policy of the United States to 
maintain the two metals on a parity with each other upon the present 
legal ratio, or such ratio as may be provided by law." These words 
were ambiguous. If they meant the government would keep gold and 
silver on a parity and pay gold for silver notes they implied a gold 
standard : if they meant the government would see that the two metals 
circulated on a parity in the nation, they implied bimetallism. Secre- 
tary Carlisle, three years later, gave the law the former interpretation, 



748 LAST PHASES OF THE SILVER MOVEMENT 

much to the disappointment of the friends of silver, who insisted that 
he should pay out both metals in order to maintain parity. The 
silver purchase law of 1890 passed by a party vote. The democrats 
felt no obligation to support a law which fell short of free coinage, and 
the republicans, the Eastern men included, must obey the will of the 
silver senators. 

The victory of the silver men was facilitated by the recent admission 
of four new states. North and South Dakota, Washington, and Mon- 
tana. They had been hurriedly granted statehood in 
Six New jgg^ jj^ j-jjg belief that they would add to the republican 
iSSq-i'sqo. majority. The elections verified these expectations in all 
the states but Montana, which the democrats carried; 
but all their senators and representatives were silver men regardless of 
party. In 1890 the republicans, with the aid of some silver democrats 
in congress, admitted two more states, Idaho and Wyoming. They 
thought the currency issue would soon pass, while their gain in the 
senate would be permanent. 

Utah, whose population of 207,905 well qualified her for statehood, 
also applied and was rejected on account of polygamy. A conflict had 
long existed between its Mormon and non-Mormon in- 
^^{^ d habitants, the nation sympathizing with the latter. In 

Admission. ^882 congress passed a law against polygamy, which was 
not enforced. In 1887 a sterner law authorized the con- 
fiscation of the property of the Mormon church if it resisted the laws 
of congress. The ecclesiastics now became alarmed. In 1890 Presi- 
dent Woodruff, their highest official, renounced polygamy, and later 
in the year the church did the same. Non-Mormons doubted the 
sincerity of this action, and it was not until 1895 ^hat congress would 
relent and admit Utah to the benefits and privileges of a state. It 
took its place among the free silver states, but at this time the conflict 
had ceased to be important in congress and was chiefly waged in presi- 
dential campaigns. 

The Last Years of Harrison 

The congressional session of 1889-1890 lasted until October, and 
ended in an ominous storm of protest which found its expression in 
the elections. The result was a republican defeat. The 
Harrison's ^^^ years following were unfavorable for business, and the 
larity. popular dissatisfaction survived until it overwhelmed 

Harrison in the election of 1892. Much of this was due 
to distrust of the republican organization, definitely in the hands of 
Quay and Piatt. Against this condition Harrison, an upright man 
and a capable lawyer, was not able to contend. He had little power of 
mastering men, and the impression so widely current that he began 
his administration under the tutelage of the party organization was 



ELECTION OF 1892 749 

not far wrong. His appointment of John Wanamaker to a cabinet 
position smacked of Quay. Probably his most unwise action was the 
appointment of Clarkson first assistant postmaster-general, who wrote 
in glee, February, 1890: "I have changed 31,000 out of the 55,000 
fourth-class postmasters and I expect to change 10,000 more before I 
finally quit. I expect before the end of the month to see five-sixths 
of the presidential postmasters changed. Then I can paraphrase old 
Simeon, and say, 'Let thy servant depart in peace.'" Harrison in- 
curred further criticism because he appointed several of his family 
connections to ofiice. He made few friends, and knew not how to seek 
popularity. His relation to "Old Tip," his grandfather, which was 
expected to be an advantage, proved to be an embarrassment. It 
seemed to suggest aristocracy, and was unmercifully lampooned 
by the cartoonists, who always depicted him as a small gentleman 
with a prominent forehead over which hung an immense "grand- 
father's hat." 

Spite of this, it was evident as 1892 approached that Harrison was 
the logical republican candidate. He was responsibly associated with 
every measure for which the party had incurred criticism. 

If he were now thrown overboard, it would amount to a „ ^"i^°" 

... . , 1 r 1 • mi • ^^" xJlaine. 

repudiation of the work of the party in congress. Ihis 

view was accepted by most of the party, but Quay and Piatt were of 
another mind. In the last two years of the administration Harrison 
showed signs of repudiating them. He dismissed "Corporal" Tan- 
ner and listened less kindly to the suggestions of the organization men. 
These leaders, therefore, looking for an opposition candidate, turned 
to Blaine, who, although a member of Harrison's cabinet, was not on 
cordial terms with him. He was physically weak and mentally ex- 
hausted. He had no relish for another campaign of abuse, and his 
family were as unwilling for him to be a candidate as he himself. Yet 
the scent of battle aroused the old war feeling, and it was with reluc- 
tance that he turned aside the advances of Quay. The public, speculat- 
ing on his intentions, concluded he would not stand against Harrison 
as long as he was in the cabinet. Quay watched the situation with 
little comfort. 

The nominating convention met at Minneapolis, June 7, 1892. 
Three days earlier Blaine resigned his secretaryship in the shortest 
possible note, leaving the public to guess whether he had 
tardily decided to seek the nomination or merely wished dominated 
to discredit Harrison at a critical moment. If he meant 
the former he had waited too long. His action had no other effect 
than to throw the opponents of the president into confusion as they 
were about to go into battle. They did not recover command of the 
situation before their opponents carried Harrison to victory on the 
first ballot, with Whitelaw Reid, editor of the New York Tribune, 
candidate for the vice-presidency. 



750 LAST PHASES OF THE SILVER MOVEMENT 

Meantime, the democrats were about to assemble in convention at 
Chicago, and a resistless drift of opinion was again making Cleveland 
their leader. His defeat in 1888 was received by the Gor- 
Ckveland, ^^^^ ^^'^ ^^^^ faction with ill concealed satisfaction. He 
seemed utterly repudiated, and his opponents looked for- 
ward to an era of unopposed control. They ignored him as a party 
leader and spoke with affected sympathy of his unhappy indiscretion. 
He, however, paid Httle attention to their attitude, devoted himself to 
his profession, made some money, and contented himself with perform- 
ing the duties of a citizen. As early as the end of 1890 the reactions 
against the McKinley tariff showed that the next campaign would be 
fought on the tariff issue, and at once Cleveland began to be con- 
sidered the logical democratic leader. 

Gorman and Hill were appalled at the prospect, but almost im- 
mediately relief seemed to come. The silver issue was not removed 
from the arena by the Sherman purchase law. The free 
^' Free**^ silver West was more active than ever, and the East in 
Coinage. alarm was trying to develop antisilver sentiment. In 
accordance with that design the New York Reform Club 
held a meeting of business men in February, 1891, inviting Cleveland 
to be present. He did not attend, but sent a letter in which he said : 
"If we have developed an unexpected capacity for the assimilation of 
a largely increased volume of the currency, and even if we have dem- 
onstrated the usefulness of such an increase, these conditions fall 
far short of insuring us against disaster if, in the present situation, we 
enter upon the dangerous and reckless experiment of free, unlimited, 
and independent silver coinage." This lumbering sentence left no 
doubt of his position, and was quoted far and wide. It won applause 
from friends of gold and denunciation from silver men. The latter 
were strong in the democratic party, and it seemed that their opposi- 
tion must prove the end of Cleveland's chances for the nomination. 
Again his opponents pronounced him dead, but the end of the year 
brought a change of view. Each party was hopelessly divided on 
silver, and neither could throw aside the tariff issue for any other 
fighting ground. The autumn elections in Ohio and in some other 
states showed democratic gains on that issue and the party dared not 
drop it. If Cleveland's plan of battle was used, he was the logical 
battle leader. 

His opponents concentrated their strength on Hill, and Gorman, 
leader of the party caucus in Washington, gave full support. To carry 
this plan through it was necessary that the New York 
didacy. " nominating convention should indorse it. The New 
Year's festivities were hardly over when Hill called a 
meeting of the state convention for February 22, 1892, thinking by 
this early meeting to control the election of the delegates. The 
Cleveland men refused to take part in the " Snap Convention." After 



THE YOUNG DEMOCRATS 751 

a solid Hill delegation was chosen on February 22 the "Anti-Snappers" 
called a convention of their own and sent a protesting delegation to 
Chicago. It was evident that if Hill were the nominee, he would be 
defeated in his own state by the strong independent movement which 
his ill-advised action had aroused. 

The democratic party in the West and South was in a transition 
stage. Discredited by its position in the civil war, it had difficulty in 
reestablishing its influence after the return of peace. Its first success 
in 1874 was won through the mistakes of its opponents, 
and this was true of most of its victories during the next '^^® West- 
decade and a half. In this period its leadership was timid, ^"^ .^ ^ 
and its policies were devised with an idea of taking ad- Democrats. 
vantage of the mistakes of its opponents. Cleveland, as 
we have seen, stood for positive ideas; but they were the ideas of 
the East. Throughout the West and South the leaders were still 
men of expediency in national matters. By 1890 there had developed 
in these sections a party of young democrats, a second group who de- 
sired positive policies and disliked the leadership of Cleveland. Both 
groups favored free silver, but the older men were not willing to risk 
losing the support of the East, while the younger ones were tired of 
deferring to New York and its neighbors. In 1892 the young men 
were not quite willing to throw over the counsel of older leaders, 
and so when the older men decided that the old alliance should be 
maintained they submitted, but it was with misgivings. They eventu- 
ally regretted their action, but in the campaign then upon them they 
subordinated their views to party welfare, recognized the tariff as 
the supreme issue, and united in support of Cleveland as party leader. 
The Eastern leaders did not appreciate how deep and earnest this 
movement was and how much it was likely to mar their plans in the 
future. 

The democratic convention assembled at Chicago, June 21. Hill's 

friends worked hard for their candidate, and Bourke Cochran put 

him forward in an eloquent speech whose burden was that 

he could carry New York. On the tariff and on silver Hill Slfltt^f. 
1 • 1 1 • r 111 • icT Wonunated. 

was mconclusive, and his oft-quoted declaration, 1 am a 

democrat," meant that he was a party man who would give the poli- 
ticians their way. Against the well-recognized honesty of Cleveland 
he could make no headway, and on the first ballot the former president 
got the nomination by the two-thirds majority which the party habit- 
ually demands in such a case. For vice-president the convention in- 
dorsed Adlai E. Stevenson, of Illinois, who was in sympathy with the 
old-school democrats of the West. 

While the aggressive element of the West and South was thus held 
in check in the democratic party, radicalism in these sections burst 
party bounds and launched a third party. For several years there 
had been much dissatisfaction among the farmers. Low prices of 



752 LAST PHASES OF THE SILVER MOVEMENT 

cotton and grain had much to do with their conduct, and to this was 
added a belief that both the old parties were insincere in professing 

friendship for silver and for poor people generally. The 
Pe* le' movement began in organizations for the general social de- 

Party, velopment of country people, but it soon became political. 

It was chiefly expressed in the Farmers' Alliance, which 
had two great branches, one in the South and one in the Northwest. 
Its leaders were sometimes men who had failed to maintain themselves 
in one of the old parties, but they were mostly young men of ability 
and devotion. They first went into active politics in 1890 when they 
carried the legislatures of Kansas and Nebraska and elected nine 
Farmers' Alliance members of congress and forced thirty-four others, 
democrats and republicans, to pledge themselves to carry out the 
ideas of the farmers' movement. In 1892 they called a great conven- 
tion at Cincinnati, and with the cooperation of the labor unions or- 
ganized the people's party. This meeting called a party convention 
in Omaha in the following July, at which General J. B. Weaver, green- 
back candidate in 1880, was nominated on a platform including free 
silver, public ownership of monopolies, postal savings banks, and an 
income tax. It did not hope to carry the presidency, but by uniting 
locally with democrats or republicans as the opportunity offered it 
made a strong impression on the campaign. It carried several state 
legislatures and sent five senators to Washington. It injured the 
republicans more than the democrats, for although it cut into the 
democratic vote in the South the large majorities there were safe 
against such losses, while the narrower margins of the republicans in 
the West were sometimes wiped out by populist defection. On the 
main issue of the campaign, the contest between Cleveland and 
Harrison, it had little effect. 

Between these two men the campaign was a quiet one. It was 
marked by an unusual rising of educated men for Cleveland, now 

more than ever the hero of the reformers. College pro- 

. '"*™" fessors and theoretical free traders favored him and freely 

1892. declared themselves for his election. They gave his side 

the appearance of radicalism, which his managers eventu- 
ally found it necessary to deny, and they created hopes which, after 
his election, could not be realized. During the summer there was a 
labor disturbance at Homestead, near Pittsburg, where the employees 
of the Carnegie Steel Company went on strike because wages were re- 
duced and the union was not recognized. Rioting began, and the 
employees fought to hold their places against strike breakers. Fear- 
ing the labor vote the governor would not call out the militia until 
conditions became alarming. It then took the entire citizen soldiery, 
8000 strong, to restore order. The affair was widely discussed in the 
country ; the Carnegie Company was a dominating factor in the steel 
industry, one of the best protected manufactures, and the feeling 



A PRECARIOUS FINANCIAL SITUATION 753 

aroused against it on behalf of labor operated against the high tariff 
party. Cleveland's rugged personality also played a strong part in 
the election. He was in such striking contrast with Harrison, the man 
of quiet and even honesty, that he seemed to many people the only 
hero of the struggle. His success was generally conceded long before 
the election. He got 277 electoral votes, Harrison 145, and Weaver 22. 
The popular vote was Cleveland 5,556,543, Harrison 5,175,582, and 
Weaver 1,040,886. The democrats also carried both houses of con- 
gress. They were surprised at the magnitude of their own victory, 
and they might well have trembled, for it placed heavy obligations 
upon them. 

Cleveland and the Panic of 1893 

Cleveland could hardly be expected to call members of the Hill 
faction or Western silver men into this cabinet. He turned, therefore, 
as in 1885, to the South, the independents, and the less 
widely known of the Northern democrats. The composi- Cabinet 
tion of the cabinet was as follows: W. Q. Gresham, of 
Illinois, secretary of state, John G. Carlisle, of Kentucky, secretary of 
the treasury, Daniel S. Lamont, of New York, secretary of war, Hilary 
A. Herbert, of Alabama, secretary of the navy, Richard Olney, of 
Massachusetts, attorney-general, W. S. Bissell, of New York, post- 
master-general, Hoke Smith, of Georgia, secretary of the interior, and 
J. S. Morton, who led the antisilver democrats of Nebraska, secretary 
of agriculture. Gresham had been a republican until 1891, and was 
appointed in recognition of the support of the independents. Taking 
him widened the breach between Cleveland and the Gorman-Hill fac- 
tion. Lamont had been his private secretary in the first term and 
Bissell was an old law partner. Cleveland had not a broad range of 
ideas, nor was he widely acquainted with party leaders, and in each 
of his administrations he had as many personal friends in the cabinet 
as he dared. 

Financial difficulties met the administration at its very beginning. 
In January, 1893, the gold reserve was only $108,000,000 and the 
steady demand to meet the European balance of trade . 

was sure to send it lower before March 4. Moreover, it ^^ 1803'"*^ 
would be seven months before another cotton and grain 
crop went abroad, and meantime Europe, on account of the 
business depression, was selling American securities. There was 
likelihood that a long period of gold exportation would follow. The 
public was so accustomed to think that $100,000,000 was the safety 
point for the reserve that it was felt that alarm would surely ensue 
if it went below, and there was danger that fears once aroused gold 
would be hoarded. Harrison realized all this but felt the problem was 
not his. He would be satisfied if the crisis did not come before March 
4. To that end Foster, his secretary of the treasury, induced the New 
3C 



754 LAST PHASES OF THE SILVER MOVEMENT 

York banks, at the close of January, to exchange $6,000,000 gold for 
legal tenders and when he surrendered office two months later the re- 
serve was $100,982,410. The new secretary, Carlisle, could think 
of no better plan than Foster's, and throughout the spring cajoled the 
banks into a surrender of coin. Meantime, money became very tight 
and there came a sudden check of the wave of speculation which for 
four years had followed the creation of trusts and the marketing 
of many highly inflated securities. The most notable collapse was 
the National Cordage Company, which paid a stock dividend of 100 
per cent five months before suspension. Throughout the summer 
panic conditions prevailed, interior banks could not extend their loans, 
and there were over 400 bank failures, the large majority being in the 
West. In our financial history 1893 has as black a name as 1873. 

The government feared that the public would lose confidence and 
hoard gold in the expectation that specie payment must be suspended ; 
and this fear was promoted by the Sherman silver purchase law. 

Under it the treasury issued nearly twice as much currency 
^P®''^**°° a month as under the Bland-Allison law, and it was not 
Sherman absorbed by the business of the country as formerly, first 
Law because of its increased volume, second because of less 

prosperous business conditions, and third because after 
the enactment of the McKinley tariff the surplus disappeared, bonds 
ceased to be purchased, and bank notes ceased to be retired. In- 
creasing the currency beyond the necessities of business enlarged the 
volume of partially employed notes which might be used to draw gold 
out of the treasury. 

The silver men thought the reserve might be protected by re- 
deeming the silver certificates in silver, but this would undoubtedly 
. . depreciate such notes, then one-third of the currency, 
Parity **°^°^ and give an impetus to gold hoarding. In April a rumor 

got abroad that the treasury would make such redemption : 
it caused serious disturbance in the money market, and both Cleveland 
and Carlisle hastened to declare publicly that they would give gold for 
the silver notes. They held that this was necessary to maintain the 
parity of the notes. Their opponents said it indicated how much the 
administration was under the heel of Wall Street speculators. April 
17 the reserve passed below the $100,000,000 figure and dwindled 
steadily as the exportation of gold continued. Meantime, the notes 
issued in exchange for stored silver bullion were nearly $4,000,000 a 
month. It was more and more evident that the law of 1890 ought 
to be repealed. The mere hint of such a thing enraged those who 
fervently hoped for more money. Cleveland gave little heed to 
their violence. He was by temperament immovable before popular 
clamor, and he now waited until it was evident that conservative 
people realized the source of their danger ; and June 30 he called an 
extra session of congress for August 7, 1893, to consider the currency. 



A DECAPITATED HYDRA 755 

Business distress was now acute. In June the New York clearing 
house issued certificates in lieu of money. In the same month the 
Erie railroad failed, and news came that India had demone- 
tized silver. Bullion fell in one week from 7 c; to 61 cents ^^^t^ °^ 
T A 4- 4. ^ .the Sher- 

an ounce. In August currency was at 3 per cent premmm (jj^n Law. 

and banks would cash depositors' checks only for small 
amounts. While these conditions were severest, the extra session be- 
gan. Cleveland spoke plainly in his message, and the house by a 
majority of 130, chiefly from the East and Middle West, passed a 
repealing bill in three weeks. In the senate the friends of silver were 
in the minority, but they filibustered in the hope of a compromise. 
The senate eschewed closure, and the debate dragged along through 
September and October. Continuous sessions were tried, but the 
lusty champions of silver displayed more endurance than their adver- 
saries expected, Allen, of Nebraska, speaking fourteen hours without 
exhaustion. Finally on October 30 a vote was taken, and repeal was 
carried by a majority of 43 to 32. 

The Eastern papers were jubilant, and declared silver had "met its 
Waterloo." They were too confident. Bland announced in the 
house that the struggle would go on until free and un- 
limited coinage was established, and in the senate the silver ^'^t^^ Feel- 
senators, headed by Teller, of Colorado, passed into open ^est. 
opposition to their republican associates. The West and 
the South, distressed by the panic, were exceedingly bitter. The 
Sherman law had been to them in some sense a token of a compro- 
mising spirit in their relations with the rest of the country, and they 
considered its repeal an act of bad faith. Violent opponents charged 
that Cleveland secured it in the interest of the speculators and shared 
in the profits. There was not the slightest justification for the asser- 
tion. 

Selling Bonds to protect the Surplus 

The repeal of the Sherman law only stopped the accumulation of 
danger. Business stagnation continued, revenues were still inade- 
quate, and it was necessary to throw the silver notes back 
into circulation to meet the needs of government. The Rgse^r^^ 
premium on currency in August brought a quantity of 
the metal to the country and the reserve went up to $103,683,000 ; but 
under the drain of the time, it rapidly sank again, and October 19 it 
was only $81,551,385, the lowest point since 1878. At the same time 
the monthly deficit of the revenue was $7,000,000, and two months 
later the reserve was $68,000,000. Up to this time there was little 
evidence of hoarding, and the mischief chiefly came from failure of 
revenue in connection with the redundant silver currency. But the 
public was showing signs of uneasiness, and Carlisle asked congress to 
allow him to borrow enough to tide over the deficiency of revenue. 



756 LAST PHASES OF THE SILVER MOVEMENT 

To the democratic congressmen this was but a cry from Wall Street, 
and they paid no heed. 

The secretary then fell back on the resumption act of 1875, which 
specified that he should sell bonds to maintain specie payment. The 

day for which it was made was long past, but he held that 
Cent Bonds. ^^ ^^"^^ ^^ force until repealed, and January 17, 1894, he 

offered $50,000,000 in 5 per cent bonds for gold. Loud 
protests from the silver faction greeted the announcement, but he ig- 
nored it. He was more concerned with the financial world, which 
sent in bids for only one-fifth of the amount offered. He went to New 
York, and with difficulty persuaded the banks to take the rest at 1175, 
which was low for 5 per cents. Of the $58,660,000 in gold received in 
the transaction $24,000,000 had been taken from the treasury within 
a few days in exchange for notes. The net gain, $34,660,000, restored 
the reserve to $107,000,000 on March 6, 1894, when it began at once 
to fall again. 

To the ordinary spring exportations of gold were now added other 
sources of distress. The corn crop of 1894 failed, and Europe's wheat 

crop was enormous, so that our exports were smaller than 
Gold^WUh ^sual. At the same time the Wilson- Gorman bill disap- 
drawals. pointed its creators and gave a deficit, for which the 

failure of the income tax was not altogether responsible. 
More than this, in the summer of 1894 Europe sold our securities 
briskly and demanded gold in payment. Thus it happened that 
when the reserve was depleted from that cause, and when it failed to 
get the usual reenforcement from the sale of the autumn crops abroad, 
it was, on account of the deficit, necessary to use some of the precious 
store in settlement of ordinary expenses of the government. By this 
means the reserve was $52,000,000 on August 7 and in November 
another bond issue of $50,000,000 was placed with a syndicate of bank- 
ers. Half of the gold received was at once drawn back in exchange for 
notes to take the place of that amount used in buying the bonds. 
Depletion continued, and by February, 1895, the reserve was 
$41,000,000, and the head of the New York sub-treasury reported 
that he could maintain redemption hardly more than a day. The 
situation seemed desperate, with another period of spring gold exporta- 
tion ahead. In every large city financiers were making ready for a de- 
preciated currency, and funds were being retained for use in the emer- 
gency, when the news came that Cleveland had saved the situation. 
Relief came through a contract with J. P. Morgan and Co. and the 

Belmont firm, who represented the Rothschilds, of Paris, by 
The Mor- which they took $62,000,000 thirty year four per cents 
mont ACTee- ^^ 104I, or at par at three per cent if they were made payable 
ment. ^^ gold- The latter alternative needed the sanction of 

congress , but in that quarter it met a stern refusal. In 
the country at large the affair aroused much criticism. Four per 



THE "ENDLESS CHAIN" 757 

cents were selling about iii and to place them now at 104I seemed 
absurd. Eventually the transaction netted the bankers a profit of 
about thirteen points, more than seven millions. But Cleveland 
justified it because of two conditions in the contract. By one the 
bankers agreed to import half of the gold used in the purchase, and 
by the other to use their best endeavors to prevent the withdrawal 
of gold from the treasury during the pendency of the contract, a 
period of six months. By sharing the loan and the profits involved 
with the other New York banks they showed their ability to control 
the demands on the treasury and the foreign gold delivered was not 
immediately drawn out in what had come to be known as the " end- 
less chain " process. 

The effect of the contracts was to restore confidence. Commodity 
prices rose and stock speculation revived so rapidly that it overdid 
itself. In the end there was a sharp contraction which 
turned the balance of trade against us and led to renewed Restored*^* 
exportations of gold spite of the February agreement 
with the bankers. Cleveland now offered $100,000,000 at four per 
cent to the highest bidder. Partly because of returning confidence 
and partly because of the great profit the bankers were believed to 
have made on the preceding transaction, there was a wide popular 
response. More than five times the amount offered was subscribed, 
and it was all placed at from iio| to 120. After that time no more 
doubt was felt about the reserve. 

The responsibility for the bond sales of 1895 must be shared by 

several agents. The law creating the reserve did not give it a 

special footing, but left it in the general fund so that it 

was liable to be drawn on for expenses when the ordi- xJL"^t°- 

, *^^, TtT T^' I -rr the Crisis, 

nary revenue was madequate. Ihe McKmley tariff 

created just such an emergency, and the treasury paid back for ex- 
penses the notes received for gold, only to come back again in the 
"endless chain." The democratic congress was partly responsible 
because it failed to supply adequate revenue and because it cham- 
pioned silver so loudly that the feeling of apprehension was 
increased among the people. Finally, Cleveland and Carlisle were 
partly responsible because in the first place they showed hesita- 
tion, asking congress to declare specifically that bonds might be 
sold to maintain the reserve instead of assuming, as they did at last, 
that the power existed under the act of 1875. The whole incident is a 
painful episode in our history, but it came through a juxtaposition 
of confusing factors which will probably not come again for many 
years. 



758 LAST PHASES OF THE SILVER MOVEMENT 

The Bryan Campaign for Free Silver, 1896 

The events of 1895 destroyed the last shred of Cleveland's leader- 
ship. Silver men in the West and South and machine politicians in 

the East repudiated him, and the party was hopelessly 
Cleveland's divided. So fiercely was he denounced by democrats 
larity. that the republicans no longer found it necessary to find 

fault with him. The profits of the Morgan-Belmont 
contract were supposed to be about $7,000,000, and his enraged enemies 
would not believe he did not share them. No serious man who knew 
the situation entertained the suspicion. 

The fall of Cleveland brought to supremacy the young democracy, 
silver through and through. They saw with satisfaction the republi- 
can tendency to espouse the gold standard and thought it 
Silver would result in accessions from the silver republicans. 

Organize. They began their campaign with remarkable energy and 

devotion. March 4, 1895, they issued an address summon- 
ing all friends of silver to united action in the coming election. The 
call made a profound impression in the South and West, and the advo- 
cates of sound money, as the other side called themselves, sought to 
counteract it by calling a convention at Memphis, Tennessee. In 
June a silver convention in the same city declared enthusiastically 
for free and unlimited coinage of silver. To careful observers it was 
evident that the sound money convention represented the business 
men of the Southern and Western towns, while the silver convention 
represented the much more numerous farming and laboring classes. 
By the end of 1895 the silver movement was well organized and domi- 
nated the democratic party everywhere but in the East. The people 
of the East did not realize how powerful it had become. 

At the nominating convention, Chicago, July 7, the silver men had 
entire control and took precaution lest the suspected Eastern leaders 

have the slightest opportunity to manipulate the con- 
C ntrl° vention. The national committee suggested Hill, of 

New York, for temporary chairman. The convention 
set him aside for Daniels, of Virginia, a trusted silver man. Plat- 
form committee, permanent chairman, credential committee, and every 
other test of strength went to them. The platform itself was all they 
wished, declaring for free and unlimited coinage of gold and silver at 
the ratio of sixteen to one. It was adopted by a vote of 628 to 301, 
and a motion to indorse Cleveland's administration was lost by a vote 
of 564 to 357. 

More important was the selection of a candidate. The silver forces 

wanted a man who would not compromise with the in- 
a L*^der terests of the East, and suspected all men mentioned for the 

nomination, Blackburn, of Kentucky, McLean, of Ohio, 
and Boies, of Iowa, all old-school democrats with groups of supporters. 



WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN 759 

They could not object on this score to Bland, of Missouri, who was also 
urged ; but he was not a magnetic man, and for that reason they hesi- 
tated to support him. Another man who had friends was William 
Jennings Bryan, of Nebraska. In 1891 he appeared in congress, where 
he attracted attention as a prominent young democrat. He spoke 
well on the tariff and became identified with the free silver party. In 
the preliminary work of the campaign of 1896 he was a favorite with 
the West. In the struggle for the election of delegates from Ne- 
braska to the convention he was defeated by J. Sterling Morton, 
Cleveland's secretary of agriculture, but he came to Chicago at the 
head of a contesting delegation which the convention promptly 
seated. 

To most of the delegates Bryan was unknown when on July 9 he 
made a speech which sent the convention into raptures. The plat- 
form committee had just reported and the speakers were 
discussing it. First came Senator Tillman, of South ^^^^^^nti n 
Carolina, in full possession of his faculties and speaking speech, 
for the silver men. He shouted, gesticulated, and filled 
the stifling air with abuse rather than argument. His friends 
were not in an exacting mood, but they could feel nothing but disap- 
pointment. Then rose Hill to speak for the East. He uttered short, 
logical sentences in an icy and hopeless manner. He was no orator, 
and the hostile audience barely tolerated him. Next came Governor 
Russell, of Massachusetts, and Vilas, of Wisconsin. Both spoke well 
for sound money, but the audience was in no mood to be pleased. 
Then rose Bryan. His words came slowly, distinctly, and with cutting 
force. Instantly the mass forgot its confusion, and the speech pro- 
ceeded in profound stillness except for the outbursts of applause. 
Russell had used the term " business men " in the narrow sense common 
in the East. Bryan said : " You have made the definition of a business 
man too limited in its application. The man who is employed for 
wages is as much a business man as his employer. The attorney in 
a country town is as much a business man as the corporation counsel 
in a great metropolis. The merchant at the cross-roads store is as 
much a business man as the merchant of New York. The farmer who 
goes forth in the morning and toils all day — who begins in the spring 
and toils all summer — and who, by the application of brain and 
muscle to the natural resources of the country creates wealth, is as 
much a business man as the man who goes upon the board of trade 
and bets upon the price of grain. The miners who go down a thousand 
feet into the earth, or climb two thousand feet upon the cliffs, 
and bring forth from their hiding place the precious metals, to be 
poured into the channels of trade, are as much business men as the 
few financial magnates who, in a back room, corner the money 
of the world. We come to speak for this broader class of business 
men." 



76o LAST PHASES OF THE SILVER MOVEMENT 

These sentiments were the key of the Bryan movement. There 
had been much talk about protecting the manufacturers and safe- 
guarding the financial interests. Nobody talked about 
Nomhiated. ^^^ small business man, who had got the conviction that 

he was ignored. Bryan pleaded his cause in words small 
business men could understand. He knew little about finance, but 
much about human nature. His Chicago speech delighted every sil- 
ver man in the convention. It brought forth a mad wave of ap- 
proval, and on the first ballot he received 119 votes for the nomina- 
tion against 235 for Bland, the most prominent of the silver men. He 
gained steadily on the second, third, and fourth ballots, and was nomi- 
nated on the fifth by the necessary two-thirds majority. He was 
thirty-six years old, a young leader of the young democracy. Arthur 
Sewall, of Maine, a rich shipbuilder, was nominated for the vice-presi- 
dency. 

Three weeks earlier, June 16, the republican convention met at St. 
Louis. The failure of the Wilson-Gorman law suggested the tariff 

for chief issue and McKinley for candidate. He was a 
Hanna and straightforward, serious man, a good campaigner, a tact- 
McKinley. ^^^ ^^^ popular politician, and a friend of protection. He 

had a devoted supporter in Marcus A., or " Mark," Hanna, 
a rich Cleveland iron-master and politician. Early in the cam- 
paign Hanna determined that McKinley should be nominated, and set 
out to accomplish his purpose with businesslike thoroughness. He 
visited many parts of the country, and McKinley and protection was 
a persuasive argument when urged by the millionaire politician from 
the best protected city in the iron industry. The protected class 
generally acquiesced, and many mere politicians followed them. His 
quest for delegates was so successful that Hanna arrived at St. Louis 
with his pocket full of votes. He was accustomed to cont'-ol whatever 
he touched, and his room now became the center of political activity. 
Men who had long been chief party counsellors came to it to know 
what was to be done. 

One of the questions to be considered was the money plank in the 
platform. The drift of the democrats to silver produced among the 

republicans a similar movement toward gold. Hanna was 
Plank. personally for gold : the men to whom he appealed were for 

gold, but he dared not avow it too early lest it turn Western 
delegates from McKinley. Before the convention assembled he ac- 
cepted a gold plank suggested by a group of Western business men, 
but he carefully concealed it. The Eastern men arrived keen for a 

declaration for the gold standard. When Hanna finally 
Nominated ^^^ ^^ ^^ known he was for gold, it seemed to the country 

that he accepted it reluctantly and to please the East ; and 
this paved the way to a reconciliation of many Western republicans to 
the candidate. Thus Hanna steered his friend past the only serious 



THE REPUBLICAN PARTY DIVIDED 761 

difficulty in his way and got him nominated on the first ballot with 
Garret A. Hobart, of New Jersey, for vice-president. At McKinley's 
request Hanna was appointed chairman of the campaign committee. 

Adopting the gold plank caused the secession of the extreme silver 
republicans. As the vote was about to be taken Senator Teller, 
of Colorado, rose and delivered a touching appeal. He 
had been a republican from 1856 and had exerted much Withdrawal 
influence in the party. His motion for free coinage at °^ the SUver 
sixteen to one was lost by a vote of 818 to 105. Then a ^ans. 
hush fell on the vast assemblage, as with ;2,:^ others he left the 
hall in repudiation of the party. Among them were Senators Dubois, 
of Idaho, Cannon, of Utah, and Pettigrew, of South Dakota. From 
these three states and from Montana and Nevada came all the other 
seceders. 

Teller and his friends met in St. Louis, July 22, and organized the 
"National Silver Party, " indorsing Bryan and Sewall. The people's 
party at the same place and time indorsed Bryan, but in- 
sisting on their own candidate for vice-president, selected jnatfons °"' 
Thomas E. Watson, of Georgia. The prohibitionists 
found themselves divided. One wing wanted to indorse silver and 
several other aggressive policies. It took the name "National" 
and nominated C. E. Bentley, of Nebraska, and J. H. Southgate, 
of North Carolina. The other, using the old name, nominated 
Joshua Levering, of Maryland, and Hale Johnson, of Illinois. The 
gold democrats also formed a separate party, designed to please those 
who would not break old party ties. It held a convention in Indianapolis 
and nominated General John M. Palmer, a union veteran, and General 
Simon B. Buckner, a confederate veteran. Spite of the many candi- 
dates it was well recognized that the real fight was between McKinley 
and Bryan. 

The republicans liked a dignified campaign. It was Hanna's 
idea for the candidate to remain at home and have delegation after 
delegation come to him in token of respect and confidence. 
McKinley's replies would be printed far and wide, and campaign 
would thus have great influence on the public. Bryan, 
on the other hand, went to the people, to as many as he could reach, in 
continuous railroad journeys during which he spoke many times a day 
to throngs at railroad stations or in public halls. The vast crowds 
that came to hear attested the popular interest. At first his opponents 
scoffed, thinking it unbecoming for a presidential candidate to "drum 
up" votes like a huckster seeking custom. But the earnestness and 
effectiveness of his speeches gave to his canvass the fervor of a crusade, 
and the scoffers were overwhelmed. The Bryan method of campaign- 
ing became thenceforth a regular feature of party activity. Each side 
spoke violently, the cultivated East vying with the plain-spoken 
West in attributing the worst motives to its opponents. Even so 



762 LAST PHASES OF THE SILVER MOVEMENT 

cultured a journal as the Nation could see in the silver men nothing 
but "a knot of silly, half-taught adventurers and anarchists." 

The republicans began the campaign on the protection issue, which 
favored the collection of large campaign contributions. Hanna was 
The Issues supposed to have developed great skill in getting 

them from manufacturers, money lenders, and the 
great insurance companies. Pains were taken to convince the 
workmen also. Protection, they were told, meant "a full dinner 
pail." This argument also was very effective. While they talked 
about the tariff the republicans would have been pleased to leave 
silver in the background, had not Bryan's aggression made that im- 
possible. As the campaign advanced they had to give the currency 
question more and more attention. When nominated, McKinley's 
record showed no hostility toward silver. He voted for the Sherman 
purchase law as the best thing that could be done for silver at the time. 
As the election approached, however, he gained courage to speak for 
gold, and at the end of the campaign he was emphatic in defending 
the money plank in his party's platform. Many of his party asso- 
ciates were going through the same transformation. 

Bryan expected to lose New England, Pennsylvania, and perhaps 
New York and New Jersey, but he hoped that the workingmen and 

farmers of the Middle West would carry that section, which 
Elected.^^ with the South and most of the distant West, would 

make a majority. He was really helping to array one 
section against another, and the result would depend on whether the 
line of division was placed at the Appalachian mountain system 
or at the Mississippi. Counting the ballots showed it was the latter. 
He lost every state north of the Potomac and east of the Mississippi. 
He also lost Iowa, Minnesota, California, Oregon, Kentucky, and 
West Virginia. Wherever manufacturing or commercial interests were 
strong, his support was weak. Two hundred and seventy-one elec- 
toral votes were republican and 176 were democratic. 

In his Chicago speech Senator Tillman said: "We of the South 
have burned our bridges as far as the Northeastern democracy is 

concerned, as now organized. We have turned our 
Crushed" faces to the West, asking our brethren of those states 

to unite with us in restoring the government, the liberty 
of our fathers, which our fathers left us." As describing existing 
tendencies his words were true, spite of the jeers which greeted them 
in some parts of the union. The young democracy was in rebellion 
against New York leadership, which had become an offense to them 
through Cleveland's tactless honesty and their own unmanageable ness. 
They were much in earnest, and the defeat of 1896 did not discourage 
them. Their brilliant leader was unhorsed, but his sword was not 
broken and their organization was intact. It was many years before 
the Bryan movement was to relax its hold on the democratic party, 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 763 

and this was because it was a real movement, and not merely the 
work of one man. Before Bryan appeared the army he was to direct 
was formed. He gave it leadership, and he could not have disbanded 
it in 1896 if he had so desired. 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

The general works, printed sources, and biographies for this chapter are the same 
as for chapter XXXIV. General works on the currency are : Dewey, Financial 
History of the United States (1903) ; Noyes, Forty Years of A merican Finance (1909) ; 
White, Money and Banking (ed. 1902) ; and Lawson, American Finance (1906), an 
English work. 

On the free silver controversy see : Hepburn, History of Coinage and Currency in 
the United Statsr (1903), has a bibliography; Taussig, Silver Situation in the United 
States (1893); Laughlin, Bimetallism in the United States (ed. 1897); and Watson, 
History of American International Bimetallism (1896). Of the many reports of 
conferences of the day see the following: Russell, International Monetary Confer- 
ence (1898) ; The Monetary Commission of the IndianapoHs Conference, Report 
(1898) ; The First National Silver Convention, Proceedings (1889) ; and Report and 
Hearings of Committee on Senate Silver Bill {Sen. Report, 51 cong., 2 ses., No. 3067). 
See also the report of the International Monetary Conference (Sen. Ex. Docs. 52 
cong. 2 ses.. No. 28). A pamphlet of great interest is Harvey, Coin's Financial 
School (1894). 

On the political campaign of 1896 see : Dewey, National Problems (1907) ; Peck, 
Twenty Years of the Republic (1907) ; Bryan, The First Battle (1897) ; Byars, Life 
and Times of R. P. Bland (1900); Hoar, Autobiography of Seventy Years, 
2 vols. (1903); White, Autobiography, 2 vols. (1905); Dingley, Life and Times of 
Nelson Dingley, Jr. (1902) ; and McClure, Recollections of Half a Century (1902). 
See also: Stanwood, History of the Presidency (1898); Reynolds, National Plat- 
forms and Political History (1898) ; Woodburn, Political Parties and Party Prob- 
lems (1903) ; and Curtis, The Republican Party, 2 vols. (1904). 

The periodical literature of the day is very valuable. Among the best monthlies 
and weeklies are: The American Review of Reviews; The Forum; The Atlantic 
Monthly; The Nation; The Independent; Public Opinion, a. va.\\iah\e d.igQ?,t; and 
Sound Currency, pamphlets issued serially by the New York Reform Club. See also 
The Political Science Quarterly and The Annals of the American Academy. 

For Independent Reading 

McCIure, Recollections of Half a Century (1902) ; Whittle, President Cleveland 
^896); Harvey, Coin's Financial School (1894); Bryan, The First Battle (1897); 
White, Money and Banking (1902) ; and Hoar, Autobiography of Seventy Years, 
2 vols. (1903). 



CHAPTER XXXVII 
A NEW PHASE OF AMERICAN DIPLOMACY 

Importance of the Pacific 

The Pacific shores and islands, for centuries given up to barbarism or to 
the quiet oriental culture, have recently become the scene of very in- 
teresting events. Barbarism has retreated, and the oriental 
• tif ^^ becoming a vigorous competitor of occidental peoples. 

Pacific. '^^^ United States became concerned with this process 

of development soon after they acquired California. 
England, France, Germany, and Russia have also been interested in 
the same quarter; and so it has happened that in recent years the 
Pacific has been the theater of weighty diplomatic affairs. Commerce 
and territorial expansion have been the ruling motives of the diplomats. 
Our early policy of non-interference applied to the Old World, and 
was adopted through necessity. We could not hope to have weight 
in settling Europe's problems, nor was it expedient to become entangled 
in its politics. But in the Pacific it was otherwise. We had both 
territorial and commercial interests there, and it was wise to take in 
that ocean the position of a strong power so that other nations, 
civilized and uncivilized, should respect us. To maintain this posi- 
tion in the Pacific and to keep somewhat the same influence among 
the states south of us have been the chief objects of our post-bellum 
diplomacy. 

The change came about slowly. Men of the old school clung 
through sentiment to the ideal of non-intervention, they were appalled 
by the expense of a navy great enough to maintain a leading 
^ ?^T f position among the other American states and on the 
American Pacific, they feared that a strong foreign policy would 
Diplomacy, promote militarism, and it was pointed out that the con- 
stitution made no provision for the rule of dependencies. 
But the march of events was against them. The aggressive attitude 
of Blaine, secretary of state in 1881, and in 1889-1892, brought the 
new school into prominence, Cleveland's extension of the Monroe 
doctrine in the Venezuelan boundary incident of 1895 gave it a wide 
popular support, and Dewey's victory at Manila crowned it with 
the sanctity of national glory. Thus the old school lost control, 
and Americans came to feel at the close of the century that they must 
of necessity take up a new burden in the Western hemisphere and in 
the Orient. 

764 



THE CONTROL OF SAMOA 765 



The Samoan Incident, 1887-1889 

The beginning of the change was in the negotiations relative to the 
Samoan islands, whose combined area is a little larger than that of 
Rhode Island. They are situated on the direct route 
from San Francisco to Sidney, Australia, 4700 miles from samoa° 
the former, 2000 from the latter, and 2600 south of Hono- 
lulu. German traders established themselves there as early as 1854, 
and Americans and Englishmen did the same later. The natives 
were frequently at war among themselves, and in 1877 offered the is- 
lands to the United States. Conservatism was still dominant in our 
foreign policy, and the offer was refused. But we made a treaty 
(1878) by which we got a coaling station, Pago-Pago, and promised to 
protect Samoa, if we could, from the aggression of other . 
nations. Next year Samoa made a similar treaty with con^oversv* 
England and a still more generous one with Germany. 
This triple guaranty of integrity did not give peace to the islands ; 
for Germany's more favorable terms, together with her recognized 
policy of aggression, led the two other nations to join issues against 
her. The quarrel reached a critical stage when a native claimant to 
the throne appeared with German support and began a war against the 
ruling house. Finally, April, 1886, three German warships arrived 
on the scene, saluted the German claimant, and seemed bent on es- 
tablishing his power. The American consul, mindful of the treaty 
of 1878, proclaimed an American protectorate, and the British inter- 
ests supported him. 

The situation now demanded the intervention of diplomacy, and 
three commissioners, American, British, and German, respectively, 
went to the islands to investigate. They reported unani- 
mously that the natives were incapable of ruling the islands by Secretary 
and that a joint control of the three powers should be es- Bayard, 
tablished. Then Bayard, American secretary of state, and 
the British and German ministers in Washington, met (June, 1887) 
to dispose of the matter. It was singular that our first step in the 
stronger policy in the Pacific should have been taken by Bayard, 
ordinarily an exponent of the old school and a democrat. Samoa 
had little but geographical value to us and it had not that unless 
we proposed to extend our influence throughout the Pacific ocean. 
In the conference at Washington Germany proposed that foreign in- 
terests in Samoa be placed under a regent representing the nation 
having the strongest interest there. Had Bayard been for the old 
policy he would have accepted. But he held out for a joint regency 
in which we should have as much influence as either Britain or Ger- 
many, and the conference adjourned, the question remaining for the 
time in statu quo. 



766 A NEW PHASE OF AMERICAN DIPLOMACY 

Before the diplomats reassembled, confusion was precipitated in 
Samoa by the German consul there. Throwing aside restraints he 
deposed the native king, set up his own favorite, and 
Pretensions -y^jj^]^ j^j^g ^j^j of fQ^J. warships had his way for nearly a year. 
Germans in ^^^ followers of the old king at last began a counter- 
Samoa, revolution with the sympathy of the Americans and 
British. In the war which followed the Germans took 
open part. One incident especially showed how much they felt them- 
selves masters of the country. They sent the ship Adler to shell a 
village which supported the old ruler. As it leisurely took position 
to do its mission, the commander was astonished to see the American 
cruiser Adams anchor in the line of fire with guns and crew ready to 
reply. Leary, the commander of the Adams, axi adventurous Irish- 
man, was wUling to bring on war to oppose the Germans; and the 
Adler' s commander, not prepared to go that far, sailed back to Apia, 
where the German consul proclaimed martial law to apply to foreigners 
and natives. 

The year 1889 opened with every prospect of war. All that hap- 
pened in the Southern Pacific aroused warm interest in the United 
. States, and the nation no longer thought of the value of 

at^ApUi*"* the Samoan islands, but of the honor of the flag. Early 
in March, as Harrison assumed the presidency, the United 
States ship Trenton entered Apia harbor, where were anchored two 
other American, three German, and one British, men-of-war, all ready 
for action and likely to begin it at the slightest provocation. The 
threatened engagement was averted by a stupendous accident of 
nature. March 16 a great hurricane swept over the scene, tossing 
on the beach the shipping in the exposed roadway, and cooling the 
passions of the hour. Of the bristling warships only one survived, 
the British Calliope, which with the greatest difficulty managed to 
steam out to sea when the storm was highest. 

Negotiations were now resumed, and April 29 a joint commission 
of the three powers met in Berlin under the presidency of Bismarck to 
, consider the matter. Germany gave up her plans of 

the Islands absorption, and it was determined to continue the in- 
tegrity of the islands with a joint protectorate under 
the three nations. But experience showed that such an arrangement 
was unsatisfactory, and in 1900, when our sphere of influence in the 
Pacific was more clearly outlined, a further decision was reached. 
It was now agreed that Great Britain should withdraw from the 
islands, that the United States should have the island of Tutuila, 
with the excellent harbor of Pago-Pago, and that the remainder of the 
group of islands should go to Germany. On this basis the Samoan 
question was at last settled. 



A DIPLOMATIC DEFEAT 767 



The Fur Seal Controversy 

While the Samoan incident drew public attention to the South 
Pacific another controversy had its seat in the north of the same ocean. 
By a construction of our right to Alaska, derived through 
Russian sources, we believed that the Bering sea was -an Claim*" 
mare clausum and that we could control sealing there. 
Other nations protested our claim, especially England, whose Canadian 
sealers were numerous. After due notice of their rights the United 
States began to seize intruders in the sea, and March 2, 1889, congress 
prohibited the promiscuous killing of seals there. As most of the 
captured English ships were taken over three miles from land England 
demanded reparation for damages. The two nations seemed thus 
diametrically opposed on an important point ; the press of each 
breathed defiance ; and some imprudent despatches of Secretary Blaine 
added to the seriousness of the situation. But no one wished war over 
so small a matter, and after a period of reflection the matter was sub- 
mitted to arbitration in 1892. The next year a tribunal 
met in Paris and decided : (a) that the Bering sea was Arbitration 
not mare clausum and that we had no property rights jg-2. ' 
in seals outside of the three-mile limits ; {b) that we should 
pay damages arising from the seizure of ships contrary to this rule ; 
and (c) that a series of regulations now made should govern seal fish- 
eries in the future. Thus we lost on the first and second points, the 
essence of the controversy. It was due to the aggressive position 
taken by Blaine, who was apt to make wide claims in behalf of his 
own side. Neither he nor his associates were as well informed in the 
principles of international law as they should have been ; or they would 
hardly have claimed that the position of the Aleutian islands, Ameri- 
can property as they were, gave to the United States the great sea 
between those islands and the mainland of Alaska. The failure in 
this respect humiliated American pride, and taught us that we must be 
well informed and moderate in our assertions if we play the part of a 
great power in the world's diplomacy. 

The Mafia Incident 

This affair was, strictly speaking, a part of local history, and deserves 
no more mention in a general history than any other of many lawless 
outbreaks which have occurred in various parts of our 
country. But some of its victims were aliens, and it led, ^"™« "^ 
through that fact, to serious international consequences. Orleans. 
Bad in its origin, it was conducted in its diplomatic stage 
with skill and tactfulness. In 1891 New Orleans had been the scene 
of many black-hand outrages, believed to have been due to the Mafia 



768 A NEW PHASE OF AMERICAN DIPLOMACY 

society, a well-known Italian organization. At length the chief of 
police, Hennessy, very active in hunting down the perpetrators, 
was murdered in a peculiarly brutal and defiant manner, and circum- 
stances fixed the guilt on Italians. Nine of them were brought to 
trial, and the evidence against them was strong. But after a long and 
exciting trial six of the accused were acquitted and the jury disagreed 
as to the others. All the acquitted men were detained in prison on 
other charges. Public opinion was shocked. It was believed that 
bribery had been at work, and the prominent men of the city felt that 

a band of foreign cut-throats held the lives and property 
the Mob ° of respectable citizens at their disposal. March 15, i8gi, 

while excitement was highest, a mass-meeting was called 
to protest. A vast crowd assembled, inflammatory speeches were 
made, and a determined mob, armed and without disguise, marched 
to the prison. They forced an entrance, hunted out the Italian 
prisoners, shot down eleven without mercy, and went to their homes 
without molestation. They made no demonstration against the 
jury and attorneys, who, if bribery had been practiced, must have 
been equally guilty with the prisoners. The whole city approved 
the lynching, and the participants, though well known, were not 
arrested. 

The Italian people were highly outraged, and the government 
demanded that the lynchers be punished and indemnity be paid. The 
duality of our form of government, from which proceeds bad, as 
well as good, results, now came into prominence. The federal govern- 
ment alone could deal with Italy in the matter, but it could not 
deal with the New Orleans mob, which had not violated federal law. 
Secretary Blaine explained the situation to Baron Fava, Italian minis- 
ter in Washington, while he urged the governor of Louisiana to bring 
the mob leaders to trial. He well knew the governor was not likely 
to comply. To Italy it seemed that we trifled with her offended dig- 
nity; Baron Fava made a warm protest, Blaine sent him a sharp 
reply, and the upshot was that Italy withdrew her representative from 
a government in which the lives of Italian subjects seemed to be held 
of slight value. But reflection brought moderation. Investigation 
showed that all but three of the victims at New Orleans were natu- 
ralized Americans, and congress voted $25,000 to be divided among 
the families of the three. Italy considered this satisfactory reparation, 
and cordial relations were resumed a year after they were suspended. 

Relations with Chile 

To understand the Chilean incident of 189 1 we must go back to 1886, 
when Balmeceda began a five-year term as president of the republic. 
He was a grasping man who wished to increase his private fortune at 
the expense of the public. He was supposed to have his eyes on 



BALMECEDA'S DICTATORSHIP 769 

the government's nitrate beds and to expect to gain his object 
through a cabinet composed of his own creatures. Congress passed a 
vote of censure. Then the cabinet should have resigned, 
but he maintained them in ofhce, and a fierce wrangle ensued J^f ^«^°" 
between the executive and the legislature. He sought to chile. 
collect taxes without authority, and in January, 1891, 
boldly proclaimed himself dictator. He had the army on his side, 
beat down opposition, dissolved congress, and elected another to his 
liking. For a moment he seemed entirely successful, but the Northern 
provinces broke from his grasp and began a war in which they slowly 
and steadily decreased his power. They won most of the navy, and 
blockaded and finally took all the long seacoast. August 7, 1891, 
they defeated the Balmecedists, entered Santiago, the capital, and 
reigned supreme in the country. They were so much embittered 
that many of the defeated leaders killed themselves rather than be 
taken prisoners. 

This happened while Blaine was secretary of state. He was un- 
popular in Chile, because in 1881, when he was in Garfield's cabinet, he 
forbade that nation to make a treaty with Peru until certain American 
claims were settled. Chileans are very sensitive of their national 
honor, and they have good memories. When the war of 1891 began 
the United States supported the existing government. Their minister, 
Patrick Eagan, an exiled Irish agitator and a political subordinate of 
Blaine, was notably warm for Balmeceda. The congressionalists 
believed that he was corrupted and that Blaine shared the guilt. In 
America the cause of the revolutionists was popular, and Blaine and 
Eagan were sharply criticized. Blaine was especially denounced 
because he would not accord belligerent rights to the revolutionists 
even when the navy was in their hands. 

At this stage came the affair of the Itata. In May the insurgents 
sent this ship to San Diego, California, for military supplies. This 
was not against the law of neutrality, but the ship was ^^^^^ 

detained by a United States marshal, to the great disap- 
pointment of her own party and their American friends. Her com- 
mander would not brook the delay, and rashly sailed away after cutting 
his cables and overpowering the American officers in charge of the 
vessel. It was an act of defiance, and the whole American nation, 
irrespective of previous opinions, denounced it ; and the cruiser 
Charleston was sent out to recapture the Itata, by force if necessary. 
The Chilean revolutionists were also aroused and sent the Esmeralda, 
equally strong as the" Charleston, to protect the fugitive. For several 
days the Esmeralda and the Charleston, both ready for action, lay in 
the Mexican harbor of Acapulco, awaiting the Itata, whose ap- 
pearance must have precipitated war. Fortunately her commander 
sailed straight for Chile. When she arrived the anger of the revolu- 
tionists had cooled and she was handed back to the American authori- 

3D 



770 A NEW PHASE OF AMERICAN DIPLOMACY 

ties. The matter then went to an American court which ordered the 
Itata released on the ground that her detention was unwarranted. 
The affair left a bad impression of American feeling in the minds of 
the revolutionists. 

It was heightened early in August by another apparent violation 
of neutrality. The insurgents were now prepared for their final blow. 

They sailed out of their northern provinces with a fleet 
^f ^*h™?**°° of transports and landed an army at a point above Val- 
surgent " paraiso, hoping to surprise Santiago by a quick overland 
Movements, march. Their movements were observed by the officer 

commanding the American squadron in Chilean waters, 
who repaired at once to Valparaiso and communicated the intelligence 
to Washington in cipher. He cautioned the subordinate who went 
ashore with the dispatch to say nothing of the movement of the insur- 
gents; but the information got into circulation immediately, and 
the Valparaiso papers in repeating it said it was acquired from the 
Americans. No amount of denial could convince the revolutionists, 
now successful in their attack on their enemies, that the United States 
officer had not been in this respect the active friend of Balmeceda. 
Thus the new Chilean administration was embittered toward our 
government. 

The leaders of the defeated party, not daring to surrender to the 
victors, took refuge in the foreign legations in Santiago, eighty in 

that of the United States, about the same number in that 
Asylum of Spain, and sixteen distributed among those of Brazil, 

Baime-* *° Germany, France, and Great Britain. In six weeks all 
cedists. but twenty-one had been allowed to escape, fifteen of 

whom were under American protection ; and these, per- 
sons of great prominence in the recent struggle, were much desired 
for punishment. The right of asylum in countries subject to frequent 
revolutions has long been recognized by civilized nations, but the 
United States had looked on it with disfavor, and their agents were 
instructed to extend it only temporarily to save life, and they were 
not to "harbor offenders against the laws from the pursuit of the 
legitimate agents of justice." Eagan seems to have gone beyond 
these instructions. The new government dared not violate the lega- 
tions, but policed the surrounding areas most carefully, even to the 
very thresholds of the buildings. The situation was irritating, and 
lasted until in January, 1892, seven fugitives, all who had not escaped, 
were escorted to the seashore by the foreign ministers, and sent into 
safe exile aboard foreign warships. 

By this series of events Chilean feeling against the United States 
became most vehement. The result was the attack on the sailors 
of the Baltimore by a Valparaiso mob, October 16, 1892. Captain 
Schley, in command, unwisely allowed 117 of his crew shore leave. 
Some of them went to the worst part of the city, visited saloons and 



A BLUNDERING MINISTER 771 

dance halls, and fell to quarreling with the natives. Thus began a 
street battle of an hour's duration, in which two Americans were killed 
and nineteen wounded. The police passed through the 
crowd, ostensibly to disperse it, but the Americans present ^^^ ^^ v'l 
testified that they joined in the attack on the sailors, paraiso. 
This the Chileans denied, and the point was not clearly 
determined in the investigations which followed, one at Mare Island 
and the other by Chile at Valparaiso. 

The outbreak caused indignation in America. The Chilean foreign 
minister, filled with the bitterness of recent events, seems to have 
regarded it complacently. At the end of ten days he had 
expressed no regret, and when his attention was cour- ^'P'o^atic 
teously called to the fact he gave such an ill-natured reply ^^y^ Chile, 
that Minister Eagan was ordered to suspend intercourse. 
Two months later a new foreign minister was in ofhce, and Chile 
appeared more reasonable. Her first step was to ask for the recall of 
Eagan as persona non grata. Blaine replied that when Chile apologized 
and made reparation for the riot of October 16, and withdrew the 
offensive note of the preceding foreign secretary, he would entertain 
the request for Eagan's recall. The reply to this note conceded all 
that was demanded, and deferred the recall of Eagan. Six months 
later Chile handed over $75,000 for the victims of the riot. As the 
advent of Cleveland's administration had now disposed of Eagan, 
no other cause of irritation existed between the two powers. The 
Chilean incident arose through the conduct of an incompetent minis- 
ter, but its permanent effect was to increase the prestige of the 
United States in South America, and to impress on our own citizens 
the significance of a broader foreign policy. 

Hawaiian Annexation 

The Hawaiian islands, discovered probably at the close of the 
fifteenth century, did not arouse the interests of men until they were 
rediscovered late in the eighteenth. In 1788 two Boston 
ships visited them, then went to the northwest to buy g^^™ 
furs from the natives, returned in the winter to dry and 
cure their furs, visited the Northwest for other skins the following 
season, and finally sold the entire cargo in Canton and returned to 
Boston with oriental stuffs, making a profit of 1000 per cent on the 
operations of the two years. Their adventure found many imitators, 
and by 1800 Honolulu was a base for the operation of many traders 
in the northern ocean. It had a group of white resident merchants 
and adventurers, American and European. 

In 1820 American missionaries arrived. The docile natives proved 
easy converts, and schools, knowledge of letters, and a simple native 
literature soon followed. The missionaries became advisers of the 



772 A NEW PHASE OF AMERICAN DIPLOMACY 

kings, and used their influence for progress and good order. For- 
eigners were welcomed, and large sugar plantations were estab- 
lished successfully in this rich agricultural region. In 
thTmss/on- ^^43 England and France recognized the independence of 
aries. Hawaii, and the United States did the same actually, but 

not formally, because of her old policy of avoiding en- 
tangling alliances. By this means the islands preser\^ed their inde- 
pendence. After California was settled, Hawaii became more im- 
portant through our growing interest in the Pacific and 
of ^876^* ^ because it furnished food products to the new community. 
In 1876 we made a treaty with the islands by which 
custom duties were mutually relinquished, and it was agreed that 
Hawaii should not pass into the power of any other foreign nation. 
It was followed by a wide extension of American industry there, and 
all this seemed to make annexation more probable. 

For many years the native kings, advised by the missionaries, ruled 
well. They gave the people written constitutions, each more liberal 
than its predecessor (1839, 1864, and 1S87). The last 
The Hawai- ^^.^j^g jj^ ^}^Q reign of Kalakaua (i 873-1 891), whose private 
tion, 1893. niorals were bad and who late in life yielded to designing 
white favorites until the chief business interests, largely 
American, combined to force him to grant reforms. They succeeded 
in overriding his weak will, and the result was the constitution of 
1887, giving the suffrage to the whites and recognizing cabinet respon- 
sibility. Kalakaua resented it but was powerless, for the natives 
were worthless as soldiers. In 1891 he was succeeded by Liliuokalani, 
his sister. She hated the constitution of 1887, and, with more spirit 
than her brother, determined to overthrow it. To be independent of 
the legislature she established a lottery and an opium monopoly, 
and announced in 1893 that she would promulgate a new constitu- 
tion. The news alarmed the whites, who believed she would deprive 
them of a voice in government and take the taxing power into her own 
hands. The wealthy natives had the same interest as the rich white 
men, and supported the armed protest which now appeared against 
the proposed change. It was evident that a fierce struggle was im- 
minent, and the American minister landed marines to protect the 
legation. The natives took this to mean that the United States sup- 
ported the protesting party, and when the queen called on her troops 
to defend her prerogative, they refused to fight. Her advisers, white 
adventurers for the most part, now urged her to abdicate. More 
spirited than they, she refused for a time, but finally complied when 
she realized that she stood entirely alone. 

This affair occurred January 16, 1893. The revolutionists organized 
a provisional government having republican forms, with S. B. Dole 
president. It was recognized by the United States, England, Ger- 
many, and France, and it immediately appointed commissioners to 



OPPOSITION TO EXPANSION 773 

secure American annexation. For a time all went well in Hawaii. 
But annexation pleased only the Americans there. The other 
whites, and many nativ^es, headed by the British contin- 
gent, began to prepare a counter-revolution. Dole knew ^^^'^'^s the 
their plans, and got Stevens, the American minister, to raise pj^g^ 
the American flag ; and on February i, 1893, marines from 
the Boston landed in Honolulu and patroled the streets. Stevens 
acted on his own responsibility. He thought the moment critical, 
and did not dream that his countrymen would hesitate to accept the 
fine group of islands which fortune offered them. 

President Harrison received the Hawaiian commissioners three 
weeks before the end of his administration, and a treaty was prepared 
and sent at once to the senate. It provided for annexa- 
tion, with an annual pension of $20,000 for the queen and Annexation 
a gift of $150,000 for her daughter, the heir apparent to the 
throne, if they w^ould accept the revolution. By this time public 
opinion was greatly aroused. Many people did not like the part the 
marines took in the revolution and many did not want distant terri- 
tory at any price. To the latter the treaty was the beginning of a 
policy of expansion leading no one knew where, necessitating a great 
navy at an enormous expense, and elevating military ideals to the 
center of American policies. The opposition was strong enough 
to postpone ratification until the beginning of the new presi- 
dency. They were supported by the fact that President Cleveland 
was known to favor delay. One of his first steps after his inaug- 
uration was to withdraw the treaty from the senate and to send 
James H. Blount, special commissioner, to investigate the situation 
in Hawaii. 

In Honolulu, Blount began by ordering the American flag hauled 
down. Then he heard evidence from each side, and in July, 1893, 
reported that the revolution of the preceding January was 
accomplished chiefly through the connivance of the Ameri- ^"^^'^^^l"" 
can minister and the overawing presence of the American jg-,^ 
marines. On this basis the president decided that it was 
our duty to abandon our pretension to supremacy and to express to 
the queen regret for the conduct of Minister Stevens. This he pro- 
ceeded to carry out, inducing the queen, but with much difficulty, to 
promise amnesty to the revolutionists when she regained her power. 
Cleveland also washed to restore her to the throne by force, but 
congress would not go that far. May 31, 1894, it passed the Turpie 
resolution, refusing to interfere further in Hawaii. Liliuokalani was 
not able to effect her restoration in face of the revolutionists, and the 
Hawaiian republic continued to have authority in the islands until 
1898. In 1895 there was a futile plot in her behalf, and she was 
arrested and forced to swear allegiance to the republic. 

The advent of the republicans to power with the election of McKin- 



774 A NEW PHASE OF AMERICAN DIPLOMACY 

ley in 1896, brought up Hawaiian annexation again. A new treaty 
was prepared for the purpose and sent to the senate in 
Annexation 1897, but the opposition of the democrats prevented its 
plished acceptance by the necessary two-thirds majority. Its 

1898. ' advocates then resorted to a joint resolution, as in the 

case of Texas. Before this measure came to a vote the 
Spanish war began, and Dewey's victory at Manila made Hawaii of 
vast importance. The resolution now passed the house by a vote of 
209 to 91 and the senate by 42 to 21. It made Hawaii "a part of the 
territory of the United States," but forbade its Chinese inhabitants 
to come to continental United States, and left the islands outside of 
the customs limits. In 1900 another act created the territory of 
Hawaii, with the usual territorial government. 

The creation of a Hawaiian territory is justified on the ground that 
it is destined to become a white man's country. From its first ex- 
ploitation by Europeans the natives proved themselves unsatisfactory 
laborers, and contact with civilization has involved a decrease in their 
numbers. They were 130,313 in 1832, 44,088 in 1878, only 34,436 
in 1890, and 29,834, in 1900. It seems probable that they will finally 
disappear. Their places have been taken by Portuguese, Chinese, 
Japanese, Koreans, and Spaniards from Malaga. Annexation ter- 
minated the importation of Chinese laborers. Then began the immi- 
gration of Japanese, but in 1906 Japan, desiring to turn her emigrants 
to Korea, made such restrictions that her own people ceased to go to 
Hawaii. The Chinese there show a disposition to intermarry with 
the natives, and are generally considered a desirable addition to the 
population. In 1908 they were estimated at 10.6 per cent of the entire 
population, while the Japanese were 40.2 per cent. At the same time 
the Teutonic element, including the native whites, were 12,000, or 7 
per cent. By this it is seen that the whites constitute a rich and rela- 
tively small ruling class over a large body of dependents. 

Chinese Immigration 

Chinese laborers began to come to California soon after 1849, and 
they were welcomed there at a time when laborers were exceedingly 

few. The Burlingame treaty, 1868, facilitated this by 
AiTival of granting Chinese residents in America all the privileges of 
Laborers. citizens of the most favored nation. White laborers, 

arriving in numbers after the completion of the trans- 
continental railroads, complained of the orientals, who worked long 
hours and at low wages. Many acts of violence ensued, and in 187 1 
San Francisco had a riot, in which 21 Chinamen were killed. The 
matter was brought into politics, and each party locally declared against 
unrestricted Chinese immigration. In 1877 a committee appointed by 
the United States senate investigated the situation and reported that 



EARLY SYMPATHY FOR JAPAN 775 

the Burlingame treaty should be modified. Nothmg was done, how- 
ever, and in the same year began a series of outrages incited by Dennis 
Kearney, an agitator, the burden of whose song was that the Chinese 
must go. He found support among the lower classes, and for many 
months was a source of annoyance to the city authorities. The state 
legislature passed several restrictions for the orientals, limiting their 
rights of labor and residence, but the federal courts declared 
most of them unconstitutional. The matter then went ^xclusion 
to congress, which passed a bill restricting immigration, pUshed. 
but Hayes vetoed it because it infringed the treaty and ex- 
posed to retaliation Americans resident in China. At the same time 
negotiations were opened by which China agreed that the influx of 
laborers might be mutually forbidden, but not that of students, 
travelers, teachers, or merchants. This made possible the act of 
1882, by which laborers were denied admission to the country for ten 
years. The execution of the law was difficult. Laborers were 
smuggled in under pretense that they were of the excepted classes, 
and other legislation was necessary to make the exclusion law effective. 
In 1892 a new act, the Geary law, extended all these restrictions for 
ten years more. In 1902 it was ordered that they should be extended 
indefinitely. The undeveloped condition of China has led that nation 
to accept discriminations which a more powerful state would probably 
find insupportable. 

America and Japan 

The feeling against Chinese labor did not extend to the Japanese, 
partly because immigration from that quarter was not numerous, and 
partly from the part Perry took (1853) in opening the 
island kingdom to the world. Japan was a strong power, Reia^ons 
and progressed so rapidly in new ideas that in 1872 it sent 
a commission to Europe and America to get the powers to relinquish 
rights of extra-territoriality in Japan. The powers would not con- 
sent, and the commissioners went home to urge further progress in 
occidentalism. In the United States they encountered Joseph Hardy 
Neesima, who as a boy escaped out of Japan on a Boston 
ship and had been educated in Amherst College. He was Neesima 
a man of great capacity, and the commissioners called him 
back to his country to supervise the system of education. Many 
Japanese students now came to America for instruction, and Ameri- 
can missionaries went in large numbers to Japan. In 1894-1895, 
Japan fought a successful war with China, demonstrating her pre- 
dominance among the orientals. It was not possible to deny her all 
the rights of a first-class state. The concession she was denied in 
1872 was granted in 1899, when extra-territorial courts were abolished 
within her borders, and her alliance was sought by the nations having 
strongest interests in the East. 



776 A NEW PHASE OF AMERICAN DIPLOMACY 

Japan's rapid rise in fortune brought some embarrassment to the 
other nations concerned in the orient. The partition of China had 
long been a fixed idea in the world of diplomacy, but who 
Feeling could now believe this great new state would passively 

japMK allow such a thing under her very nose ? Developing 

Eastern trade had also been a favored hope of America 
and Europe, but Japan's industrial energy was as great as her mili- 
tary energy, and her geographical position as well as her cheap labor 
gave her an immense advantage in a competition in that field. De- 
cidedly, the arrival of the nation at the state of a great power seriously 
disarranged the plans of other great states, and it created a feeling 
of fear and uncertainty among them. The United States felt the 
same apprehension, not because they cared about the division of 
China, but because they thought of the exposed position of the 
Philippines and feared to lose their expanding oriental trade. It 
must be confessed that Japan aided the growth of distrust partly by a 
natural but rather offensive national self-confidence, and partly 
because she had shown a willingness to use expedients not ordinarily 
considered fair dealing in international relations. Through these 
means disappeared the early American enthusiasm for Japan. A 
counterfeeling of mild distrust was created, also, in Japanese minds 
by Roosevelt's alleged favor to Russia in the treaty of Portsmouth. 

The anti- Japanese feeling has been strongest on the Pacific coast, 
where the question, going beyond the general feeling just described, 
is part of the local opposition to orientals. In 1900 there 
California were in this region 18,269 Japanese, which was only .007 
Japanese. P^^ ^^'^^ ^^ ^^^ entire population, while there were three 
times as many Chinamen. But after that year immigra- 
tion increased. In 1903 the arrivals were 6000, and the coast became 
alarmed. It thought that the "yellow peril" had appeared in a new 
form. Much was said to excite popular feeling, and in 1906 the San 
Francisco school board ordered that Japanese be taught in an "ori- 
ental school," and not, as before, in the regular schools. It was 
alleged in support of the order that the Japanese "school children" 
were really adults and should not be in schools with young white 
children. 

The incident excited the people of Japan, who resented the dis- 
crimination. The opposition there denounced the Japanese govern- 
ment for tolerating what it pronounced an insult to the 
The Adjust- national honor, and there was danger that popular feel- 
1907, i^g would make war inevitable. The government at 

Tokio wished to avoid war, and urged President Roosevelt 
to execute the treaty by which Japanese citizens in the United States 
were guaranteed the rights of the most favored nation. The presi- 
dent wished to comply, but the dual nature of political authority in 
our system of government made it difficult to do so. He sent the 



VENEZUELA AND BRITISH GUIANA 777 

secretary of the interior to investigate the California situation, who 
reported that there were only 93 Japanese in the San Francisco schools, 
very few of whom were over twenty years old. Suits were now ordered 
to enforce the rights of the Japanese pupils under the treaty, and the 
president's annual message announced a firm purpose to carry the 
affair through. In California opinion was defiant. A mob even in- 
sulted a group of Japanese scientists observing the effects of the San 
Francisco earthquake, although Japan's contribution of $246,000 to 
relieve the suffering from that calamity was $33,000 more than the 
amount received from all other foreign nations. The California state 
authorities were less rash, and an adjustment was made in 1907. 
Japan agreed to execute more strictly a law already enacted forbidding 
the emigration of laborers, and San Francisco agreed to admit to the 
schools Japanese children not over sixteen years of age. Since then 
an excitable press has found several occasions to raise a Japanese 
war scare, but calmer minds have been at the seats of authority in 
Tokio and Washington. 

The Venezuela Boundary Dispute 

Venezuela revolted from Spain in 18 10 and established jurisdiction 

over the valley of the Orinoco. In 18 14 England acquired British 

Guiana from Holland by a treaty which left the western 

limits undefined. Venezuela asked several times for joint .J^^^- ° . 

111111 the Dispute, 

action to settle the boundary, but the requests were not 

granted. In 1841, however, England sent Schomburgk, a surveyor, 
to run the line with such data as she had from Holland. He carried 
it far westward, and included 50,000 square miles that Venezuela 
claimed, practically extending British Guiana to the Orinoco. To 
Venezuela's protest Britain replied with an offer to leave the former 
a narrow strip on the east bank of the Orinoco, so that the mouth of 
that river should be entirely Venezuelan. The offer was not accepted, 
and for thirty-two years the controversy slept. Meanwhile many 
British subjects settled in the disputed area, some of them coming 
to prospect for gold which was discovered there. Venezuela, there- 
fore, in 1876, again asked England to take steps to settle the bound- 
ary. No reply was vouchsafed until 1880, when England announced 
that she claimed through some Dutch treaties with the aborigines a 
large area west of the Schomburgk line. In this stage the contro- 
versy could not be compromised by the parties, and Venezuela asked 
England to submit to arbitration. The response was a negative, and 
though the request was several times repeated in the next sLx years 
no other reply was given. Finally, in 1886, England announced once 
for all that she would not recognize Venezuelan pretensions east of 
the Schomburgk line. Rupture of intercourse followed, and war 
might have begun had the parties been equally strong. In 1890 and 



778 A NEW PHASE OF AMERICAN DIPLOMACY 

in 1893 Venezuela sought to reopen negotiations, but met with un- 
yielding opposition. Her attitude, aside from a consideration of her 
right, was not such as she would have taken in dealing with a great 
power. A revolted Spanish province was apt to have indefinite limits, 
due to the large areas of unsettled territory, and it is by no means 
sure that Venezuela originally had title to the region in dispute. But 
to people who knew nothing of the merits of the case it seemed that 
the government at London used its strength to bully a weaker power 
and refused to arbitrate because its cause was weak. 

In 1876 Venezuela asked the United States to aid her, alleging that 
she was otherwise powerless to prevent the apparent British aggres- 
sions. But President Grant would do no more than hint 
Venezuela ^q England that we considered ourselves interested in the 
th^^uJ'ted situation. Nothing resulted, and in 1887 (Cleveland now 
States. being president) the United States went further and 

offered its services to secure arbitration if agreeable to 
both parties. Venezuela had then just broken off intercourse, 
and England replied that the attitude of the South American state 
was such that arbitration was impossible, and the same answer was 
made when Harrison in 1890 made a similar request. All our pro- 
tests to England had been made at the suggestion of Venezuela, who 
continually urged her defenceless position against a mighty nation 
and declared she would never have justice until the United States 
took action. 

These appeals might well arouse American sympathy, but inter- 
ference in the quarrel ought to be based on important interests at 
stake, and these, it was thought, were of two kinds: 
Our I . Our prestige with the Spanish American states demanded 

S:erfer!^°'^ that we give Venezuela the protection she needed. 2. The 
ence. Monroe doctrine had some bearing on the case. Both 

reasons had weight with the American president, but the 
latter was placed most in prominence. As stated in 1823, the Monroe 
doctrine announced that a European state was not to plant colonies 
in South America or to oppress or control any of the states already 
established there. It was issued in our own interests, for we feared 
that if a great power were fixed in the continent south of us our own 
institutions would be imperiled. In this sense the doctrine was a dead 
letter in 1895. Practical men so regarded it, and the British ministry 
had no idea that it could be applied to the Venezuelan situation. But 
Cleveland thought otherwise. In some things he was a passionate 
ideaUst, and his sympathy, courage, and patriotism were now aroused. 
He construed the Monroe doctrine to mean that we were to protect 
a South or Central American state from wrongful actions by Euro- 
pean powers. He did not say that Venezuela was injured by Eng- 
land, but he thought we were justified in demanding an investigation 
by arbitration in order to see if encroachments had been made. This 



THE MONROE DOCTRINE REVIEWED 779 

position was clearly stated in a despatch which Secretary Olney sent 
to London in July, 1895. The secretary was newly in office, and on 
that ground we may, perhaps, pardon him the use of language need- 
lessly sharp. 

Olney 's demand rudely shocked the British foreign office. Lord Salis- 
bury's delay in replying shows his opinion of what he undoubtedly 
thought a bit of American bluster, and it was not until 
November 26 that he sent his answer. It dealt chiefly ^ordSaiis- 
with the Monroe doctrine, showing conclusively that it posltfon. 
was created for a special occasion which was not like the 
situation then existing on the Orinoco. He argued at length that the 
United States had no rights of protection over Western states which 
other nations had not. In his eyes the Monroe doctrine in 1895 was 
only an historical fact, and if Cleveland had dropped the case at that 
stage it must have been taken as acquiescence in Salisbury's view. 
His persistence involved the assertion of a new doctrine, like that of 
1823 in the fundamental fact that it aimed to save Venezuela from 
foreign aggression, but going further and assuming the exclusive right 
of protection which Lord Salisbury denied. It was a most important 
step, for without it the United States could not play the overweening 
role in the Western Hemisphere to which many recent actions seem to 
commit them. 

All this occurred within the field of diplomacy, and the public 
was ignorant of it. But December 17, two weeks after the annual 
message, the correspondence of Olney and Salisbury was 
sent to congress, with a message in which Cleveland stated Cleveland's 
his interpretation of the Monroe doctrine as it applied to Venezuela 
the present case in words which left no doubt of his mean- DeT.^17^' 
ing. "The dispute," he said, "has reached such a stage 1895. 
as to make it now incumbent upon the United States to 
take measures to determine with sufficient certainty for its justifica- 
tion what is the true divisional line between the Republic of Vene- 
zuela and British Guiana," and he suggested an American boundary 
commission whose judgment we should enforce at any cost. In clos- 
ing he sent a spirited appeal to the American people in these memorable 
words: "There is no calamity which a great nation can invite which 
equals that which follows a supine submission to wrong and injustice 
and the consequent loss of national self-respect and honor." 

When this message was read in congress it was heard in awed 
silence, followed by an outburst of applause from democrats and re- 
publicans. Hitt, republican leader of the house, intro- 
duced a bill to create the proposed boundary commission, Reception 
and in three days it was a law by a unanimous vote in Message, 
each house. But outside of congress there was a short 
period of hesitation. Nobody in England or America had thought 
of a war between the two nations, and the people did not at once 



78o A NEW PHASE OF AMERICAN DIPLOMACY 

grasp its import. Some Londoners, taking the message jocosely, 
cabled, in allusion to experiences at the recent yacht races for the 
America's cup, "When our warships enter New York harbor, we 
hope that your excursion boats will not interfere with them." To 
which the recipients replied, "For your sake it is to be hoped that 
your warships are better than your yachts." A little reflection showed 
how serious was the situation, and a sharp fall in the prices of stocks 
indicated that the people of the two countries were alarmed. 

Up to this point the British people knew nothing of the real nature 

of the controversy. They were ever friendly to arbitration and were 

disappointed because their prime minister had overridden 

England ^^le appeals for it. Three hundred and fifty-four members 

A.CC6DtS A.r~ 

bitration. ^^ ^^^ house of Commons, in order to rebuke his high 
action, sent a petition to President Cleveland that future 
disputes might be settled by friendly arbitration. Opinion out of 
parliament, at first aroused at what the people thought a national 
insult, slowly came around to the same position, and the ministry 
found itself repudiated on the point in question. This change of 
sentiment was reflected in the courtesy of the British reply when our 
Venezuelan commission asked for British charts to enable it to per- 
form its functions. Finally, February 27, 1896, the United States 
ventured to suggest that the incident be discussed in Washington 
for settlement. The reply was favorable, and the case took a still 
more agreeable turn when a short time later England decided to ap- 
point a commission to arbitrate all matters of dispute between herself 
and Venezuela, thus doing under the influence of an aroused British 
sentiment what the ministry had for years refused to consider. 

Cleveland's Venezuelan commission took up its task in 1896. It 
sent Professors J. Franklin Jameson and George L. Burr to Europe 
to examine archives. Before its work was accomplished the British 
and American governments had appointed the arbitration board 
the former had agreed to accept, and the American commission sus- 
pended its work. The report of the board, in 1899, gave England 
most of the disputed area ; but the region east of the mouth of the 
Orinoco, all the extensions west of the Schomburgk line, and some 
narrow strips east of it were awarded to Venezuela. 

The Venezuelan incident calls attention particularly to the character 
of Cleveland. It seemed strange to some that a president, ordinarily 
a man of peace, who in March ordered the flag lowered in Honolulu 
should in the following December precipitate the Venezuelan war 
scare. Probably a strong sense of wrong done to a weak power by a 
great one was the underlying impulse in each case. In the one a 
queen was deprived of her throne ; in the other a vast empire seemed 
to bully a helpless nation. Spite of the popular enthusiasm the mes- 
sage evoked, there were expressions of discontent. The speculative 
portion of the business world, just recovering from the depression of 



CLEVELAND'S RESPONSIBILITY 781 

1895, were disgusted when the prices of stocks tumbled, and pronounced 
the president a rash blunderer. Other persons said he wished to 
restore his waning political prestige; still others criticized his inter- 
pretation of the Monroe doctrine. He undoubtedly gave the doc- 
trine a new interpretation, but it was, as we have seen, probably a 
necessary one. The announcement, also, of his position was brusque. 
But it was his habit to be outspoken, and tact was never his charac- 
teristic. The people loved him for his directness as they loved and 
trusted Jackson sixty years earlier for the same quality; and they 
approved his assertion of energy in diplomacy. It cannot be doubted 
that his action brought other powers to respect more than ever before 
our claims and responsibilities in the Western world, and prepared 
our own nation for the new international part it was to play in the 
succeeding administration. 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

For general history see : Dewey, National Problems (1907) ; Sparks, National 
Development (1907); Peck, Txventy Years of the Republic (igoy), inteiesting in its 
presentation of foreign affairs; and Wilson, History of the American People, 5 vols. 
(1902). 

For general diplomatic history see: Henderson, American Diplomatic Questions 
(1901); Woolsey, American Foreign Policy (1898); Moore, American Diplomacy 
(1905) ; Latane, Diplomatic Relations of the United States and Spanish America 
(1900) ; Snow, Treaties and Topics in American Diplomacy (1894) ; Foster, Century 
of American Diplomacy (1902); Ibid., American Diplomacy in the Orient (1903); 
Callahan, American Relations in tlic Pacific and Far East (1901) ; Hart, Foundations 
of American Foreign Policy (1901), not an extensive treatment, but there is a good 
bibliography; Reinsch, World Politics and the Oriental Situation (1900); and 
Colquhoun, Mastery of the Pacific (1902). 

For material more or less documentary see : Bryan, Compilation of Treaties in 
Force, iSdi-iSgg (1899); Moore, Digest of International Laiv, 8 vols. (1890-1896), 
an invaluable work; Ibid., Index of Published Volumes of Foreign Relations, 1861- 
iSgg (1902) ; and Wharton, Digest of International Law, 3 vols. (1886). 

Most of the works here mentioned deal in detail with the specific topics of di- 
plomacy in the Pacific. Others are : Chambers, Constitutional History of Hawaii 
(Johns Hopkins Studies, 1896) ; Carpenter, America in Haivaii (1899) ; Blackman, 
Malting of Hawaii (1899) ; Proceedings of llie Tribunal of Arbitration at Paris, iSg2, 
15 vols.; Conant, The United States in the Orient (1900), primarily economic, but 
is valuable for the general point of view; Calderon, Latin America (trans. 1913); 
Seward, Chinese Immigration (1881); Whitney, Chinese and the Chinese Question 
(1888); Dawson, South American Republics, 2 voh. (iQo;^); and Cleveland, Vene- 
zuela Boundary Controversy {Century Magazine, vol. LXII). 

For Independent Reading 

Stevenson, A Footnote to History (1891), on Samoan incident ; Mahan, The Prob- 
lem of Asia and its Effect on International Policies (1900) ; Armstrong, Round the 
World with King Kalalsaua (1904) ; Evans, A Sailor's Log (1901) ; Schley, Forty- 
five Years under the Flag (1904) ; Morton, The Siege of Peking (1900) ; and Krout, 
Hawaii, a Revolution (1898). 



CHAPTER XXXVIII 

THE WAR WITH SPAIN 

Spain and Cuba 

Throughout the last half of the nineteenth century, Cuba and 
Porto Rico remained Spain's only American colonies. Both islands 
were rich in agricultural resources, and their export and 
in'cuba^. '^^ import duties yielded large sums for her treasury. So 
much were they exploited that a party in Cuba was formed 
to strive for a greater degree of self-government. It had for leaders 
some of the men of wealth and influence in the island, but most of its 
membership were of the middle and lower classes, many of them men 
of negro blood. The majority of the wealthy and intelligent islanders 
had no sympathy for the liberal movement and no confidence in the 
ability of the liberals to govern the island, if independence should be 
gained. Thus in all the striving which filled this long period there 
were two parties, an aristocratic one in favor of Spain and a popular 
one in favor of independence. 

In 1868 the latter began a war for freedom. Their most important 
leader was Queseda, a man of great devotion and much ability. He 
^ realized that his followers could not cope with the great 
War. army sent against them, and resorted to guerilla warfare. 

He divided his forces into small mounted bands, badly 
armed but strong in the predatory instinct, and sent them against 
whatever exposed position the enemy offered. They burned property, 
ravaged the crops, and took life relentlessly, making themselves terrors 
to all who did not support their cause. The Spanish army was 
strong in infantry and weak in cavalry, and it could only extend its 
garrisons in the infected districts and wait for time to wear out the 
revolutionists. By 1878 this was accomplished, and resistance ceased 
when concessions were promised. But the ten years' war left the 
country a waste. 

It also led to unpleasant relations between the United States and 
Spain. An insurgent junta in New Orleans and in New York sent 
powerful aid to the revolt in the form of arms and sup- 
the U 'T d P^^^s, and many Cubans escaping to our shores took oaths 
States. o^ American citizenship and returned to the island to 

serve under the revolutionists. This naturally enraged 
the Spanish governor of Cuba, but the orders he issued in opposition 
to it went beyond the bounds of international comity. Vessels taking 

782 



THE VIRGIN I US 783 

recruits and supplies to the insurgents, he declared, should be con- 
sidered piratical, "and all persons captured in such vessels," he added, 
"without regard to their number, will be immediately executed." 
The United States protested against the decree, and it was withdrawn 
some time after it was promulgated. By international law a ship 
of the kind indicated might be seized for carrying contraband, or for 
smuggling, but it was not piratical, and foreigners engaged on it were 
not liable to death. The local Spanish officials resented the repeal 
of the order just mentioned, and they met the desperate methods of 
the insurgents with the most cruel decrees. The military commander 
in the island ordered the natives to remain on their premises on 
penalty of death, and threatened to burn unoccupied dwellings. In 
1869 two native Americans, one a passenger and the other a sailor, 
were executed because they were on a captured vessel carrying re- 
cruits to the revolutionists. Although Spain took steps to prevent 
a recurrence of such an affair, it caused much resentment in America, 
where feeling favored the insurgents. 

In 1873 the Virginius, a well-known filibustering ship, was taken on 
the high seas and carried into Santiago harbor. The crew of 52 and 
the 103 passengers, among whom were 8 American, several 
British, and one French subjects, were sent before a sum- J}^^ ^^^^ °^ 
mary court martial, and within five days 53 of them, in- ,„s^ 
eluding the captain, an American citizen, were shot as 
pirates, spite of the protests of the American, British, and French 
consuls. The Spanish officer in command declared that he obeyed 
the orders of his superiors. The proceedings were not known in 
Madrid until it was too late to stop them. The ministry there, as 
soon as it knew of the capture, sent orders that no sentences be carried 
out without permission from that quarter. The despatch reached 
Havana in time to save some of the victims, but it was delayed be- 
tween that point and Santiago. It seemed to the people of the United 
States that bloodthirsty subordinates in Cuba hurried on the processes 
of their courts and nullified a clemency they despised. 

The affair brought the two nations to the verge of war. General 
Sickles, our minister in Madrid, seems to have desired to precipitate 
hostilities, and conducted the negotiations intrusted to 
him in such a way that a rupture was imminent. But jj^eatened 
Secretary Fish, his superior, at last realized that the matter 
should be withdrawn from the hands of Sickles and shifted the nego- 
tiations to Washington (see page 674). Spain declared that the Vir- 
ginius was not an American ship and promised reparation in a month, 
if investigation showed the contrary. Meantime, she handed over 
the Virginius with the surviving persons taken on it. The vessel 
started for American ports, but foundered and sank in a storm off 
Hatteras. The investigation showed she had no right to carry the 
United States flag, and that her American registry was fraudulent. 



784 THE WAR WITH SPAIN 

Spain, therefore, did not salute our flag, as she had agreed to do if 
the finding had been otherwise; but in 1875 she contributed $80,000 
to be distributed among the relatives of the Americans shot at San- 
tiago. This disposition of the incident did not satisfy 
I^Vl"' ^^^ majority of the American people. They recognized 
Remem-^ the animus in the proceedings at Santiago and repaid 
bered. it with dislike. They were especially outraged when 

Brigadier General Burriel, who gave the bloody orders at 
Santiago, was in 1875, after a short period of suspension, made a major 
general and given a high command in Spain. 

While the war went on, the government at Washington several 
times urged Spain to make concessions to the revolting party in 
order to have peace. The reply was invariably the same : 
f^nf" ^*" ^P^i^ was ready to give Cuba reforms, and would do so 
Urged. '^^ 50^" ^s authority was respected, but honor forbade 

concessions to a rebellious province. Our protests were 
based on commercial interests and humanity, and they embraced all 
the arguments which were marshaled into service in the negotiations 
preceding the war in 1898. We even talked of intervention, and took 
pains in 1875 to let our position be known to the leading European 
powers. Their attitude was hardly friendly to our proposition, and 
Fish hesitated to proceed further. What we might have done does 
not appear, for in 1877 the insurgent president was captured, and 
Campos, commanding the army, took the submission of the island 
after promising it a liberal government like that of Porto Rico. The 
offer embraced representation in the cortes at Madrid, self-government 
in local affairs, admission of Cubans to office, liberal suffrage, and the 
relinquishment of exploitation for the benefit of Spain. Since our 
own government had so persistently urged reforms like those now 
promised, we felt a peculiar interest in their realization. 

Then followed a series of maneuvers which disgusted the men 
recently in arms. The Spanish party in Cuba was bitterly hostile to 
liberalism. They declared the former insurgents unfit to 
Promised share in the government, and painted black pictures of 
Withheld. disorder if Campos's promises were fully carried out. 
Liberalism at that time had few friends at court, and the 
result was that the promises of 1878 were reduced, in the execution, 
to the lowest possible terms. The suffrage was so limited that the 
mass of Cubans could not vote, authority in the island fell into the 
hands of the Spanish party who controlled the revenues for their 
own benefit and that of the mother country, and who were, in fact, 
spite of their superior intelligence and wealth, a rapacious mercan- 
tile and landlord oligarchy. Against their activity few persons 
cared to protest openly. The middle class submitted, but the 
former followers of Queseda maintained their organization as a lib- 
eral party, and awaited an opportunity to strike. They felt that 



EFFORTS TO ENFORCE NEUTRALITY 785 

a Spanish promise could no longer be trusted and that future fight- 
ing must be for independence. 

In 1895 Cuban conditions were intolerable. The annual revenue 
was $26,000,000, half of which went to pay the Spanish debt and a 
fourth to support the army and navy. Of the other 
fourth, much went to maintain the offices created in the ^ ^°" °^ 
island for the benefit of Spaniards, and only $1,000,000 
was given to education and public improvements. Spain had saddled 
on the revenues the entire debt incurred through the ten years' war, 
as well as that incurred in wars with Peru and Santo Domingo. Mili- 
tary trials and a strict censorship of the press which kept down pro- 
tests against existing conditions gave the situation the air of the 
choicest medievalism. Finally, in February, 1895, the cortes in 
Madrid gave Cuba for its self-government a council, half the members 
to be appointed by the crown and half elected under the suffrage law 
existent in the island. It came as the tardy fulfillment of the promise 
of self-government made in 1878. The liberals realized that the last 
hope of satisfactory reform was gone, and took up arms under the 
leadership of Maximo Gomez. 

Now reappeared guerrilla warfare in its worst form. Gomez ordered 
the people to furnish no supplies to the foes of the revolution and for- 
bade the planters to grind cane under pain of death as 
traitors. Again buildings were burned, industry para- the Cuban 
lyzed, and laborers thrown out of employment and forced 
to join the insurgents whose foraging was their chief means of support. 
Spain threw a large army into Cuba, established numerous garrisons, 
and issued threatening proclamations ; but the Cubans avoided open 
battle, content to cut up exposed detachments as opportunity offered, 
to reduce the country to a desert, and to dissolve their bands before 
encountering the columns sent to capture them. 

Again Cuban juntos operated on American soil, supplies were for- 
warded, and adventurous Americans stole away to join the insurgents. 
American public opinion applauded the revolutionists, 
spite of President Cleveland's efforts to enforce neutrality. Cleveland 
How well he succeeded is shown by the fact that ^;^ ex- ^^^^y^ 
peditions were stopped before they sailed, while of the 32 
which evaded the authorities and landed in Cuba, only five were taken 
by the army of nearly 200,000 men which occupied the country. 
Many American citizens were captured among the Cubans. Some 
were native-born citizens, but many more were Cubans who had sought 
protection by taking out papers of American citizenship. Spain did 
not want war with our government, and was content for a time to 
send such captives out of the island, while Cleveland, recognizing the 
abuse of our naturalization laws, which he could not check, did not 
protest strongly against what was done. Gomez well knew the best 
chance of Cuban success was to bring the United States into the war. 



786 THE WAR WITH SPAIN 

During 1895 the commander-in-chief in Cuba was Campos, under 
whose pacific policy the revolt only grew stronger. The Spanish fac- 

tion protested against his conduct of the war and he was 
Cainpos. removed early in 1896. He left Cuba, declaring that the 

concession of real autonomy was the only means of restor- 
ing order. Again he was met by the feeling that Spanish honor could 
not permit concessions until the insurgents laid down their arms. 

General Weyler, who succeeded him, announced a policy of re- 
pression. In parts of the island the revolutionists kept the rural 

population terrorized and levied contributions of supplies 
Weylen °^ them. For these districts Weyler issued his order of 

reconcentration, compelling the inhabitants to remove 
to garrison towns and forbidding them to travel in the abandoned 
districts without written permission. It also enlarged the military 
law, increased the power of military tribunals, and gave notice 
that conviction for crimes subject to the death penalty would be 
followed by summary execution. Spain justified this edict as nec- 
essary to meet the devastation of the guerrillas, but it fell sorely on the 
innocent persons who had taken no part in the struggle and who suf- 
fered severely in the reconcentration camps to which they were confined 
with no means of earning a livelihood. Moreover, all the restrictions 
failed to accomplish the desired results, and the war went on with in- 
creasing horrors during the years 1896 and 1897. 

American Intervention 

The cause of Cuba was popular in the United States, and Cleveland's 
rigid neutrality disappointed a large portion of the people. Weyler's 

reconcentration edict brought this feeling to a head, and in 
ConCTess? April, 1896, congress passed resolutions recognizing the 

belligerency of the Cubans and offering the services of the 
government to secure the recognition of independence by Spain. The 
president is not bound by a resolution of congress on a matter of 
belligerency, and although this had only six negative votes in the 
senate and twenty-seven in the house, Cleveland clung to his policy 
of neutrality to the end of his administration. Meanwhile he urged 
Spain to concede reform, and was met with the usual declaration that 
no concessions would be made until the Cubans laid down their arms. 
In a message to congress, December 7, 1896, he discussed intervention 
in all its relations, and said in conclusion that when it was evident that 

Spanish authority could no longer be enforced in Cuba it 
Restrained would be our duty to intervene in behalf of humanity. 
Cleveland. This was ominous, and England, France, and Germany 

united in urging Spain to bring the Cuban struggle to a 
close by adopting reforms, but again the reply was a negative. Spite 
of all these things, Cleveland held to his course and was able to restrain 



OUR DEMANDS ON SPAIN 787 

the resentment of the people, which every day grew stronger. The 
business of the country was slowly recovering from the previous years 
of panic, and shuddered at the suggestion of war ; and he was anxious 
to protect it. His successor, President McKinley, also supported 
the business interests and maintained neutrality during the spring, 
summer, and autumn of 1897 ; but he was not a man to defy congress, 
and the meeting of that body was awaited with interest by all who 
desired the success of the revolutionists. 

There was a liberal party in Spain, and it continually demanded re- 
forms in Cuba as a means of ending the war. The mass of Spaniards 
favored repression, but the logic of events was against them, 
and when the leading conservative in the ministry was ^«*o'"™s 
assassinated on August 8 his colleagues were forced to re- sagasta, 
sign, and there was a liberal ministry under Sagasta. His 
task was to establish autonomy in Cuba without arousing the appre- 
hension of a sensitive nation. He assumed office October 14 and ad- 
dressed himself at once to a scheme of Cuban autonomy. Weyler 
was recalled. General Blanco was placed in command in Cuba, recon- 
centration was abandoned, an elective assembly was announced, and 
other features of autonomy were adopted. President McKinley in 
his first annual message suggested that no action be taken by congress 
until it could be seen what effects would follow these concessions. A 
year earlier the American people would have allowed the new policy 
a fair trial ; now they were so much aroused that they would hear of 
no further waiting. If they had no faith in promises from Madrid, if 
they thought loopholes would be discovered to evade real autonomy, 
Spain herself was to blame through her broken faith in the past. The 
Cubans also rejected autonomy. They could hardly be expected to 
accept it as long as the American people decried it. They talked 
loudly of resisting to the last extremity, but it cannot be doubted that 
they must have submitted had the United States been satisfied with 
the reforms which Sagasta with much honesty desired to effect. 
Autonomy thus was proved a failure, and only increased the embar- 
rassment of Sagasta in Spain. Events drifted toward war throughout 
the winter of 1897-1898, and various incidents served to accelerate 
their progress. 

The attitude of the United States was resented in Cuba, where the 
Spanish party became so bitter toward Americans that General Fitz- 
hugh Lee, the consul, advised that a ship-of-war be sent 
to Havana. In accordance with the suggestion the battle- ^^® '^"'"^ 
ship Maine arrived in the harbor January 25, 1898. She Havana, 
saluted the forts, and anchored at the place assigned her 
by the authorities. Her presence increased rather than allayed the 
anti-American feeling in the city. 

A fortnight later a New York paper published a private letter from 
Senor de Lome, Spanish minister in Washington, describing autonomy 



788 THE WAR WITH SPAIN 

as a failure and McKinley as a "cheap politician" (policastro). It 

had been purloined and was published in the interest of the Cubans, 

, and this was designed to embarrass the diplomatic relations 

Letter!"^ ^ °^ ^^^ ^^° countries, then already greatly strained. The 

letter was genuine, and its author could only plead that 
it was not intended for publication and no notice should be taken of it. 
McKinley thought otherwise, and asked for de Lome's recall. The 
minister was allowed to resign, and Senor Polo y Bernabe took his 
place. The incident raised feeling still higher in the United States. 

Six days later, February 15, the Maine at her assigned anchorage 
was blown up with a loss of 2 officers and 258 men. The ship burst 

into flames, and in twenty minutes settled in thirty feet of 
Destroyed, water. Two explosions were heard at an appreciable 

interval. It was agreed that the second was caused by the 
ignition of the ship's magazines, but one theory held that the first was 
the report of a mine exploding and another that it was the explosion of 
the fixed ammunition in the ship due to lax management. The Spanish 
authorities expressed warmest sympathy for the loss and did what 
they could to save life in the accident. Captain Sigsbee, commander 
of the Maine, in his dispatch announcing the catastrophe, said ; " Pub- 
lic opinion should be suspended until further proof." The people 
generally were stunned : they were prepared to believe anything of 
Spanish treachery, but they could not believe that Spain would do an 
act which could not fail to bring on a war which she was doing her best 
to avoid. 

Two investigations were made, one by the United States, the other 
by Spain. The former, after a careful examination of the wreck by 

divers, concluded that the ship was destroyed by a mine 
tiorTs^oMhe ^^^^^^ ^et off one of her magazines ; but the investigators 
Accident. would not try to account for the firing of the mine. The 

outer shell of the hulk, with the steel ribs and keel, were 
bent upward in a gigantic dent, which seemed to indicate an external 
explosion. The other investigation, after a superficial examination 
of the hulk, reported that the accident was due to an internal explosion. 
Most Americans disregarded the Spanish report. They believed the 
Maine was destroyed by a mine set off either by some Spaniard on his 
own responsibility, or by a Cuban to bring on war, or by accident. 
When the wreck was uncovered in 191 1 its condition corresponded 
with the reports of the American divers, and a new investigation sup- 
ported the conclusion of 1898. President McKinley showed great 
forbearance while the investigation was proceeding, and sent the find- 
ings to the government at Madrid without demands. Neither he nor 
the calmer portion of the people felt that Spain ought to make repara- 
tion, but the disaster had raised American feeling to such a state of 
tension that nothing short of the widest concessions to Cuba could 
have averted war. 



PEACE OR WAR? 789 

The president now returned to the negotiations with a surer grasp 
on the situation. He suggested an armistice to allow negotiations for 
peace through the friendly offices of the United States, 
protesting that the United States did not wish to acquire McKinley 
Cuba. Sagasta seems to have been willing to meet these Armfstice^^ 
suggestions, but he considered the vast wave of anti- 
American feeling in his country and wished to avoid the semblance of 
yielding to the Cubans. He replied that an armistice would be granted 
if the Cubans would ask for it, l3ut that nothing definite should be done 
until the newly authorized Cuban parliament met on May 4. This 
was the situation on April i, 1898. McKinley, realizing that his sug- 
gestions were refused, prepared a message to congress which he pro- 
posed to send on the sixth. That body was keen for war and only 
v/aited the word from the executive to make it a reality. April 5 the 
queen of Spain, at the request of the pope, offered a suspension of 
hostilities if the Cubans would accept it. The offer made no impres- 
sion on the president, but he withheld his message to congress because 
the consul at Havana cabled that time was necessary to get Americans 
out of the city. April 10 the Spanish minister in Washington informed 
the president that the order for an armistice had been issued. 

Thus at the last moment, when our hand was raised to strike, our 
ultimatum was accepted. What should our president do ? Behind 
him were the people whom nothing short of Cuban in- 
dependence would now satisfy. Concessions at the last '^^^ ^^® 
moment, they reasoned, would be evaded, as in the past, McKi^ey. 
unless we took on ourselves the heavy task of supervising 
their execution. Moreover, we were quite sure, as a people, that we 
wanted the removal of the last vestige of Spanish power in the Western 
world, and we were not willing to forgo the opportunity to secure it. 
McKinley could have withstood this sentiment. By accepting the 
surrender of Spain he could have guided the situation until the colony 
of Cuba would have remained at last in a situation somewhat like that 
of Canada. By refusing to accept it he could secure Cuban independ- 
ence. He chose the latter alternative. April 1 1 he sent a message to 
congress summarizing recent negotiations, barely communicating the 
Spanish note of the tenth, and asking authority to intervene, by force, 
if necessary, in order to establish peace and order in Cuba. 

Congress acted promptly. April 19, the anniversary of the battle 
of Lexington, four resolutions were passed, the first three demanding 
the independence of Cuba and authorizing the use of force 
to execute the demand, and the fourth pledging the govern- Dg^Jiared 
ment to withdraw all authority from Cuba when independ- 
ence was accomplished and a firm government established. The last 
resolution was received with derision in many parts of the world, but 
it was faithfully fulfilled in 1902. The day after the resolutions 
passed the Spanish minister in Washington asked for his passports ; 



790 THE WAR WITH SPAIN 

the next day, April 21, our own minister in Madrid, General Woodford, 
made the same request and left Spain; and on the 25th congress de- 
clared that war had existed since the 21st. 

These developments were closely observed in Europe. France, 
Austria, and Italy naturally sympathized with Spain ; and Germany, 

mindful, perhaps, of the Samoan affair, was also out of 
European sympathy with the United States. The continental press 
the' War. teemed with grotesque criticisms of Americans. We were 

considered a nation of money getters, the cartoonists 
depicted us as swine, and our pretension to intervene in Cuba was pro- 
nounced a species of piracy. Our army was pronounced an armed 
mob, and our navy was made a subject of ridicule. German news- 
papers took the lead in this chorus. In Great Britain sentiment 
favored the United States. Every prominent London paper, except 
the Saturday Review, was cordial in its support. Persons connected 
with the British government later said that just before war was de- 
clared the German minister and other continental diplomats were 
about to give the United States notice of a purpose of joint intervention 
to save Spanish sovereignty and that their plan was defeated by Sir 
Julian Pauncefote, British ambassador. Germany denied this asser- 
tion and said that the plan for joint intervention came from Sir Julian 
and was disapproved by the German emperor. It is impossible to 
reconcile the two statements, but it is true that while both governments 
were formally friendly we had every reason to believe that Germany 
wished Spain's triumph and England desired ours. 

The Work of the Navy 

As war became imminent Spain assembled her strongest ships of war 
at Cape Verde islands, and April 29 they left that place for America. 
They consisted of four armored cruisers and three torpedo- 
The Expedi- \^Q2ii destroyers, commanded by Admiral Cervera. Our 
Cervera. whole Atlantic seaboard was at once in a paroxysm of 
terror, but it breathed easier when it reflected that Cer- 
vera must touch at some Spanish port in Cuba or Porto Rico before 
he could ravage our coast. To reach such a point would require ten 
or more days, and it became the object of the American navy to strike 
him while still in West Indian waters. All our best ships, which for 
two weeks had been held in reserve to suppport the blockade we had 
established along the northern shore of Cuba, were now made ready 
to intercept the Spaniards. Before they could undertake the task 
assigned them the world was startled by an important event in another 
quarter. 

When the war began our Pacific squadron was at Hong Kong under 
command of Commodore George Dewey. Through the efforts of 
Theodore Roosevelt, assistant secretary of the navy, the squadron was 



MANILA BAY 791 

in excellent condition for offense, and April 24 it was ordered to the 
Philippine islands to capture or destroy the Spanish fleet there as- 
sembled. Three days later Dewey set out with the Olym- 
pia, his flagship, the Baltimore, Raleigh, and Boston, pro- 5^'!'^^ . ^ 
tected cruisers of from 5800 to 3000 tons, the gunboats Manila. 
Concord and Petrel, the revenue cutter, McCulloch, and a 
collier and a supply ship, all in war coats of dull gray. At sea the 
crews were shown a bombastic Spanish proclamation describing the 
Americans as "all the social excrescences" of the earth. To this 
Dewey added the simple order: "The squadron is bound for Manila. 
Our orders are to capture or destroy the Spanish fleet." The announce- 
ment was received with cheers from the crews of all the ships. 

During the night of the 30th Dewey reached the entrance of Manila 
Bay, in the middle of which stands the fortified rock, Corregidor. 
Without a moment's hesitation he started through, the 
Olympia in the lead. He was not expected, and the flagship ManUa°Bay 
was a mile beyond the rock when the fleet was discovered. 
Fire was opened without damage to the ships, and at dawn they were 
before Cavite, a strongly fortified place, five miles from the city. The 
Spanish fleet was observed drawn up under the guns of the arsenal, 
ready for action. The American commander was eager for battle. 
Forming his squadron in a crescent at 5500 yards range he turned to 
the commander of the Olympia and said quite calmly : "You may fire 
when you are ready, Gridley." Instantly the guns on both sides began 
their work, Dewey moving in closer as he observed that his range was 
too great. After an hour the Spaniards were suffering greatly and 
already crippled. Then Commodore Dewey, thinking of the comfort of 
his own men, withdrew to give the crew time for breakfast, after which 
he moved in and completed the work he had begun. At half past 
twelve the enemy ran up the white flag and surrendered their fleet 
and the arsenal at Cavite. A desultory fire continued from the city, 
but it ceased in the afternoon when the American commander gave 
notice that he would shell the city if another shot was fired at him. 
The Spaniards lost ten warships, a transport, and a water battery. 
They had 381 men killed and many more wounded. Of their ships 
only two were protected cruisers. They were inferior to the Americans 
in fighting ability, but the protection of their shore batteries was sup- 
posed to have overcome this disadvantage. They fought bravely, but 
their gunnery was bad, while that of their adversaries was extremely 
good. No American ship was seriously injured, and only one Ameri- 
can was killed and seven wounded. Dewey was made Rear Admiral 
for his splendid victory, and March 2, 1899, congress made him an 
admiral. 

It was natural that he should hold the bay he had taken ; and when 
he cabled his government that he could take the city if he had the 
troops to occupy it, it was natural that troops should be sent. But 



792 THE WAR WITH SPAIN 

it was not until May 21 that they could be embarked at San Francisco, 
and June 30 that they reached Manila. Meanwhile, Dewey's posi- 
tion was critical. Soon after his victory foreign warships 
M 'la Ba began to arrive, among them three British vessels com- 
manded by Captain Chichester and five German ships 
commanded by Admiral von Diedrich. The latter officer seems to 
have known little of naval etiquette, and showed little respect for the 
blockade of the city which the American commodore had established. 
He of all the commanders present adopted an irritating course, sending 
his launches close in at night beyond the lines of patrol and dogging 
the American ships at whatever points they saw fit to inspect. Re- 
monstrances did not restrain him, and he finally committed a clear 
breach of neutrality by landing supplies for the Spaniards. To this 
Dewey sent a pointed protest, closing with the words, "And say to 
Admiral von Diedrich that if he wants a fight he can have it now." 
The German was in a rage, and asked Captain Chichester 
Attitude of what he would do if a conflict occurred between the Ameri- 
rich. ' can and German squadrons. The Briton replied ; "There 
are only two persons here who know what my instructions 
are. One of those persons is myself, and the other is — Admiral 
Dewey." Von Diedrich then realized that he was alone, and his 
attitude became more regular. He represented a new navy, 
without traditions of " sea manners," and was acting without in- 
structions. But he showed the hostility his compatriots at that 
time generally felt toward the United States, and he nearly pre- 
cipitated a war. 

The first relieving expedition arrived at Manila on June 30 and 
contained 2500 men, a second arrived July 17 with 3500, a third on 
July 30 with 4600, and August 4 came the great monitor, 
Relief for Monterey, a floating fortress bristling with guns. As these 
forces were landed they occupied the captured forts, and 
August 13, under command of General Wesley Merritt, they were in 
position to occupy Manila, a work which they accomplished in a few 
hours, notwithstanding the spirited resistance of the garrison. 
Dewey's persistence at Manila committed us to our Philippine policy. 
Had he left the islands to Spain they would probably have gone to 
some other European power, or to Japan, and that, it seems, would 
have obviated the strong check we were able to interpose, a few years 
later, to the partition of China. Those who think that we should not 
have become involved in oriental diplomacy are inclined to blame 
Dewey for not leaving Manila after he had crushed the Spanish fleet, 
which was all his instructions ordered. But the responsibility was 
not his. He was in communication by cable with his government, 
and President McKinley and his cabinet not only failed to order 
him away, but devised the policy of occupation which followed his 
achievement. 




(The different Scales used sh 



It from 95' Greenwich 90' 




ie noted with particular care.) 



AWAITING CERVERA 793 

When the Cape Verde expedition sailed westward the American 
fleet on the Atlantic was in three squadrons. One under Commodore 
Howell patrolled our northern coasts, another, called the 
"Flying Squadron," remained at Hamy^ton Roads under S^'^t'^* 
Commodore W. S. Schley, and a third, the main squadron, Santiago, 
under Rear Admiral W. T. Sampson, was at Key West con- 
ducting the blockade. The announcement of Cervera's coming put the 
first and second of these divisions into motion. Schley was sent around 
the western end of Cuba to the southern coast, and Sampson operated 
along the northern coast as far as Porto Rico and in the channels east 
and west of Haiti, with scout-ships thrown far out. The Spaniard 
reached Martinique safely on May 11, and, learning that Sampson 
was looking for him, turned southward to the Dutch island of Curasao, 
where he arrived on the 14th. He had supplies for the army and 
wished to reach Cienfuegos, in railroad communication with Havana. 
May 15 he started for that place with a small supply of coal, but 
changed his mind, and May 19 entered Santiago harbor, at the eastern 
end of Cuba. At that time the Flying Squadron had not passed the 
western end of the island, and Cervera, had he known it, might have 
reached the desired point without molestation. His engines were in 
need of repairs, and he intended after recoaling to get to sea and 
threaten the American cities to the northward. In the port coaling was 
slow. General Blanco, commanding in Cuba, wished him to help defend 
the island, and he thus remained until his last hope of escape vanished. 

May 21 Schley arrived off Cienfuegos. The inner harbor was so 
concealed that he could not see what was in it, but hearing guns firing, 
and seeing columns of smoke rising, he concluded that 
Cervera was inside. As soon as the Spaniards reached f*^^!®.^ 
Santiago the fact was reported to Washington. The news cervera. 
was not entirely credited, but it was sent to Sampson, 
then at Key West. He thought they must go to Cinefuegos, where 
they would be intercepted, and on the 20th ordered Schley to " hold 
your squadron off Cienfuegos." Next day he changed his mind and 
urged the latter to go to Santiago. Schley was right to exercise 
reasonable discretion, and as he thought the enemy before him he dis- 
regarded the instructions, saying, " I think I have them here almost to 
a certainty." But May 24 he established communications with the 
Cubans on shore, learned he was mistaken, and immediately proceeded 
to Santiago, where he arrived May 26. Here he saw no evidence of 
the hostile fleet, concluded it was not in the harbor, the inner part of 
which was hidden behind headlands, and started back to Key West 
to coal his ships, thinking the water too rough to coal from the collier 
accompanying him. In turning westward he disregarded positive 
orders from Sampson to blockade the harbor. He had gone only 40 
miles when he received directions from the secretary of the navy to 
blockade Santiago, and turned back to that task. 



794 THE WAR WITH SPAIN 

The subsequent criticisms of Schley's conduct embraced three 
charges. He was said to have delayed too long at Cienfuegos; but 
in that respect he replied that he acted within the dis- 
Schley's cretion a high officer on detached service has a right to 
brnty?'^^'" exercise, and he has a right to this defense. He was also 
blamed for the retrograde movement at Santiago. It 
seems certain that he did not try hard enough to learn whether or not 
the enemy were in the inner harbor and that he showed little resource- 
fulness in trying to coal at sea. The third criticism was that when he 
established the blockade he lay so far out to sea that the Spaniards 
might have escaped had they been enterprising. There is little doubt 
that this was true. At the approach of hostilities he outranked Samp- 
son, who was a favorite with the naval authorities. Both men 
were brave officers, and bore honorable parts in the campaign which 
followed. 

June I Sampson arrived and took command of the blockading fleet. 

He brought with him the powerful battleship Oregon, which had just 

completed, since March 19, the fourteen-thousand-mile 

e regon. ^^^.^ ^^.^j^ g^^^^ Francisco around Cape Horn. Much fear 
had been felt for her safety when she reached the Caribbean Sea just 
as Cervera approached Cuba. May 9 she left Bahia, in Brazil ; May 
18 she was at Barbados; and six days later she was off the coast of 
Florida, joining Sampson at Key West as he was starting for Santiago. 
When asked if she could make thirteen knots, the captain signalled 
" Fourteen, if necessary." With the arrival of Sampson, the American 
fleet before Santiago included four first-class and one second-class 
battleships and two fast cruisers, besides two fast converted yachts 
able to meet torpedo-boat destroyers and several colliers and despatch 
boats. From the date of his coming the ships took station close in- 
shore, with powerful searchlights at night bearing on the harbor mouth 
and always ready to fly at anything that attempted to escape. 

The channel leading into the harbor is only 350 feet wide at one 
point, and Sampson directed that a collier be sunk so as to block exit, 
but the order was not executed when he arrived, and his first care was 
to make the attempt. Lieutenant Richmond P. Hobson was selected 
to carry in the Merrimac, warp her athwart the channel, and sink her 
by exploding torpedoes and opening her sea valves. The point 
selected was directly under the guns of Morro Castle, but hundreds of 
men were ready to volunteer for the task. Only seven were taken, 
and just before dawn of June 3 the vessel glided noiselessly toward the 
harbor, Hobson and his devoted crew clad only in woollen underwear 
and going, as all men thought, to certain death. Behind the collier 
trailed a catamaran raft and a lifeboat in which they hoped to escape 
if opportunity offered. At five hundred yards from the castle they 
received a shower of shot, but coolly kept on, cast anchors at the desig- 
nated spot, and sank the ship undisturbed by the hot fire concentrated 



A CALL FOR THE ARMY 795 

upon them. But before the anchors caught the vessel was swung 
around by the current so that she did not settle across the channel, as 
was expected. In the operation the lifeboat was carried away, and 
Hobson and his crew, not hit by the Spanish shots, swam to the cata- 
maran and concealed themselves under it until daylight, when they 
surrendered and were sent to Morro. They were well treated, and 
Admiral Cervera personally expressed admiration for their courage 
and informed Sampson of their safety. The incident resulted in 
failure, but the blockade continued with unrelenting vigor. 

Throughout June the giant sentinels stood guard, five miles out 
during the day, from one to three miles off during the night. On the 
sixth Sampson bombarded the forts, but the reply was weak. 
The Spanish guns were small and the ammunition was care- ^'^"^i^^t"^ 
fully husbanded. June 7 to 17, by means of hard fighting ^^^ 
by the marines, the Americans seized Guantanamo Bay 
and held it for a naval base. From this point Lieutenant Victor Blue, 
of the navy, with Cuban guides made two trips to the hills behind 
Santiago, located the hostile fleet, and made valuable topographical 
observations. His achievement, like Hobson's, was much acclaimed 
by the people at home. These feats, important as accessories to other 
movements, but indecisive in a large sense, marked the limit of the 
power of the navy, unless Cervera should elect to take the sea. Samp- 
son recognized the fact, and turned to the army, saying ; " If 10,000 men 
were here, city and fleet would be ours within 48 hours. Every con- 
sideration demands immediate army movement. If delayed, city will 
be defended more strongly by guns taken from the fleet." He reported 
the enemy in and around the city at 12,500. 



Land Operations against Santiago 

When the war began the regular army was enlarged to 62,000 men 
and a call was issued for 125,000 volunteers. A few days later con- 
gress called for 75,000 additional volunteers and authorized 
three regiments of cavalry and ten regiments from the gaSzation 
Gulf states, composed of men immune to yellow fever. 
The response was enthusiastic ; and throughout May and June regi- 
ments were assembling at Chickamauga Park, in the salubrious south- 
ern highlands. In August 58,688 regulars and 216,029 volunteers 
were in service. One regiment of volunteer cavalry drew special 
attention. It was commanded by Colonel Leonard Wood, formerly 
an army surgeon, and Theodore Roosevelt, who resigned an assistant 
secretaryship of the navy to be its lieutenant colonel. Most of the 
men were from the Far West, cowboys, ranchmen, and Indians, but 
it also contained prominent athletes from the Eastern universities. It 
was popularly known as "The Rough Riders." 



796 THE WAR WITH SPAIN 

The regulars were assembled at Tampa, Florida, with an idea of 
attacking Havana ; but the summons of Sampson took them to Santi- 
ago. June 14 two infantry divisions under Brigadier 
Departure of Qgnerals Kent and Lawton, one cavalry division under 
Santiago. Major General Joseph Wheeler, formerly of the confed- 
erate army, and four light and two heavy batteries of 
artillery, in all 16,887 nien, set sail for the front, convoyed by a detach- 
ment of the navy. The " Rough Riders " served under Wheeler. The 
cavalry could not take their horses for want of transports, and the en- 
tire expedition lacked many necessary things. By some oversight 
only three ambulances were taken. The command was given to Major 
General Shafter, and on June 20 he arrived off Santiago, and two days 
later the disembarkment began. 

Admiral Sampson overestimated the number of Spanish troops in 
Santiago. Their real number was 6500, distributed in the forts 
around the city with a large detachment thrown out to 
Defenses of p^Q|-g(>|- ^}^g water supply. General Linares, in command, 
was a competent ofhcer, and the defenses were well placed, 
with strong protection from barbed-wire entanglements. His men 
were armed with magazine rifles using smokeless powder, while Shafter 's 
men had black powder. The country around Santiago contained many 
troops placed as garrisons to hold back the insurgents, but through a 
strange kind of neglect they were not concentrated against the Ameri- 
cans. 

Shafter began to land his troops at Daiquiri on the morning of June 22. 

Here the shore runs east and west, and a road, parallel to it for the most 

part, reaches Siboney, six miles to the west, Las Guasimas 

Disembark- |.|-^^gg miles farther on, and San Tuan Hill, seven miles still 

1116111 <J I 

farther, and enters the city a little over a mile beyond that 
elevation. Along this road the Americans must advance. By night- 
fall of the 2 2d, 6000 men had landed through the surf at Daiquiri, the 
garrison there retreating before them. Nine hundred and sixty-four of 
the disembarked were clismounted cavalry under Wheeler, five hundred 
of whom were "Rough Riders." It was intended that Brigadier 
General Lawton should lead the advance and the cavalry bring up the 
rear ; but Major General Wheeler outranked Lawton, and as Shafter 
remained on the transports Wheeler assumed command on shore. He 
lost no time in idleness, but moved his men to Siboney, and on the morn- 
ing of the 23d attacked the retreating Spanish detachment at Las 
Guasimas. It was posted on a hill overlooking a wooded valley 

through which the Americans approached by two roads. 
LasGuasi- xhey were thus divided, as they came up, but deployed 
'°^^' and formed line of battle. After an hour's fighting the 

Spaniards withdrew toward the city. They lost nine kijled and 
twenty-seven wounded, while their opponents lost sixteen killed and 
fifty-two wounded. The skirmish was hardly over before Lawton 's 



THE DEFENSES OF SANTIAGO 



797 



men rushed up from Siboney in order to get into the fight. From the 
crest of the captured hill Santiago could be seen, and the men were 
eager to go forward ; but they were without supplies ; and it was pru- 
dent to wait until the rest of the army and the stores could be landed. 
It was not until July i that the advance was resumed. 

Linares prepared for the onset at San Juan Hill, just east of which 
runs San Juan river, a small stream. On the hill itself he placed his 
first line, with a body of men thrown out to Kettle Hill, a 
smaller elevation at its foot, both hills commanding the J-jnares's 
river. A second line was half a mile in the rear of the first. Defense 
and a third was 400 yards behind that and nearly a mile 
from the city. The first line was manned by 521 men, the second by 
411, and the third by 140. There were many men in other parts of 
the field, but only a few of them were brought up in time to take part 
in the defense of these lines. 



THE ) 


1 ^^..^^S^^^^N^ 


SANTIAGO I ^ 


CAMPAIGN \f / 


/ ,,^=**='*°^^^° f 




^"^Jf^A Caney V 


San ti ago /[/^^i^ 


K^ '1 ^N ( 


de CulwHrfe#r^ 


J^XeI P08O / "-^ \-/ ' 


Socapa y 1 *,V 


"°,La8 Guas\niiB ^^ J ( - 


'^^^^^"'^"^ mj^aim^ 




<7 


'%-;^2S3::^'-Sa^^ M^ 


C A R I B B 


BAN SEA 



Three miles east of San Juan Hill the road crosses a small hill 
called El Poso, then falls into a thickly wooded valley which stretches 
away to San Juan river. Through this wood and parallel 
with the road runs a small tributary of the river, the road Shafter's 
and river clearly discernible from San Juan Heights. Battle 
Three miles north of El Poso, on the road from Santiago to 
Guantanamo, is El Caney, then a fortified village manned by 520 men. 
Shafter's plan was to send Lawton with 6500 men to seize this place 
and march at once down the road toward the city. When El Caney 
was taken the rest of the army under Wheeler and Brigadier General 
Kent was to move from their position behind El Poso, carry San Juan 
Hill, and the lines behind it, then unite with Lawton's advancing 
column, sweep away all further opposition, and enter Santiago. His 
army thought little of the fighting capacity of the Spaniards, and did 



798 THE WAR WITH SPAIN 

not understand the advantage they had from smokeless powder and 
improved rifles. 

Lawton was confident he could carry El Caney , and promised to do it 
in two hours. He moved at dawn, July i, but was delayed by wire 

entanglements and the difficulty of bringing up his guns, 
Att^k^^ and it was not until 2 p.m. that he had enveloped the 
El Caney. village on three sides and was ready to carry it. His 

charge was received bravely, the Spaniards defending 
each position to the last, stubbornly falling back from one blockhouse 
to another, and finally fighting from the houses in the village until 
they were, at five o'clock, forced to withdraw t? the northwest. This 
long battle in the hot sun under distressing conditions cost the Span- 
iards 270 killed and wounded and 150 captured. Lawton lost 81 killed 
and 360 wounded, and the time spent in the movement precluded his 
cooperation with the main column on the Santiago road. 

The other wing had not waited for him. At nine o'clock it crowded 
into the road and took its route to the ford beyond which it would 

form to carry the hill. There was much confusion, the 
Attack on progress was slow, and all was in view of the enemy on San 
Hill. Juan Hill who had the range of the road and the ford and 

delivered an annoying fire. By one o'clock this perilous 
march was ended, and the two brigades, 7573 in all, lay under what 
cover they could find 600 yards in front of the hill they were to charge. 
The men suffered continually, and were impatient to advance. For a 
short time no one seemed willing to order the charge. Finally the first 
cavalry brigade got permission to move ; it was followed by the second, 
in which were the "Rough Riders" and the tenth regiment, colored, 
and the advance became general. The men rushed up the slope in little 
groups, paying slight attention to their officers, and firing as they 
went. At 1 : 30 p.m. they reached the crest, the defenders falling back 
into the second line of defense which commanded the position just 
relinquished. 

The men on the hill were now in extreme danger. They were with- 
out food, exhausted, demoralized by the exertions of the day, and on 

the point of falling back, when General Wheeler, who was 
^an^ill "^ ill early in the day, arrived and took command. He 

found some intrenching tools left by the Spaniards and in- 
duced General Shafter to send up others, and the hill was soon safe 
from the fire of the enemy's second line. July 2 brought heavy rains, 
from which the men had no protection. The road to the coast was a 
sluice of mud along which only the most meager supplies could be 
brought. Gloom settled down on the army, and it was doubtful if it 
could be induced to penetrate the city in front of it. All through the 
day it exchanged shots with the enemy, and the continuous firing, 
with other suffering, discouraged the troops, most of whom were new 
recruits and had never before seen a battle. 



CERVERA AND BLANCO 799 

During the night of July 2 Shafter laid the situation before his divi- 
sion commanders. The nature of the discussion was not made public, 
but next day he sent a despatch to Washington saying that Santiago 
could not be taken with the force then on shore, and that it might be 
necessary to fall back to higher ground until reenforced. Meanwhile, 
he tried the effect of a stern demand on the Spanish commander, the 
suggestion, as it was currently reported, of General Wheeler. At noon 
on the 3d he sent a summons for surrender, threatening to bombard the 
city with his heavy guns in case of refusal. These pieces were not in 
position, but the enemy did not know it. General Toral, in command 
since the ist, when Linares was wounded, began to parley. The de- 
mand was not granted, but the departure and destruction of Cervera's 
fleet on this day restored the spirit of the Americans. They extended 
their lines and had the city completely invested within a week. On the 
loth they began a bombardment which had the effect of renewing the 
negotiations. The city was now in genuine distress ; the 
fleet was destroyed, the water supply was cut off, and sa"t^a ^^'^ 
supplies were low. On the 17th Toral accepted terms and 
handed over most of eastern Cuba, the victors agreeing to transport 
to Spain the Spanish soldiers surrendered in it, 22,700 in number. 
The capitulation gave great relief to the American army, men and 
officers. There was much malarial fever and dysentery in the ranks 
and a few cases of yellow fever of a mild type. Another week of fight- 
ing might have thrown the entire force into panic. 

The Destruction of the Spanish Squadron 

Admiral Cervera saw himself bottled up in the harbor with great 
dismay. He opposed from the first the expedition to the West 
Indies and would have got away at the earliest moment, 
but coaling was slow and General Blanco feared that his ^£^^5°^ ° 
army, already near the point of mutiny, would take it 
for abandonment by their country and break out in disorders, to 
subdue which must occasion the spilling of much blood. Thus was 
allowed to pass the first days of the blockade, when a successful 
sortie was most possible. The army in Cuba thought a second fleet 
would be sent to drive off Sampson's ships and then to unite with 
Cervera to sweep all opposition from the seas ; but the higher officers, 
naval and military, knew how futile was this hope. The arrival of 
Shafter added to their discouragement, and some of the guns of the 
squadron were landed to strengthen the land defenses. Marines were 
also sent to the trenches, and Captain Bustamente, leading a detach- 
ment of 500, lost his life on July i in defending San Juan Hill. June 
24 Cervera, by cable, had been placed under command of Blanco, 
who ordered him to aid in the defense of the city until surrender 
seemed inevitable and then to go out in the best manner possible. 



8oo THE WAR WITH SPAIN 

This contingency was believed to have arrived on the evening of July i , 
but the admiral hesitated on account of what he believed the useless 
loss of life. At dawn on the 2d he unwillingly directed his fires to be 
lighted and called his sailors on board. A few minutes later all his 
doubts were resolved by peremptory instructions from Havana to 
make the sortie. Blanco felt it would be a blot on Spanish honor to 
allow the ships to fall into the hands of the enemy without a blow. 

All day Saturday, July 2, the steam rose in the gauges. Sunday 
morning it was at the highest point, and all the preparations were 

complete. Cervera gave the order of proceeding. Like 
Cervera's ^ brave officer he took the lead in the Maria Teresa, 
the'sortie. '^^^^ ^^^ Vizcaya, Colon, and Oquendo following in order 

at intervals of 800 yards, all armored cruisers of the modern 
type. Behind them at 1000 yards came the torpedo-boat destroyers, 
the Furor and Pluton, the third destroyer which set out from the Cape 
Verde islands having fallen behind through disablement. He pro- 
posed to turn westward when outside, try to ram the Brooklyn on 
the west end of Sampson's line, draw the other American ships to 
him, and thus give the ships that came later an opportunity to break 
through and escape. Such tactics would mean the loss of the Teresa, 
but they might save the rest of the squadron. The start was made 
from the inner harbor at 9 : 15 a.m. 

That morning the American ships were in a crescent, the ends three 
miles apart and two and a half miles respectively from the shore. 

Farthest west was the Brooklyn, Commodore Schley's 
Position of flagship, a fast and powerful cruiser. Next to her was 
can Shi!)"' ^^^ Texas, a second-class battleship, then the Iowa and 

Oregon, first-class battleships, and on the eastern end 
of the crescent was the Indiana, also a first-class battleship. The 
Gloucester, a converted yacht, was midway between the Indiana and 
the shore, while the Vixen, another small ship, was a mile and a half 
west of the Brooklyn. The heavy battleship, Massachusetts, was 
coaling at Guantanamo, and the cruiser, New York, Admiral Sampson 
on board, was eight miles away, near Siboney, for a conference between 
the admiral and General Shafter. Cervera had thus by accident 
selected a moment favorable to his project ; for two of the best ships 
in the blockade were off their stations, which, in view of Sampson's 
excellent tactics, was all the good luck of that nature the Spaniard 
could expect. 

At 9 : 30 o'clock the Teresa was sighted going at full speed. Schley, 
in actual command, signalled, "Clear ship for action," and "Close 
up." Sampson soon saw what was happening, signalled the attack, 
and made all speed for the fray. Only the Oregon had full steam up, 
and for a few minutes the other ships were outstripped by the enemy. 
The Teresa made straight for the Brooklyn, which at 1400 yards turned 
eastward, made a great loop, and came back to the west in a course 



THE SPANISH FLEET DESTROYED 8oi 

parallel to the flying Teresa. By this time the other Spanish ships 
were outside. Instead of scattering, they followed their admiral 
along the shore, each engaged with the American ship which, sailing 
in a parallel course farther out at sea, happened to be nearest to her. 
Thus the action resolved itself into a series of magnificent duels 
between powerful ironclads, metal ringing on metal, while the cannon 
roared, the great engines throbbed, and the air was filled by the clouds 
of smoke which rushed from the overcharged boilers. The Spaniards' 
aim was bad, or their powder poor, for their shots went wild or fell 
short, while the American gunnery was excellent. It was more than 
the enemy could stand, and the explosion of shell after shell in his 
vessels showed that he was losing the fight. The Teresa, in the 
thickest of the battle, first showed signs of weakening. At 10:15 
she ran for the beach six and a half miles from the harbor, a complete 
wreck. Five minutes later the Oquetidn, in even worse condition, 
repeated the maneuver and settled in the sand half a mile west of 
the Teresa. The Furor and Pluton, last out of the harbor, were raked 
by the small guns of the American ships and engaged by the Gloucester 
at short range with great courage. They quickly succumbed and sank 
before they could reach the beach. The other Spanish ships, the 
Vizcaya and Colon, passed the first danger zone with a fairt hope of 
escape. They were pursued by the Brooklyn, Oregon, Texas, and 
Iowa, whose rising fires ever increased their speed. At 11 o'clock the 
Vizcaya, shot-ridden and sinking, turned to the shore and ended her 
course twenty miles from Santiago. The Iowa and Texas halted to 
receive her surrender and rescue her drowning crew, while the Brooklyn, 
Oregon, and Ne^v York, which was now coming up, held on after the 
Colon, six miles in the lead. The pursuers held their fire and crowded 
on all possible steam. At 12:23 the Brooklyn and Oregon were in 
range and opened fire. At 1:15 the Colon gave up the struggle and 
ran toward the shore. She was nearly uninjured, but her crew 
opened her sea valves, and she sank before the victors could prevent 
it. Thus four hours after Cervera began his dash the last of his ships 
was destroyed, 323 of his crew were killed, 151 were wounded, and 
1782 were prisoners, he himself being among the last-named and 
on board of the loiva. Sampson lost one man killed and one wounded, 
and his ships were uninjured. He himself, because of his unlucky 
position at the beginning, was not in the fight, but pursued it as fast 
as his swift cruiser, the New York, could move, and came up in time to 
be present at the surrender of the Colon. 

Santiago was hardly taken before rumors of peace negotiation were 
heard. One effect was to hasten the departure of an expedition 
against Porto Rico. The government desired to occupy 
the island in order to hold it as war indemnity, and all f'^nlf °° 
men agreed that if Spain gave up Cuba she should be portoRico. 
forced to relinquish the last of her American colonies. 
3F 



8oa rill'. WAR wnii SI'Am 

Accordiiij/lv, (miki.iI Mil<:; ;.<■! mil oii Jiilv -' i , l.uidrd on iIm- 
sotll li(-l'li sliorr III I lie i';l;iii(l, .uid ()('(:ii|)i(-(l lovvn .'iTlcr town, en 
coiiiih'iiii;^ IIk- hid:, I pn liiiiclory icsisl.iiKC. In Iwo weeks llie 
soul hern ;ui(l wesleiii |>;ii(s were l.iken, with ;in Anieric.in loss of <, 
kilh'd .ind 40 wounded. The ni.iieji of vielory, to I lie disj'jnsl of I lie 
soldiers, was inleniipled hy (lie li(iinjj;s lli.it an arniisliic had been 
made on Auj^/iisl 1 .;. 

l\i';i'i,i:<ii(»NS <»N iiii'; Wak in ("uiia 

in June, 1 .H()S, S|»ain ha<l i()f»,(K)o liciops hi ('iilia.of whom ^0,000 

were hi Sanliaj^i province, (ieiieial Ulaiico had disi iil>iil<'(l lliese lo 

reshaiii the icvoiiit ionisi s, and did iiol eoneenl rah" (hem 
Krror of • , , 1 . i r , 1 a ■ 

ii,.-,-« airainsi I he I'lealer dani'er ol I Ik- Ameiicaii invasion. 

deiieral I, mares had ()<,or) al lus dispo.sal in and around 
Saiiliaj^o, lull on July 1 h<' pul only jd)()Ul 1 -!oo into I he lij^dilsof I'll 
Caney •md San juaii II ill. In I lie evi'iiiii;.; of I ha I day Ih' l)eJ^lll (:(»n 
( (III lal ion, and ii<\l iiiorniiifi; lia,<l. nearly ■;oo() men on his lines. Lal<" 
on I he /,(!, ( 'oloiiel I'lscaiio willi .^nnn fresh I roops arrived from llie 
region vv<'sl of I he (ily. In \ iew of I he hardly won victory on (he 
isl, il .seems lha( I he result mi/dil hav'eheen otherwise if llii:; coii- 
ceiitralion had oe( :uri<'<l <'arliei . 

The destruelioii of Spain's naval power isolated her army in Cuba 
and made siinciider iiie\italtle. The American .soldiers then ltefj;;ui 

(o led sympathy h)r men who were .so sud(h"iily overtaki-ii 
lliiiiinnltv ''-^ iiiisfoi I line, and frateiiii/,ed with them in Saiilia;^> 

as soon as the eapiliilalioii was siiiineil. Other acis of 
courtesv to the \ aiu |iiisli(d won llie j;;ood will of the Spanish .soldiers, 
('.ipt.iiii I'Aaiis, of the loicii, refii.sed (o lake the ixolTered sword of 
Captain I'ailale, of the r/::.( f/\'(/, and Captain l'hilli|)s, of the Texas, 
would not let hi . men ( heer oxer I he (lefeat of a brave foe. A Spanish 
private .soldier in a public letter which was published as the army 
embarked said tot he Amei icaiis : " \'ou h)U/';lil us as men, face (o face, 
with great couia);;e, a (|ualily we have iiol met with diirinj; the three 
years we have canicd on this war aji;ainst a people without a relijj;ioii, 
wilhoiil iiioia!., without conscioiice, and of doubt ful origin, who could 
not coiilroiil the ciiciiiN', but shot their nobh' vict inis from ambush 
and (hen iiiimc(li;il(l\' lied. . . . The descendants of the Congos 
and (Itiiiieas, miiij^letl with, the blood of unscrupulous Spaniards, and 
of traitors and adventurers these people are not abl(> to exercise 
or enjoy their liberty ; for they will liiid il a burden lo comply with the 
laws which govern ("ivili/.ed humanity." 

Most American .soldiers shared this opinion of the Cuban army, 
who did not aid in I he bat ties hiiighl in their Ix-half, but overran our 
commis.sai ies, consumed supplies, and pilfered whatexer arms or 
other valuables were Nft un/';uaided. To the AiiKMican they vven- a 
rabble beiuath his coiilempt. lie did not lake into considerut ion ( he 



TKOI'K \l. DISIsASI', So.^ 

clTccts <>l lli<- loii/i; si iii)',)'lf "111 IIk- ('iil);iir.. Tlic )'.ii(i rill.i \v;iil;iic lo 
which necessity iC(lii(:c<l llwin IhciI IIk- imh-l li;iliil;, mikI |»i)li(i(;il 
idc.'lS, Mild, I he oppoll iiiiil v Ini pilhijM' ;i.| I i;u;f«M| |Mi;,(iir, 
for whom ;i lilr ol nr.nl;!" I.il.oi h;Ml lilllr chiinii. I'.iil ii(» '''''"<•"''"" 

II • • 11- Si)l(llnin. 

one c.'iii (l<-iiy to llu-ni ciKMir.'iiM (' .111(1 |>,'il not isin. II llini 

haired of Spiiin .•i|)|)nf;i(licd (he licn/,y of h.irb.uisiii, il vv;i'. (lie n.itiii.d 

pnxhici of ,1, lyr;iiinv which h.id :,I.iiii|m(I oiil llic Ixllcr frcliii);, ol (he 

heart. 

'I'he c.unp.iijfii l)ron).^hl li(»iiic lo AiiMiiciiis I he prol)Ieiii;; of iiiod«Tn 
w.irf.ire. II. w.is evidciil ih.il I lie iii.ij';.i/,iiie lille .iiiil smokies:; powder 
opened a new era, in li)^hl iii)'; h.il I le;;. 1 1, look O^oo Ameii 
cans lhre<' hours l<» ciiry I'-l ( ".iiiev, deh-iided by |<'ss Ih.iii ,i, ," 

• I I I I • 1 I I -11 Wiiifnro. 

6oo men wilh IIk- mode hi :iiiiis, .uid ;il .S.ui Jnan llill 

ihv. .same resiill vv.r, cvidcnl. The irssoii of I hi', is lh;i,l w.ii i. in 

crcasinf,;ly dillicnll .ind Idooijy .iiid oii)'lil lo he Ihc Ics'i lif'ihlly imdci 

(aicen. This iinple.is.inl f.icl, is somewh;i.l l);il;iii(;ed by I he i.ii;/er 

percenlaj/es of recoveries anionj^ I he wonnded. The new linMel, 

makes a smoother wound. Ih.in I he old Icidt n h.ill. Thus he.ding is 

easier, and llie iniprovenieiil in ,.ni)'riy .md ho.pil.d elli<:iency 

f^re.illy incrc'ises I he success of Ire.ilmenl on I he l);il lielield. Of ihe 

looo Americans woinuled ;i,l S.inl i;i,ji;o, less lh;i,n one per cent die(l. 

Shaffer's army sulfered //really Ihioiif^^h l;i< k of foresi//hl in .'ihscmii- 

iiliii)^ I he n<'C(rss;i,ry ef|nipmenl , ;ind Ihe comnii;;sMry w.is nol ;idc((ii;ilc 

for Ihe demands so suddenly m.idr upon il. ('ompl.dnl 

was mad(' of the beef, and serious ch.iit'es were prelerred ,^" Aony 
. .1 I I , •, J I •• 'I'l '*' <>'>«ivfllo»i- 

aj,?ainst those; wiiose duly it w.'is to pnrcli.'ise il. Ihe ,;ont«." 
wagon Ir.iins were nol snllieienl ;d (irsi lo h.in poll I he 
supplies from Ihe l.'indiii)^ point lo the line., .ind Ihc incdii inc.; wer(? 
ina(l(;f|uate. The men's spirits h-ll wilh Ihe iiii|)ic .sion Ih.i.l they 
were the viclims of incompclcncy. They were nol .icclim.iled lo 
service in Ihc liopi(,, Ihc i,ili)'iics ;i,nd li;i,rd:.hip;, in Ihc licncheH 
overwheinxrd thcin, ;i,nd by Ihc end of July :;<-v<nly per ceiil ol I he 
army were suffirring from in,d;iri;d lever. In Ihe l;ui;/ua>/e ol the 
commanfl,(;r it was ";i.n ;i.rmy of conv.ilescents." Aii;/n:.l ', Ihc 
^ener.'d ofTicers assembh^d wilh hi:; (.on ,cnl, prepanrd ;i, sl.ileincnt ol 
th(! conditions, ,'i,nd snj/jM-sted Ihiil Ihc troops be; removed lo Monbuik 
J'oinI, Lonjr Isi.uid. .Sli;dl(;r concurred with this recommend.il ion in a 
separate report on IIh; sanu; d;i,y. Ne.\l d.iy llie oflicers' sl;i,l(;meiit 
was xiv<:n to the press before; it rc'iched W;i.shin;/ton. Tin:', "round 
robin," as it w.'is popuhirly cdled, ciiised needless ;d;i,rni lhr(«n)dioul 
the country and sent a shock of l<-rror to m.iny a, fir<;side. (iiving il 
to the j)ublic so soon was a breach of (hscipline, the n^sponsibility for 
which was not fixed on the perpetrator. August 4 tfie order for re 
moval was given by Ihe secretary of war, and by tint end ol iIm; 
month all the troops were out of Ihe isl.'ind, their places being taken 
by the newly raised immune regiments. Montauk I'oint proved too 



8o4 THE WAR WITH SPAIN 

cool and bracing for the enfeebled men, and the process of recovery 
was slow. It was felt that it would have been better to transfer 
the regiments to the more moderate climate of the coasts of North 
Carolina or Virginia. 

In the discouragement of the moment General Shafter was much 
criticized. He was physically a large man, over fifty years old, afflicted 

with the gout, and not active enough for the task assigned 
Shafter ^™* ^^^ ^^ ^^^ '*' §0°^ soldier, resolute, sensible, and 

brave, and his plan of campaign was admirable. He did 
not deserve all the blame he got : part of it should be laid to men who 
threw newly recruited regiments into a most difficult operation ; 
for adequate preparations could not be made in the time allowed. 
He was assigned to the expedition by General Miles, head of the army, 
under the impression that the campaign would be of minor im- 
portance. It was believed that the chief operations would be against 
Havana, and these Miles expected to lead himself. 

A controversy arose between the friends of Admiral Sampson and 
those of Commodore Schley in reference to the conduct of the latter 

at Santiago. When Sampson steamed up as the Colon 
"^^^ t^M^~ ^^^^ sinking, Schley signaled congratulation and received 
Controversy. ^^^ ^^^^ reptyj "Report your Casualties." To the public 

this seemed ungenerous. Sampson's promotion was not 
generally approved in the first instance, and his conduct after the 
battle seemed to support the opinion that he was not only a pet 
of the bureaucracy but a heartless seeker of his own glory. Such a 
view did Sampson injustice. He was a good officer and had con- 
ducted the campaign well, but the public was in no mood to recognize 
it. When President McKinley, in distributing the rewards for the 
commanders of ships at Santiago, recommended that Sampson be 
advanced eight numbers and Schley six, the controversy became acute. 
The senate reflected the feeling in the country and deferred con- 
sideration. By this time feeling ran high on both sides, and so many 
charges were made against Schley that in 1901 he demanded an in- 
vestigation. Admiral Dewey presided over the court of inquiry, whose 
verdict acquitted Schley of cowardice, which had been freely charged 
by his critics, but it found that he was vacillating and unenterprising 
before June i, 1898. Dewey, in a separate opinion, declared that 
Schley was in command at the battle off Santiago and deserved the 
credit for the victory. President Roosevelt, reviewing the verdict, 
supported the finding of the majority of the court and declared that 
Sampson was technically in command in the battle, but that it was 
"a captain's fight." This disposal of the dispute did not satisfy the 
public, although McKinley's recommendations were finally accepted 
by the senate, and the controversy died slowly. 



OWNERSHIP OF THE PHILIPPINES 805 

Peace Negotiations 

The rapid course of events in Cuba and the Philippines awakened 
Spain from her habitual indecision, and July 18, the day after the sur- 
render of Santiago, she asked France to open negotiations 
in her behalf. Accordingly, the French minister ap- Pfoto^ol 
proached President McKinley and received a tentative Avfgust'12. 
statement of our terms. Several notes were exchanged, 
and August 12 a protocol was signed, Spain agreeing to evacuate Cuba 
immediately and to cede Porto Rico and one of the Ladrone islands 
as indemnity. The Philippines were to be left in statu quo, their dis- 
position to be determined when a formal treaty was made by com- 
missioners appointed to meet in Paris, October i. The day after this 
protocol was signed, and before the news was carried to the Philippines, 
Manila was taken by the Americans. 

Opinions on holding the archipelago now developed rapidly. Many 
persons saw in the situation an opportunity and a duty to acquire 
the islands in order to convert the people and instill in 
them western ideals. Some thought acquisition would McKinley 
imply vast commercial possibilities. Still others, and Philippines, 
these were probably the most numerous, thought chiefly of 
the national glory which, they believed, grew with the size of the 
domains over which the flag floated. Conservative men pointed out 
the perils expansion would introduce; the difficulties of governing 
remote territory and widely dissimilar races, the expensive enlarge- 
ment of the navy which was sure to follow, the stimulus to militarism, 
and the danger from departing from our traditional policy of non- 
interference — all these were urged as reasons why we should not 
acquire the Philippines. They were entirely futile. So strong was 
opinion for acquisition that the president dared not resist. When the 
peace commissioners departed for Paris they were uninstructed on 
this important question ; for he was awaiting the development of 
opinion. At the end of a month his mind was made up. We needed 
a foothold in the islands in order to protect our interests in the East ; 
if we took one island for this purpose, complications would ensue with 
the owner of the others ; and, therefore, we should have all or none. 
In this dilemma, the president decided to demand all as a purchase. 
Spain hesitated, but was not able to renew the war and was forced to 
yield. The price agreed on was $20,000,000. 

Much of Spain's large debt was secured by pledging Cuban revenues. 
Unless the holders of the debt agreed otherwise, the debt would go 
with the island. There was, therefore, some subtlety in 
the offer to transfer Cuba to the United States ; for it could Jj"^^ ^^^. 
not be doubted that the bondholders would never release Debt.^*'"^ 
us willingly from the suretyship, if we once permitted it. 
Neither would they take the Cubans for security. When we refused 



8o6 THE WAR WITH SPAIN 

to accept a transfer of the island to ourselves, Spain could do nothing 
but acquiesce and shoulder of her own strength the immense debt 
she had contracted in two wars to subdue the revolutionists. It was 
agreed that Spain should relinquish sovereignty in Cuba, that we 
should occupy it until we saw fit to hand it over to the Cubans, and 
that we should defray the expense of the occupation. 

The other subjects of discussion were easily settled. Guam, in the 
Ladrone group, and Porto Rico were given up as indemnity, and 

each nation assumed the claims of its own citizens against 
p*^®'' the other. It was also stipulated that congress should 

the Treaty, regulate the civil and political status of the ceded territory, 

a provision of importance in later proceedings concerning 
our government of dependencies. This treaty found serious opposi- 
tion in the senate on account of its Philippine clause. It committed 
us to expansion, and reversed the policy of a century. February 4, 
1899, while it still hung in the balance, came the insurrection of the 
Filipinos. Some dissenting senators, feeling that we could not now 
withdraw from the islands, abandoned their objections, and the treaty 
was approved February 6. 

Subsequent Relations with Cuba 

It was January i, 1899, when under the protocol the Spanish flag 
in Havana gave place to the stars and stripes, and an American 
military government took up the task of restoring a dev- 
Restonng astated land to the ways of peace. Its first care was 
Cuba. sanitation. Cuban towns, in the best days of the old 

regime, were badly drained and full of disease-breeding 
conditions : at the end of the war, they were more than ever wretched. 
American engineers gave themselves to the work of improvement, 
and in two years Cuba was clean and public works were established 
by which it might remain so. An American army surgeon. Major 
Walter Reed, proved that yellow fever is only transmitted by a mos- 
quito, the deadly stygomyia. Further investigation has shown that 
other dreaded fevers peculiar to the tropics are transmitted by in- 
sects ; and by taking proper precaution it has thus been possible to 
make life as safe in those regions as in other parts of the world. 
Another service of the Americans was to establish a modern system of 
public education. Its need is shown by the fact that before that time 
two-thirds of the population could not read and write. But their 
greatest task was to organize government harmoniously. The 
old Spanish party had no confidence in the party of liberation, and 
without American supervision the two factions would probably have 
been at each other's throats. The situation was met by conferring the 
suffrage cautiously. All were allowed to vote who could read and 
write, or owned $250 worth of property, or had served in the army of 



RIGHT OF INTERVENTION PERMANENT 807 

liberation. In June, 1900, municipal elections were held under this 
arrangement. They passed off quietly, and in September a general 
election was held for members of a constitutional convention, which 
met November 5. It adopted a republican form of government, em- 
bracing a congress of two houses, a president, and a supreme court. 

The convention omitted from the constitution any reference to 
future relations with the United States, desiring to leave Cuban 
sovereignty unimpaired. But our government did not 
mean that Cuban affairs should fall into chaos and invite V^^ ^^^^ 
the intervention of foreign powers through lack of super- jjjgjjt 
vision. Congress, therefore, in 1901 delivered its ulti- 
matum in the Piatt amendment to the army appropriation bill. It 
directed the president to withdraw the army when the Cuban constitu- 
tion provided: (i) that no foreign power should ever effect a lodgment 
in the island or establish control over it, (2) that Cuba should contract 
no debt for which the revenues were inadequate, (3) that the United 
States might intervene to preserve independence, order, and republican 
government, and to see that Cuba discharged her obligations to other 
nations, (4) that Cuba approve the acts of the military government 
in the island and continue the sanitary reforms there, and (5) that 
the United States retain the Isle of Pines and naval stations subject 
to future settlement. This condition was accepted by the Cuban 
constitutional convention. Later in the year, a general election was 
held, and May 20, 1902, a Cuban president, Thomas Estrada Palma, 
took the place of the American military governor. In the two years 
and a half of control the Cuban revenues were $57,000,000, of which 
more than $55,000,000 went for restoration, and the rest remained in 
the treasury. 

Lawlessness was deeply planted in the minds of the Cuban masses 

during the long resistance to Spain, and it disappeared slowly in the 

days of independence. The attempts of President Palma 

to enforce the law produced dissatisfaction, and his op- ^°';<="p*- 

,. . -F. ... , , '^ lion in 1900. 

ponents, disputmg his reelection in 1906, took up arms. 

President Roosevelt felt justified in intervening to restore order. He 
assigned the task of Secretary of War Taft, who assumed the office 
of military governor, displacing Palma, who yielded without protest. 
The arrival of a body of United States troops disposed of the insurrec- 
tion and sobered the imagination of the people. Governor Taft 
returned to Washington after a few months, but his successor. Gov- 
ernor Magoon, ruled in the island until the end of the period of occu- 
pation in 1909. With his departure, a Cuban president was again 
installed, and peace has reigned to this day. It seems certain that the 
consciousness that disorders will be followed by intervention facilitates 
the development of self-government and good order. 



8o8 THE WAR WITH SPAIN 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

For general works see : Latane, America as a World Power (1907) ; Peck, Twenty 
Years of the Republic (1907) ; Long, The New American Navy, 2 vols. (1903) ; Lodge, 
The War with Spain (1899) ; Mahan, Lessons of the War with Spain (1899); and 
Wilcox, Short History of the War with Spain (1898). 

Man'' books have been written on the Cuban campaign, most of them ephemeral ; 
but the following may be selected as of real value : Chadwick, Relations of the 
United States and Spain, Diplomacy, i vol. (1909) ; The Spanish American War, 2 
vols. (1911); Sargent, Campaign of Santiago de Cuba, ^ vols, (igoy) ; Miley, InCuba 
with Shafter (1899) ; and Kennan, Campaigning in Cuba (1899). 

The United States office of naval intelligence has published in translation the 
following from Spanish sources : Cervera y Topete, Spanish-American War (1899), 
containing Cervera's correspondence; Muller y Tejeiro, Battles and Capitulation 
of Santiago (1898), the second edition is more inclusive than the first; Concas y 
Palan, Squadron of Admiral Cervera (1898); and Nunez, Spanish-American War 
Blockade and Coast Defense (1898). In the same connection appeared Pliiddermann, 
Comments on the Main Features of the War with Spain. 

On the war in the Philippines see : Millett, The Expedition to the Philippines 
(1899) ; Oscar K. Davis, Our Conquest in the Pacific (1899) ; Mahan, Lessons of the 
War with Spain (1899); Dinwiddle, Puerto Rico, Its Conditions a}id Possibilities 
(1899); and Foreman, Philippine Islands (ed. 1906). An exceedingly valuable 
work is Blair and Robertson, The Philippine Islands, 55 vols. (1903-1909), a com- 
prehensive collection of sources from the earliest time with a good bibliography. 

The following biographies and reminiscences are also valuable : Dewey, Life and 
Times of Admiral Deivey (1899) ; Barrett, Admiral George Dewey (1899) ; Funston, 
Memoir of Two Wars (191 1) ; Schley, Forty-five Years under the Flag (1904) ; Miles 
Serving the Republic (191 1); Evans, A Sailor's Log (1901) ; Roosevelt, Rough 
Riders (1899) ; and Hobson, Si)iking of the Merrimac (1899). 

Of the many government publications relating to the war with Spain the following 
are important : Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 10 vols. (1896- 
1899) ; The Congressional Record, for debates ; Foreign Relations of the United States 
for 1898 (published in 1901) ; Messages and Documents, iSqS-iSqq, Abridgment, 4 
vols. (1899), contains the most important reports; and Compilations of the Reports 
of the Committee on Foreign Relations, U. S. Senate, vol. VII (1901), on affairs in 
Cuba before the war. 

For Independent Reading 

Long, New American Navy, 2 vols. (1903) ; Davis, Cuba and Porto Rico Campaigns 
(i8q8) ; Bigelow, Reminiscences of the Santiago Campaign (1899) ; Millet, Expedition 
to the Philippines (1899) ; Evans, A Sailor's Log (1901) ; Funston, Memoir of Two 
Wars {igii); and Peck, Twenty Years of the Republic (1907). 



CHAPTER XXXIX 

EXPANSION AND ITS PROBLEMS 
The Philippines as an American Colony 

Several years before the United States became interested in the 
Philippines, rebellion began in the islands, and Spanish authority was 
reduced nearly to a nullity. Vast tracts of the best lands 
were in the hands of religious organizations, the members T*ie Fili- 
of which by the support of the crown monopolized munici- ^^^ ^'^ 
pal ofhce. Their rule was heavy, and the natives formed Spaniards, 
an organization to obtain a larger degree of self-government. 
They presented their grievances in i8g6 and took up arms when the 
demands were refused. The rural districts quickly fell into their 
hands, the friars were killed, imprisoned, or driven to the protection 
of the garrison towns, and the whole archipelago except Manila and a 
few other large towns defied Spanish authority. The authorities could 
not subdue the revolutionists and resorted to cunning and bribery. 
When they made large promises of reform and offered to distribute 
$1,000,000 among the leaders of the revolt, resistance was abandoned. 
The promised reforms were then forgotten by both parties to the bar- 
gain, and only part of the bribe was paid. When Dewey sailed for 
Manila, the disappointed leaders were in Singapore, and their chieftain, 
Aguinaldo, a man of much ability, opened negotiations with the 
Americans. Dewey received his overtures and brought 
him to Manila, where he was soon at the head of a strong ^^^^^^0 
force which overran the district around the city. He 
established a government, republican in form, and had the obe- 
dience of the natives generally. He was recognized by both General 
Anderson, commanding the first forces that came to the support of 
Dewey, and by the admiral himself. But by midsummer the American 
government was thinking of permanent occupation, and General Mer- 
ritt was ordered to establish a provisional government without regard 
to that of Aguinaldo. The situation was delicate, but the natives de- 
sired to avoid a conflict. They were induced to allow the Americans 
to take unopposed possession of Manila when it surrendered on August 
13, but they entered the place with their army and for a time occupied 
certain portions of it. 

The Filipinos saw with concern the ripening purpose of the United 

809 



8io EXPANSION AND ITS PROBLEMS 

States to acquire the Philippines. They withdrew from the city to 

avoid conflicts between the soldiery of the two armies, 
toe^Fm-^ but they kept sharp eyes on the negotiations at Paris, 
pinos. They also watched keenly the debate in the senate at 

Washington on ratifying the treaty with Spain, and Feb- 
ruary 4, two days before ratification, attacked Manila in a fierce 
night battle. Instantly the islands were in a flame. February 
5, 6, and lo the whole American force in the city was 
busy in beating off the assault, and succeeded in extending 
its lines beyond the suburbs. Aguinaldo could not withstand 
the attack. The Americans took town after town, but must 
hold with garrisons all they won. The rainy season, from May to 
the end of September, interrupted the conquest, but October saw it 
renewed with a stronger force. In two months the treasurer, secre- 
tary of the interior, and president of the Filipino congress were cap- 
tured, but Aguinaldo eluded his pursuers, went into hiding, and 
directed resistance in isolated parts. After a year's fighting, 400 
American posts held the population down, but there was no real 
submission by the natives. 

Thus passed a year, no one knowing when the invisible leader 
would kindle another general outbreak. Finally, February i, 1901, 

it was learned that he was at Palanan, in the inac- 
Ca"t"r d cessible mountains of Isabella province. General Funston 

with four American officers and some friendly natives 
volunteered to capture him. Landing on a wild coast, they set out for 
his headquarters, nominally as a party of native soldiers who were 
taking five white prisoners to the leader. They gained access to his 
presence, overpowered his guard, and carried him a captive to the 
coast before resistance could be offered. He was held in prison for 
a time in Manila and finally sent into exile. The war did not cease 
for a year longer, but its central will was broken. The leaders 
who held out acted for themselves, and one after another were 
forced to surrender. The last resistance was overcome in April, 
1902. 

The first government under American control was military, but it 
was temporary. In 1899 a step toward a permanent system was 

taken, when a Philippine Commission was sent out with 
The Philip- President Schurman of Cornell University at the head, 
mission. ^"*^ Admiral Dewey, General Otis, Charles Denby, and 

Professor Dean C. Worcester as the other members. It 
was given wide authority to study conditions in the islands and to 
adopt a policy which would lead to self-government as the natives 
showed political ability. To apply the fifteenth amendment to the situa- 
tion was evidently absurd. A great many of the people were illiterate, 
and most of them were without rudimentary knowledge of civil life. 
They were in many tribes, spoke a variety of languages, and were 



PROGRESS OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT 8ii 

used to the authority of a strong superior. The report of the Schur- 
man Commission brought out these facts and suggested that the Fili- 
pinos should not have self-government at once. 

It was decided to follow the suggestion, and the commission was 
reorganized with William H. Taft, of Ohio, at the head. Here began 
an administrative career which for tact and skill in the 
management of delicate problems has rarely been equaled -paft**™ ' 
in American history. Local governments were established 
as seemed advisable, suffrage was granted to the most capable, and it 
was announced that a central civil government would be created as 
soon as a working local government was established. After a year 
and a half of this fundamental organization the promise 
was redeemed, and Taft became the first civil governor of ^'^^^ ^°7r 
the Philippines, retaining, however, his position as presi- stituted. 
dent of the commission. The other commissioners be- 
came a part of an executive council to which three natives were added, 
and four executive departments — the interior, commerce and police, 
finance and justice, and education — were created. The governor 
and council had supreme executive functions under the government 
at Washington. Thirty-five provinces were created, with adminis- 
trative heads appointed by the governor. An appointive system was 
thus established as best suited to the needs of the people. At the same 
time, the beginning of suffrage appeared in municipalities. All were 
allowed to vote who could read and write English or Spanish, or who 
had held municipal ofiice in the past, or owned real property worth 
$250, or paid taxes to the amount of $30 a year. 

All this was done by the president of the United States through 
power conferred by congress. The system worked well, and July i, 
1902, congress enlarged the plan and made it permanent. 
A law now made the inhabitants "citizens of the Philip- A^f*^^l°? 
pine Islands," with the rights of life, property, and liberty, 1^*^1502 ^ 
except that of trial by jury. It directed a census to be 
taken, and decreed the organization, two years thereafter, of a Phil- 
ippine legislative assembly of two houses, the lower to be elective, the 
upper to be the Philippine Commission. The total population was 
7,600,000, and the system provided was to extend to those districts 
only whose inhabitants were Christians, about 7,000,000. The re- 
mainder were classed as wild tribes and continued under military rule. 
But the next year a special district was created for these people, in- 
cluding the Moros and Sulu islanders, with a distinct governor and 
council, and with no thought of a legislature. For the regular Phil- 
ippine government the suffrage law already introduced was con- 
tinued. 

The census contemplated in the act of July i, 1902, was completed 
in 1905, and elections for an assembly were held in 1907, eight years 
after the American regime began. Of the 7,000,000 natives concerned 



8i2 EXPANSION AND ITS PROBLEMS 

only 104,966 registered under the qualified suffrage law ; and of these 
only 100,439 voted. They were divided into two parties. One, 

known as nationalists, complained that the existing govern- 
^"n* A^'^" ^^^^ '^^s too expensive and gave too many offices to 
sembly. Americans. They aimed at independence in the near future 

and appealed to the most fervidly patriotic class. The 
other party was called progressives and supported development under 
American authority. It laid itself open to the charge of selfishness in 
seeking offices, of betraying national interests, and of lack of courage ; 
but it reflected the best interests of the islands. The nationalists 
. carried the elections and organized the lower house of the 

Parties. assembly, but showed an unexpected amount of self-con- 

trol in the exercise of power. As a party measure they 
carried a resolution favoring independence, but wisely cooperated in 
many measures to develop agricultural, educational, and administra- 
tive conditions. Later assemblies have repeated the same story, 
and it seems that the political life of the islands has fallen into step 
with the steady evolution to be expected under such circumstances. 

As in Cuba, American occupation has brought many improvements 
in sanitation, education, and public utilities, most of them paid for 

out of the island revenues. In 1906 the system of educa- 
Philippine ^^^^ embraced 3435 primary, 162 grammar, 36 high, and 
ments. ^^ technical, schools, employing in all 5400 native, and 

about 800 American, teachers, at a total cost of $2,421,222. 
The persistence of the American tariff against the islands restrained 
business progress. But Governor Taft's urgent requests for relief 
could not break the opposition of the tariff party in the American con- 
gress. It was not until he became president that he was able to do 
_ ._ something. The Payne- Aldrich bill (1909) allowed the 

free annual importation of 300,000 pounds of Philippine 
sugar, 150,000,000 cigars, 300,000 pounds of wrapper tobacco, 
1,000,000 pounds of filler tobacco, and an unlimited amount of hemp. 
From the Spanish regime came a controversy difficult to settle and 
likely to enter into politics in continental America. The friars for- 
p . j^ . merly owned 400,000 acres of the best land in the country, 

letting it to tenants on long-term leases. Since the revolt 
of 1896 it had been out of their possession, and the occupants had come 
to look upon it as their own. The friars desired the new government 
to reinstate them in possession and appealed to the president of the 
United States. After some hesitation, no better way was seen to end 
the affair than to buy the claims of the friars and then to come to terms 
with the persons in possession. The purchase was accomplished in 
1902, the pope acting as mediator in the negotiations and Governor 
Taft representing the American government. The lands were ac- 
quired for $7,000,000. 



POWER OF CONGRESS ADEQUATE 813 



An American Colonial Policy 

Creating civil government in the Philippines was really a new and 
radical step in our political experience, and it occasioned a serious 
debate over the right of congress under the constitution 
to define the status of dependencies. There was much jssue^ 
that was plausible in the view that the constitution made 
no provision for such action. In 1787 no such a contingency seems 
to have occurred to the men who made that instrument, and the situa- 
tion of 1899 was a new one. The men of the day must devise a means 
of meeting it. We had acquired dependencies and we could not choose 
but govern them. 

As soon as the question came up for consideration it was asked, 
" Does the constitution follow the flag ? " This meant: Did the newly 
acquired subjects become citizens of the United States, 
with the rights of the inhabitants of the territories? and "Does the 
in a particular sense, were they within the customs limits ? yoUovt rhe° 
President McKinley took a negative view. He relied on Flag?" 
the powers granted to congress in the constitution to admit 
new states and to "make all needful rules and regulations respecting the 
territory and other property belonging to the United States" (Art. IV, 
sect. 3). Jefferson exercised this power in the purchase of Louisiana, 
and in establishing civil government in it. In 1828 Chief Justice Mar- 
shall held that congress had the' right to acquire territory, and it would 
be absurd to say that territory could be acquired but not governed. 
The purchase of Florida and Alaska was in exercise of this right. Con- 
gress in each of these cases established the government it thought best 
for these purchased territories; it might do the same thing in 1899, 
and it was not essential that the same form of government suited 
the new possessions that was conferred on the continental territory. 
The fact that the Philippines and Porto Rico were islands and in- 
habited by people whose political training was unlike ours seemed to 
justify a distinct kind of government. This line of reasoning found 
favor with the dominant party in congress and in the country, and it 
was the basis of the colonial system now devised. It was not fol- 
lowed in Hawaii, for in 1900 congress erected it into a territory, act- 
ing apparently on the theory that it was likely to become a white man's 
country and be admitted to the union. 

Congress arrived at this decision slowly, and meanwhile the question 
of customs limits must be settled. By the Dingley act, 
then in force, the duties were to be levied on articles ^^^^1^°^ 
coming from "foreign countries." Were the Philippines Limits, 
and Porto Rico "foreign countries"? The protectionists 
answered in the affirmative, the president took the same view, and 
duties continued to be collected. Then the matter went to the courts. 



8i4 EXPANSION AND ITS PROBLEMS 

In the case of De Lima v. Bidwell, in which suit was brought to re- 
cover duties collected on sugar imported from Porto Rico, the court 
held that the island was not a "foreign country" within the meaning of 
the tariff law, but it intimated that congress could determine the tariff 
relations of dependencies. In the " Fourteen-Diamond-Ring " case 
the same principle was followed for goods imported from the Phil- 
ippines. These two cases fell under the Dingley act, but before 
they were decided congress took its position on the point at issue. 

The Fo raker act, April, 1900, established civil govern- 
Acf °^^ ^^ ment in Porto Rico, but the feature of it which attracted 

most attention was the tariff relations of the island. Presi- 
dent McKinley and a large part of the people wished the island prod- 
ucts admitted free, but the beet and cane sugar growers rallied a 
strong opposition on the ground that yielding at this point was the 
beginning of defeat for the whole cause of protection. They were 
able to force a compromise by which Porto Rican goods paid a duty of 
15 per cent until March i, 1902. Another customs case, Downes v. 
Bidwell, now came before the court, and it was held that the Foraker 
act was constitutional. In the first cases congress had not spoken, 
and the dependencies were not considered foreign in the meaning of 
existing law : in the last case congress had declared its will and the 
court recognized its right to decide the question. We are, therefore, 
to conclude that the constitution does not follow the flag, but that con- 
gress determines how far it applies to dependencies. 

But little opposition was made in congress to the civil government 
which the Foraker act established for Porto Rico. There was to be 

a governor and an executive council appointed by the 
Civil Gov- president with the consent of the senate, at least five of the 
Porto Rico, councillors to be natives. Six councillors were to be heads 

of administrative departments, with power to appoint sub- 
ordinates. There was to be an assembly of two houses, the upper 
to be the executive council and the lower to be elected by the people. 
A United States district court and a system of island courts were pro- 
vided. This plan, it will be seen, resembles in its essential features 
the Philippine act of July i, 1902, and it may be taken to indicate the 
spirit of our colonial system. 

An Isthmian Canal 

The United States became interested in an isthmian canal in 1846, 
the year they settled the Oregon boundary dispute. A treaty with 

New Granada (Colombia) in that year, ratified in 1848, 
Onii^on granted a right of way across Panama on the same terms 

as New Granada reserved to herself, the United States 
guaranteeing neutrality of the route and the sovereignty of New 
Granada in the isthmus. An American company was organized to 



EARLY CANAL PROJECTS 815 

build a railroad at once, and began work, but the road was not 
completed for several years. At the same time unavailing efforts 
were made to get Mexico to concede transit privileges across the 
Isthmus of Tehuantepec. We also showed our interest in such an en- 
terprise by getting concessions for a canal through Nicaragua, but 
England, holding the Mosquito Coast, blocked the way at the eastern 
terminus. Some threatening negotiations over the subject resulted 
in the Clayton-Bulwer treaty (1850), by which we agreed that the 
two powers should jointly guarantee the neutrality of any canal 
they constructed across the isthmus, and that other nations should 
have a right to subscribe to the treaty if they chose. Later 
England claimed the Mosquito Coast as a dependency of British 
Honduras. Nicaragua objected and appealed to our government, 
and a controversy began which led to a long period of misunderstand- 
ing and much hard feeling between the two nations. The readiness 
with which we agreed to the Clayton-Bulwer treaty shows how little 
we cared in 1850 for an American-owned canal. 

In 1869 the French completed the Suez canal, and its projector, 
de Lesseps, began to think of another such work in America. He 
favored the Panama route, and in 1878 Wyse, a French 
engineer, got a concession for a Panama canal, to be neutral q^^^^ 
in case of war, and the United States to share in the en- 
terprise if they wished. A French company was formed with de 
Lesseps in control which took over Wyse's grant and opened a popular 
subscription for stock. $120,000,000 was believed enough for the 
enterprise, and through the prestige of de Lesseps the amount was 
over-subscribed many times. Much of the sum paid in was wasted, 
and in 1882 bonds were issued for $25,000,000 which sold at 87I, and 
$60,000,000 more in 1883, which sold at 57. In the latter year digging 
began. Extravagance continued, and new loans were made at large 
discounts. In 1887 the tidewater canal, as originally planned, was 
abandoned for the lock type, thought to be less expensive. But this 
gave no relief; in 1889 the company could not meet its bills, and 
was dissolved by the courts. Those who undertook to rescue the en- 
terprise and complete it found that $180,000,000 more were needed, 
and as this sum could not be raised the project was considered hope- 
less. 

On casting up accounts it was seen that bonds and stock had been 
issued to the nominal value of $475,000,000, but at such discounts 
that they yielded only $278,000,000. The total expendi- 
ture for construction proper was $118,000,000 and for Fi^^cial 
the purchase of the Panama railroad an additional gance. 
$19,000,000. The rest, $141,000,000, went for interest 
on bonds, extravagant salaries, sums paid financiers and newspapers 
for their support, and expenditures to provide luxurious offices. An 
indignant public secured an investigation which showed widespread 



8i6 EXPANSION AND ITS PROBLEMS 

corruption, in which the company's funds were used to bribe high 
public officials to grant favors in support of the company's credit and 

to induce newspapers to advocate such concessions. 
"^* Several persons were convicted of fraud, among them a 
son of de Lesseps, but the chief manipulators escaped by flight. The 
capitalists most largely interested in the company secured a reor- 
ganization with the hope of retrieving a part of what they had lost, 
but their appeals for stock subscriptions fell on deaf ears. They were 
in danger of losing their charter, but Colombia extended it until 1900 
to give them full opportunity to get money. As that year approached 
the outlook was gloomy, for a French canal was clearly an impossibil- 
ity. Then came the war of the United States against Spain, with the 
prospect of an American canal. At once the reorganized French 
company began to exert themselves to sell their charter and plant to 
the government at Washington. 

Meanwhile, let us turn back to our own country, where alarm was 
felt lest de Lesseps's enterprise should give the French some national 

advantage in Central America. Opinion in the United 
De Lesseps States had now shifted to an American-owned canal. To 
United nieet this situation de Lesseps came to the United States 

States. in 1880, interviewing financiers and appearing before an 

investigating committee of congress. He asserted that 
his company would be controlled by the stockholders irrespective of 
national interest, and invited Americans to subscribe. He allayed sus- 
picions for a time, but in uncovering the affairs of the company at 
a later day it was found that he resorted to a skillful distribution of 
shares of stock among financiers, editors, and even congressmen. For 
all this he sold only a moderate amount of stock, and the demand for 
an American canal was not lessened. 

It found expression in plans for such a waterway through Nicara- 
gua. It is true the Clayton-Bulwer treaty stood in the way, but by 

its terms it could be annulled by either side on six months' 
resi en notice, and many persons insisted that such a step be taken, 
' justifying themselves by England's questionable occupa- 
tion of the Mosquito Coast. President Hayes did not go that far, but 
in a message to congress, 1880, advocating an American canal, he said 
that such a work would change our geographical conditions and be- 
come "virtually a part of our coast line." He continued, "No other 
great power would, under similar circumstances, fail to assert a right- 
ful control over a work so closely and vitally affecting its interests 
and welfare." Congress, however, did nothing. 

Blaine, secretary of state under Garfield, took a position equally 

vigorous. In a circular note to European powers he said 
Blaine s ^-^^ ^^^ interest in the French canal was superior to that of 
Attitude. , 1 /-. 1 1 • II- 

any other power but Colombia, and that m a war against 

ourselves or Colombia, whose sovereignty we guaranteed, we should 



THE PROJECTED NICARAGUAN CANAL 817 

no more allow the passage of a hostile ship than the transit of an army- 
over one of our railroads to the Pacific. This strong utterance was re- 
ceived with polite silence abroad and with baffled wonderment at home. 
He also proposed to England a modification of the treaty of 1850, 
but met with a refusal that was barely courteous. Whatever plans 
he had were defeated by his retirement after the death of Garfield. 
Frelinghuysen, his successor, carried on negotiations with Great Brit- 
ain with less aggression but without results, and Cleveland, more 
conciliatory still, allowed the matter to sleep. At the same time the 
growing embarrassments of the French company eased the alarms of 
Americans from that source. 

But the Nicaraguan project was not forgotten. In 1884 a treaty 
permitting a canal with American capital was made with Nicaragua 
in return for a guarantee of the integrity of that state ; 
but Cleveland withdrew it from the senate before it was '^he Mari- 
ratified. Then a private "Maritime Canal Company of p^y _!'"' 
Nicaragua" was organized, and congress was asked for Nicaragua, 
a charter. The administration hesitated, fearing inter- 
national complications, but congress granted the request. Subscrip- 
tions came in slowly — the French company was then in its direst 
straits — and the Maritime company could do little more than im- 
prove the harbor at its eastern terminus. Next it appealed to congress 
to guarantee $100,000,000 of its bonds. There was much discussion 
of the proposition in and out of legislative halls, and finally in 1895 
it passed the senate, to be lost in the house. In 1898 the charter 
lapsed, but it was not doubted that Nicaragua whould renew it, if 
the American government undertook to bring the enterprise to comple- 
tion. This was the situation when the war against Spain ran its short 
and decisive course. It so much enhanced our interest in the Pacific 
that it could no longer be doubted that an isthmian canal was a ne- 
cessity. 

It was also clear to a vast majority of Americans that the canal 
when built must be American, and that the Clayton-Bulwer treaty 
should no longer stand in the way. Negotiations were 
opened to that end, and in 1901, after one treaty had Clayton- 
been rejected, the Hay-Pauncefote treaty was ratified in Treatv^^u. 
which the arrangement of 1850 was annulled. It said nulled, 
nothing about fortifications on the canal, and although 
neutrality was promised by the United States, no other power became 
a party to the pledge. A unilateral agreement leaves everything to 
the good faith of the nation making it. 

The Canal at Panama 

It was believed that the French concession at Panama could be pur- 
chased by the United States, and a warm controversy now arose be- 

3G 



8i8 EXPANSION AND ITS PROBLEMS 

tween those who favored that route and those who supported the 
Nicaragua route, the Maritime and the French companies each push- 

ing its own interest vigorously, both in the press and by- 
Selected means of an able lobby. The transcontinental railroads 

also joined in the fight, trying to impede any action at all. 
Their position was so obviously selfish that they accomplished little. 
A commission of engineers, headed by Admiral Walker, was ap- 
pointed to consider the two routes. It reported, November i6, 1901, 
that the Nicaraguan canal could be constructed for $189,864,062 
and the Panama canal for $114,233,358, to which latter sum must 
be added the cost of the French plant, offered at $109,142,500, 
but valued by the commission at a maximum of $40,000,000. 
Its report ended by recommending the northern route. This final 
suggestion seems to have been made to bring the French company 
to terms, for when it offered to sell for $40,000,000, the report 
was modified to favor the southern route. The matter then went 
to congress, which authorized the president by a vote practically 
unanimous to purchase the French rights if a legal title could 
be obtained. The bill also authorized the president to secure from 
Colombia, in which the state of Panama lay, a right of way at least six 
miles wide, and it provided for a commission to construct the canal. 
Interest now centered at Bogota. Secretary Hay negotiated a treaty 
with the Colombian charge d'affaires, Herran, granting a ninety-nine 

years' lease, with right of renewal by the United States, 
Objects'* of a canal zone six miles wide, in return for which we were 

to pay $i0;000,ooo cash and $250,000 annually. This 
agreement aroused dissatisfaction among Colombians. "Panama," 
as Professor Latane says, "was their greatest asset," and they had for 
many years built high hopes on its development. Besides, their con- 
stitution prohibited the alienation of territory by congress and the 
proposed lease was held to amount to alienation. The agreement, 
therefore, was rejected unanimously by the congress. President 
Roosevelt and many Americans believed the rejection was due to cor- 
rupt motives, and concluded that the Colombians desired to await the 
expiration of the French charter in 1904, when they could demand 
an exorbitant price. Colombia has ever denied that her motive was 
chiefly mercenary, but her point seems well taken that the amount 
offered was not in fair proportion to that paid later to the French 
company. 

The turn events took caused much disquiet at Panama, whose in- 
habitants were dismayed at the prospect of having the canal go to 

Nicaragua. The state had long cherished opposition to 
Panama^ °^ ^^^ federal authority at Bogota, charging that the latter 

exploited the state to get revenues for the federal govern- 
ment, until Panama was called "the milch cow of the confederation." 
Moreover, in 1885, Dr. Nunez, by as high-handed methods as one could 



THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA 819 

imagine, had made himself dictator in Colombia and ruled the compo- 
nent states through a military oligarchy whose daring use of power 
in elections and elsewhere reduced republican forms of government 
to a farce. At the time, therefore, when Panama saw passing away 
her opportunity of realizing the dream of centuries, the construction 
of the canal which would make her the center of the trade routes of the 
New World, she was filled with resentment for ancient wrongs which 
struck at the root of her rights as a state. The new grievance did not 
create the spirit of revolt : it only ripened it. 

Early in 1903 a revolutionary junto was organized in the town of 
Panama on the western side of the isthmus, at its head Senor Arango 
and Dr. Amador. Although they could count on the 
friendship of most of the Panamans, they were so weak that pf^^ed 
they could not succeed without the aid oi the United States ; 
but they believed that would be given, at least covertly, through our 
desire to get the canal route. They also needed money to raise troops 
and buy arms and ammunition. They hoped to get this from the 
Panama railroad, an American enterprise, which also had reason to 
desire that the canal be built in Panama. Dr. Amador went to New 
York to try to get funds at railroad headquarters ; but his departure 
was known in Bogota, and a hint that aid to the conspirators would 
lead to confiscation of the railroad charter destroyed that hope. One 
other powerful interest desired the canal dug at the isthmus, the French 
company. It so happened that as Dr. Amador was turned away from 
the railroad offices there arrived in New York the agent of the French 
company, Bunau-Varilla. He grasped the situation at once and 
agreed to furnish the desired funds if he was made the minister from 
the new state to Washington. Dr. Amador was overjoyed and readily 
promised what was asked. He then visited Washington, interviewed 
Secretary Hay, from whom he got no open encouragement, but left 
convinced that if a revolution were accomplished, President Roose\elt 
would recognize the de facto government. From Washing- 
ton he returned to Panama, where it soon began to be y^^j^j^'tg 
whispered about that a revolution would occur on Novem- ^^ Rescue, 
ber 4, 1903. This rumor was reported to the United States 
by the American consul, and on November 2 the gunboat Nashville 
arrived at Colon. It came to protect American property, in view of 
the prospects of disturbances ; but its presence gave courage to the 
timid ones, who saw in it a promise of the support of the United 
States. 

When, as was believed, the blow was about to fall, that is to say, 
on November 3, there landed at Colon 450 Colombian soldiers com- 
manded by four generals. The leaders proceeded at once 
to Panama, where the plot had its center, giving orders struck." 
for the soldiers to follow. Three Colombian gunboats 
were oflf Panama to cooperate with the army, but the revolutionists 



820 EXPANSION AND ITS PROBLEMS 

expected them to support the revolt. Arrived at their destination, 
the generals with their staffs were made prisoners by the junto's 
army, now numbering about loo men. Two of the gunboats declared 
for the same side, and the other steamed away after firing three shots, 
one of which killed a Chinamen, the only blood spilt in the revolution. 
Meanwhile, the force at Colon prepared to go to the defense of their 
leaders, but the railroad demanded money for transportation. The 
soldiers had no funds, but the ofiQcer in command threatened to seize 
the trains and go without delay. The company's officers sympathized 
with the revolt. By the treaty between the United States and Colom- 
bia, the former nation was bound to protect the free operation of the 
road, and the commander of the Nashville landed 50 marines to pre- 
vent the seizure of the railroad by the Colombians. He also an- 
nounced that he would not allow the transportation of troops by either 
side, since that would precipitate a conflict and interfere with the free 
transit of the isthmus. Had the Colombian commander been enter- 
prising and earnest, he would have found a means of getting to Panama, 
only 49 miles away. After two days in Colon, he embarked his troops 
on a mail ship and departed. It was reported that he received a bribe 
J g of $8000 from the revolutionists, and that when his men 

discovered the fact, they despoiled him of the money and 
set him ashore at Kingston without funds. The captured generals were 
sent out of the country a few days later. By this time several Ameri- 
can men-of-war were in the harbors of Colon and Panama. They came 
to protect property and keep transit open. But when they gave notice 
that, in compliance with orders from Washington, they would not allow 
troops to land within 50 miles of Panama, their presence took other 
significance. Colombia could not subdue the revolt without fighting 
the United States, and submitted to the inevitable with bitter feelings. 
November 4, the junto held meetings, organized a republic of Panama, 
deposed the officers representing the Colombian authority, and in- 
stalled a government of their own. Their proceedings 
Republic. ^^^^^ approved by a mass meeting in the town of Panama. 
November 6, the United States recognized the independ- 
ence of the new republic, and on the same day Bunau-Varilla was 
appointed its first minister at Washington. All was done by cable, 
and he entered upon his duties with such despatch that by November 
18 he had concluded the Hay-Bunau-Varilla convention, by which we 
guaranteed the integrity of Panama and received in full sovereignty 
a strip of land ten miles wide from sea to sea for the construction of 
a canal. For this concession we agreed to pay $10,000,000 in cash and 
$250,000 a year beginning in 1913. 

Our share in these events was resented by Colombia, which had the 
support of most South American states. Friends of President Roose- 
velt justified his action on the ground that it was necessary to keep 
transit open and to protect property, but it is hard to treat such 







-5 %■$ 



flC P*'' g 



PACIFIC OCEAN 



PLANS FOR THE CANAL 821 

arguments seriously. In making the treaty, Colombia could not have 
intended to sign away her right to enforce order and sovereignty in her 
own borders. Keeping her from her own territory was 
nothing but a forceful act in contravention of her sover- American 
eignty. Her rejection of the Hay-Herran convention may bUity? 
have been due to unworthy motives, as the Americans 
suspected, but it did not give us a right to make our bargain in our 
own way at the mouth of cannon. If we must have had the Panama 
route, patience and fair dealing would have secured it ; but it would 
have been better to pay extravagantly rather than create the impres- 
sion at this stage in our Latin American relations that we would secure 
our ends by unfair means. 

Canal Construction 

The first task of the canal commission was to make the scene of 
their future operations free from the diseases peculiar to the tropics. 
The discovery of the part played by the mosquito in transmitting 
yellow and other fevers now served a good purpose. By draining the 
breeding places of mosquitoes and screening the houses . 
these diseases were reduced to a negligible factor. In five 
years only nineteen Americans died of yellow fever on the isthmus. A 
supply of pure water was also obtained, hospitals were built, houses 
were erected for the employees, and sanitary engineers made the towns 
along the route clean and wholesome. Much of the machinery re- 
ceived from the French proved useless, though some of their buildings 
and all of their excavation were serviceable. 

The question of a lock or sea-level canal now became important. 
It was referred to a group of engineers who reported that the sea-level 
type could be had in fifteen years for $300,000,000 and a 
lock canal in ten to twelve years for $200,000,000 to LockCan^'^ 
$250,000,000. The latter type was adopted by the gov- 
ernment, probably because of the shorter period of construction. 
The decision disappointed those who favored the opposite type, and 
for some years echoes of their misgivings were heard in the press and 
in scientific discussions. 

At the canal site the isthmus is 49 miles wide and runs nearly 
east and west. Near its center is the water divide, an elevation 8 
miles wide and 290 feet above the sea at Culebra, its q-t^ « ^ 
highest point. East of this ridge is a plain 30 miles wide, 
cut by the Chagres river running out of the hills east of Culebra and 
going northwestward along the line of the canal to the sea. West 
and south of the divide is a short river which reaches Panama across 
a plain 10 miles wide. The canal builder's task was to follow one river 
to the divide, cut through the ridge at Culebra, and parallel the other 
river to the ocean. 



82 2 EXPANSION AND ITS PROBLEMS 

In the work as constructed they secure this result as follows : The 
canal proceeds at sea-level for 8 miles to Gatun. Here an im- 
The Canal ^^nse dam is placed across the valley of the Chagres a 
mile and a half long, 700 yards wide at the bottom and 
100 feet at the top, really a cement-coated hill of rough stones. 
It will check the waters of the river and force them back over the 
plain so as to make a lake 22 miles long, to which the canal rises by 
locks. West of the lake across the divide the reliance is on excavation. 
This part of the canal, the Culebra cut, is of special interest because it 
sinks through layers of earth and loose stones, and the walls are sub- 
ject to slides. West of the cut the canal descends by locks to the 
plain and crosses it at sea-level to the ocean. At the narrowest point, 
in the Culebra cut, it is 300 feet wide, but the width of the Gatun lake 
is so great that vessels can pass one another in it without difficulty. 
In 1909 severe slides in Culebra cut and the slipping of a part of the 
base of the Gatun dam caused a renewal of the agitation for a sea- 
level canal. President Taft visited the scene, consulted with the 
experts, and decided to proceed on the existing basis. January i, 
191 1, 69.7 per cent of the excavation and 56.7 per cent of the Gatun 
dam had been completed, and it was believed that actual work would 
Pj. end by June i, 1913. The excellent progress of recent 

years has been largely due to the efforts of Colonel George 
W. Goethals, chief engineer of the canal. To the end of the fiscal 
year of 1910-1911 the appropriations for the enterprise were $248,- 
000,000 and it was expected that the total cost would not exceed 
$375,000,000. 

American Diplomacy in the Orient 

At the beginning of the present century the partition of China 
seemed imminent. Great Britain and Germany had ninety-nine year 

leases of important positions on the Shantung peninsula, 
Chinl'lm-^ south of the entrance of the gulf of Pechili, which leads 
minent. ^o the Capital of the empire. North of the entrance is 

the Manchurian peninsula which Russia held on a twenty- 
five year lease with absolute control in the meantime. The world 
thought these leases euphonious words for permanent occupation. 
China had no efficient navy or army, and regarded with dismay what 
seemed the jaws of a monster about to devour her. In 1899 England 
and Russia agreed that the former would not build railroads in China 
north of the Great Wall and the latter south of it, which seemed to 
be a bargain as to spheres of influence. France, at the same time, held 
recognized interests in Kwangchu bay, in southern China. 

Secretary Hay considered these events adverse to our trade inter- 
ests and sent, September 6, 1899, protesting notes to London, Berlin, 
and St. Petersburg. He asked that an " open-door " policy be accepted 



THE BOXER REVOLT 823 

by all the great powers in regard to trade with China, and commun- 
icated what he had done to France, Italy, and Japan. The reply 
of England was favorable, but the other powers con- 
fined themselves to generalities. The incident called at- pl^ff^"* 
tention to the danger threatening the empire and aroused china. 
the keenest interest of China herself. 

The Chinese government was supine, but the people were outraged. 
Their religion, patriotism, and business interests cried out against 
what they saw. Then arose the society of Boxers in the 
provinces of Shantung and Chili, nominally an athletic Work of the 
organization, but secretly pledged to exterminate the 
foreigners. Led by Prince Tuan, they became very numerous, won 
the support of many of the imperial troops, and by the middle of 
1900 held all the country between Peking and the sea. The govern- 
ment was overwhelmed and June 10 placed Prince Tuan at the head 
of the foreign office. On the 19th the foreign ministers were ordered 
to leave the country, but they dared not trust themselves in the seeth- 
ing masses who held the roads to the coast. Baron von Ketteler, 
German ambassador, going through the streets of Peking to deliver 
a protest in the name of his government, was set on by a mob and 
killed by a soldier in uniform. Instantly came a furious demand for 
the blood of the foreigners in the city. All of the latter, ministers 
and others, with some native Christians, assembled at the British 
embassy and constructed fortifications. The Chinese government 
gave no relief. It was as helpless as the foreigners, and from June 
20 until August 14 the embassy was in a state of siege. 

By the middle of June the powers had decided to rescue their min- 
isters. On the 17th they took Taku at the head of the gulf of Pechili 
and 130 miles from the capital ; and 20,000 troops, Jap- 
anese, Russian, British, American, and French, were in the ?1°''®'^". 
place when they learned on July 9 of the death of the china. * 
German ambassador. They were quickly in motion and 
five days later took the walled city of Tientsin, 40 miles from the coast. 
News now came that all the ministers in Peking were dead, and the 
column halted while the foreign powers prepared to send a great army 
for the severe chastisement of China. This thoroughly alarmed the 
Chinese government, which appealed to the United States, as a power 
not interested in seizing territory, to avert the threatened invasion. 
On the same day came assurances that the ministers were alive. 
This appeal came safely through the swarms of Boxers that filled the 
roads, and reached President McKinley on July 20. Instantly the 
force at Tientsin was in motion, and August 14 it occupied Peking, the 
imperial court fleeing into the interior. 

At first the situation seemed to hasten partition, for each nation 
concerned, including Germany, was likely to make strong demands 
which China could not resist. Secretary Hay, holding still to his 



824 EXPANSION AND ITS PROBLEMS 

"open-door" policy, thought to avoid such a result by getting the 
powers to agree to joint occupation until reparation was arranged. 
He shrewdly assumed that mutual jealousies which have 
Hay's predominated in many joint negotiations would prevent 

Effort for ^^^ ^"^ power from getting a share of the empire for itself. 
China. He got all the powers concerned to accept joint occupa- 

tion. Then he got England and Germany to agree not 
to ask for territory, to oppose such a demand from the others, and to 
favor an "open-door" policy in commerce. The other powers now 
could only assent, Russia and France in a half-hearted way. At the 
final signature of this agreement the United States in a special clause 
stipulated that they did not guarantee the integrity of the foreign 
powers in China. 

Joint diplomacy now proceeded. In December, 1900, it presented 
its demands to China, — indemnity for the losses sustained, and meas- 
ures for the future security of foreigners. China hesi- 
from China tated a long time, but finally agreed to pay 450,000,000 
taels — about $333,000,000 — distributed among the 
powers in a specified manner. At every step Secretary Hay urged 
that China should not be reduced to the position of a weak power. 
He believed that the best solution of the Eastern problem was to main- 
tain her integrity and give her an opportunity to modernize herself. 
Our share of the indemnity was $24,000,000 ; but this exceeded the 
actual losses by $13,000,000, and in 1907 the excess was handed back 
as an act of good will. 

The United States now proceeded to try to get trade privileges in 
China and managed to have Antung and Mukden declared open ports. 
. . But these towns were in Manchuria where Russia was 
Manchuria, seeking to establish her influence. Spite of treaty stipu- 
lations, by which she had agreed to evacuate the province 
by 1903, she held on to her advantage, returning evasive answers to 
Hay's representations. When we could do no more, the controversy 
was taken up by Japan, who had concessions in Manchuria which 
were violated by the Russian occupation. Still Russia did not yield, 
and Japan sent an ultimatum demanding concessions by January 16, 
1904. It was not respected, and on February 10 began a short and 
brilliant war in which Japan surprised the world by her victories, so 
that by midsummer the great Slavic nation was ready to treat for 
peace. Until this time American sympathy was with Japan, and 
when President Roosevelt succeeded in bringing the two 

Russo- nations to treat for peace at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 

Japanese . ^ ^ , ^i*- TrT^ 

■yy^ar. ori August 5, 1904, she expected American support, lo 

her surprise the American president now seemed to favor 

her antagonist. Her finances were exhausted and she was forced to 

consent to the Russian retention of the northern half of Saghalien, all 

of which she had demanded for indemnity. Her representatives went 

home feeling that we were jealous of her rising power in the Pacific. 



THE CONTROL OF SEAPORTS 825 



The Alaskan Boundary 

The Alaskan boundary controversy between the United States and 
Great Britain arose because of indefinite terms in the purchase treaty 
of 1867. The region involved was unsettled and no one . . 
then felt the need of an adjustment. But in 1897 gold 
was discovered in the upper Yukon valley, the Alaskan region was 
flooded with miners, disputes as to jurisdiction arose, and both sides 
sought arbitration. January 24, 1903, six arbiters, three Americans 
and three Englishmen, were appointed to settle the dispute. Of the 
latter, two were Canadians, who were expected to favor the British 
contention, but the third was Lord Alverstone, chief justice of Eng- 
land, in whose unbiased judgment the Americans had confidence. 
The tribunal met in London, September 3, 1903. 

The point at issue was the interpretation of the treaty made by 
Russia and England, in 1825, fixing the boundary between Alaska 
and the British possessions. It was therein provided that 
the line should begin at the south of Prince of Wales island, 
ascend northward with the Portland channel to the 50th parallel, 
then follow the summit of the mountains that were supposed to skirt 
the coast to longitude 141° west, and thence with this parallel to the 
Arctic ocean. But if the summits of the mountains were not ascer- 
tainable, the line was not to run more than ten marine leagues from 
the coast. Investigation showed that no mountains were where they 
had been thought to be and the coast was cut by deep indentations. 
Then arose this question : should the line pass across the indentations, 
leaving their heads to the east of it, or should it curve ten leagues 
eastward so as to leave the heads of the indentations to the westward. 
If the former view prevailed, Dyea, Juneau, and other ports from 
which started the roads to the Yukon would be left in British hands. 
There was no contention over the part of the line which followed 
longitude 141° to the Arctic ocean. 

The Americans believed they had a strong case and supported it 
before the tribunal with a mass of maps and other evidence to show 
that in the treaty of 1825 it was Russia's intention to ex- 
elude England from the western shore above 54° 40', and ^^^^ win.'" 
that the design was at last accepted by England. Lord 
Alverstone was satisfied with these arguments, and in all important 
votes sided with the Americans, leaving his two associates in a mi- 
nority. They were both unconvinced and went home in disappoint- 
ment. They and their countrymen felt that the interests of Canada 
had been sacrificed to promote the newly awakened harmony be- 
tween the United States and Great Britain. The line run in accord- 
ance with the treaty was not so far eastward as we claimed, but it 
left Canada no point of access to the sea within the disputed region, 



826 EXPANSION AND ITS PROBLEMS 

and gave us control of the routes to the Yukon. As to the goldfields, 
the richest of them are on the Canadian side of the line, on its northern 
stretch. 

The New Monroe Doctrine 

Since the Venezuelan incident, 1895, events have tended still 
further to strengthen the new Monroe doctrine. Getting a foothold 

on the Isthmus of Panama brings the American influence 
A New jj^|-Q close relation with the states near that important 

point. The doctrine, which originally meant opposition 
to European control and was extended by Cleveland to the assump- 
tion of a degree of protection, has of late been extended into a species 
of moral guardianship by which we undertake to compel a Spanish- 
American state to fulfill its obligations and give Europeans no ground 
for interference. In this last stage the doctrine has become so vast 
a force in our external relations that it may well demand our most 
careful consideration lest we exercise it selfishly and without a due 
sense of the obligations it imposes on us to be just and generous. In 
1899 the United States were represented at the first Hague confer- 
ence, called to consider the peaceful settlement of international dis- 
putes. Their delegates joined in all that was done to promote the 
aims of the meeting, but in accepting the deliberation stated distinctly 
that their country did not give up the Monroe doctrine, for three- 
quarters of a century a cardinal feature of its foreign policy. This 
was notice of the most formal kind to all the world, and as no nation 
represented at the conference protested, it was assumed that all 
acquiesced in our claim. 

Two years later the world saw it recognized in a specific manner by 
one of the most aggressive of the great nations. Germany had a 

grievance against Venezuela on account of unpaid public 
Germany debts to German citizens. She prepared to use force, 
Venezuela. ^^^ before doing so informed the United States that she 

did not intend to acquire Venezuelan territory. No 
objection was made, and she established, in conjunction with Great 
Britain, who also had claims, a blockade of Venezuelan ports and 
seized Venezuelan gunboats. After this situation had lasted a 
year, the United States used their influence and induced Venezuela 
to settle with her adversaries. The claims were recognized in prin- 
ciple and referred to a commission for examination, the similar claims 
of other nations being included at the request of President Castro. 
The total amount thus demanded was 190,676,670 bolivars 
($38,000,000), and of these the commission pronounced as genuine 
claims amounting to 38,429,376 bolivars. It was a source of humilia- 
tion to us that of the 81,410,952 bolivars demanded by our own 
citizens only 2,313,711 were allowed. In connection with this affair 
President Roosevelt asserted that coercing an American state did not 



SANTO DOMINGAN REVENUES 827 

violate the Monroe doctrine unless the acquisition of territory was 
contemplated. 

In 1904 Santo Domingo was bankrupt and European creditor na- 
tions were thinking of interfering. Roosevelt could not object in 
view of his own former opinion, but he feared that the re- 
currence of interference would lead to difficulties. He President 
met the situation by declaring that the United States fn^^lJ^to 
were bound, in order to preserve the intent of the Monroe Domingo, 
doctrine, to see that the small American states did not 
give cause for interference. He proposed, therefore, to take charge 
of the Dominican revenues and manage them until the financial em- 
barrassments were discharged. The creditors desired such action, 
Santo Domingo requested it, and he sent to the senate a treaty em- 
bodying his purpose. It guaranteed the integrity of Santo Domingo, 
appointed a receiver of her revenues, and agreed to settle her obli- 
gations, domestic as well as foreign. This was a long step toward 
control ; and the senate on that ground rejected the treaty. Then 
the Dominican republic signed a modus vivendi by which it placed its 
revenues in the hands of a receiver unofficially recommended by 
President Roosevelt. The senate was not able to prevent this, and 
as the arrangement was liable to bring complications, they decided to 
accept the modus vivendi. A revised treaty was signed, omitting 
the guarantee of territory, but providing for a receiver under American 
protection and stipulating that Santo Domingo should not increase 
her debt without American consent. This was in 1907, by which time 
a great improvement had already occurred in Dominican finances. 
The debt was now only $17,000,000, and under economical manage- 
ment it has been steadily reduced. The incident passed without 
creating the dreaded precedent for territorial expansion ; but it 
strengthened and gave sharper outlines to the policy of wise restraint 
of our southern neighbors, to which the Monroe doctrine seems to 
be tending. 

The election of 1900 was a test of opinion on the war and expan- 
sion. The republicans renominated McKinley without opposition. 
Theodore Roosevelt, by the artifice of T. C. Piatt, was 
made the candidate for the vice-presidency in order to j^^Vi^fg 
remove him from New York politics. The democrats 
renominated Bryan, who relaxed his free silver demands on the ground 
that the discovery of gold in Alaska had produced an abundant supply 
of money. The campaign turned on expansion. McKinley was 
chosen by 292 to 155 electoral votes. It was evident that the people 
were satisfied at the prospect of playing a new role in world aflfairs. 
In such a progress the victor at the polls was to have no part. 
September 14, 1901, he died from the effect of a shot by a crazed 
anarchist whom he encountered at the Buffalo exposition. 



828 EXPANSION AND ITS PROBLEMS 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

Besides the references in chapter XXXVIII to the conquest of the Philippines 
the following books, mostly on the government of dependencies, are very useful 
Latane, America as a World Power (1907); Schurman, Philippine AJfairs (1902) 
Foreman, Philippine Islands (1906) ; Barrows, History of the Philippines (1908) 
Willis, Our Philippine Problem (1905); and Blount, American Occupation of the 
Philippines (191 2), opposed to American occupation. 

On the government of dependencies see : Willoughby, Territories and Dependen- 
cies (1905) ; Randolph, Law and Policy of Annexation (1901); WiUis, Our Philip- 
pine Problem (1905) ; Rowe, Establishment of Civil Government in the Philippines 
(1902) ; and Younghusband, The Philippines and Round About (1899). See also : 
Annual Reports of the Secretary of War, iSgg-igoj, contains a valuable collection 
of facts relating to the first five years of American control in the Philippines, Porto 
Rico, Hawaii, Cuba, and Guam. The reports of the Bureau of Insular Affairs also 
contain much valuable information. 

On affairs in the Far East see : Rockhill, Report on AJfairs in China (in Foreign 
Relations, Appendix, 1901); and House Documents, 56 Cong, i ses. No. 547, for 
facts relating to Secretary Hay's negotiations in China. The following are of 
service : Reinsch, World Politics at the End of the Nineteenth Century (1900) ; Mahan, 
The Problem of Asia (1900); Callahan, American Relations in the Pacific (1900); 
Foster, Atfierican Diplomacy in the Orient (1903); We&le, Reshaping the Far East 
(1905) ; and Millard, America and the Far Eastern Question (1909). 

On Panama and the isthmian canal see the following general works : Sparks, 
National Development (1907) ; Dewey, National Problems (1907) ; Latane, America 
as a World Poiver (1907); and Peck, Twenty Years of the Republic (1907). The 
bibliographies in these volumes contain many references to valuable works on 
the subject. On the Nicaraguan canal project see : Keasby, The Nicaragua Canal 
and the Monroe Doctrine (1896) ; and Latane, Diplomatic Relations of the United 
States and Spanish America (1900). On Panama see: Johnson, Four Centuries of 
the Panama Canal (1906) ; and the report of the Commission d'etude institue par le 
liquidateur de la Compagnie Universelle (1890). See also Travis, The Clayton- 
Btilwer Treaty (1899). 

For Independent Reading 

Morton, The Siege of Peking (1900) ; Kausse, Story of the Chinese Crisis (1900) ; 
Little, The Far East (1905) ; Asakawa, The Russo-Japanese Conflict (1904) ; Young- 
husband, The Philippines and Round About (1899); Weale, The Truce in the East 
and its Aftermath (1907) ; and Foster, Diplomatic Memoirs (1909). 



CHAPTER XL 

THE ADMINISTRATIONS OF ROOSEVELT AND TAFT 

Roosevelt's Corporation Policy 

President McKinley died September 14, 1901. His successor re- 
tained the existing cabinet and announced that he would follow the 
policy of his predecessor. To observing men the promise 
seemed difhcult of fulfillment. The two men were essen- Roosevelt 
tially unlike in personality and ideals. One was a man of McKinley. 
gentle habits, a tactful politician who had achieved power 
because he had the faculty of binding up opposing interests. The 
other was aggressive by nature, a reformer who had forced his accept- 
ance by party leaders because of his blunt way of winning the con- 
fidence of the people. McKinley, the protectionist and friend of 
Mark Hanna, had the confidence of the capitalists and the support 
of the party organization. Roosevelt, the reformer, although an 
avowed protectionist, had made a reputation as an opponent of party 
machines. 

There was, however, evidence that McKinley in his last days had 
come to a new position in regard to the tariff. In his last public 
speech, at Buffalo, September 5, he said: "The period of 
exclusiveness is past. The expansion of our trade and McKinley's 
commerce is the pressing problem. Commercial wars are poUcy. 
unprofitable. A policy of good-will and friendly trade 
relations will prevent reprisals. Reciprocity treaties are in harmony 
with the spirit of the times ; measures of retaliation are not. If, per- 
chance, some of our tariffs are no longer needed for revenue or to en- 
courage and protect some of our industries at home, why should they 
not be employed to extend and promote our markets abroad ? " This 
utterance was taken at the time to indicate the advent of a new era in 
the tariff. In what practical manner it would have been applied, the 
world never knew. Roosevelt was not a tariff reformer. In his 
messages to congress he made it plain that he upheld protection, al- 
though he gave a pale indorsement to reciprocity. He said it was a 
mistake to say the tariff was responsible for the trusts. 

His first message showed that he considered the relation of the 
government to trusts the great question of the hour. He declared 
that corporations existed by permission of law, state or national, and 
demanded that they value their property honestly and deal fairly 

829 



830 ADMINISTRATIONS OF ROOSEVELT AND TAFT 

by the public in marketing their stock. He thought they should be 
taken under federal control, and recommended the creation of a de- 
partment of commerce and industry under which they should exercise 
their functions. In this position he seemed to manifest po- 
and Trusts, ^^^ical insight. Bryan, leading the democrats, had continu- 
ally asked that trusts be destroyed : Roosevelt asked that 
they be legalized under restraint analogous to the supervision of rail- 
roads by the interstate commerce commission. If the corporations 
would accept this policy, the conservative opponents of trusts, it 
seemed, would be drawn into the republican party, and the democrats 
would be robbed of their most popular argument. The president's 
appeal to congress was futile. The proposed department was not 
created, and a bill which he urged for reciprocity with Cuba died a 
natural death in the senate after passing the house. Nor were the 
democrats keenly alive to their opportunity. They wasted time forc- 
ing an investigation of the conduct of the war in the Philippines, 
thinking it would furnish them good campaign material by showing 
that expansion had brought with it a train of military horrors. The 
autumn congressional elections left the republicans still in power, 
although their majority in the house was reduced from forty-five to 
thirty. Expansion was a dead issue and was thenceforth so recognized. 
To the indifference of congress the president made a characteristic 
reply. He appealed to the people, thinking they would make it evi- 
dent to congress what they desired done. Late in the 
An Appeal summer of 1902 he made a speech-making tour through 
People. New England. Although it was announced as a non- 

political affair, much was said about the broad questions 
of citizenship, and it was evident from the earnest way in which his 
views on corporations were received that he had raised a popular issue. 
His frank and aggressive manner commended him to the people, who 
looked on him as their champion. An admirer once said of him in 
connection with this early stage of his contest : " Under the old regime 
the people got the impression that it w^as useless to fight against the 
influence of corporations and machine politics, but Roosevelt gave 
them back their hope, and made them think a fight was indeed worth 
while." 

His position in regard to the anthracite coal strike of 1902 added to 
his popularity. From May until October the miners refused to work, 
demanding higher wages. The people of the East were 
Staik terrified at the prospect of a coal famine, and prices rose 

steadily. At last the president called together the mine- 
owners, the representatives of the miners, and the officials of the rail- 
roads carrying the coal to market, urging them to settle their difficul- 
ties. The owners resented his interference and charged him with 
failure to send troops to protect the mines from violence. Of this 
charge he was not guilty, since the governor of Pennsylvania had re- 



DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR 831 

fused to call for federal troops. The state officials smarted under the 
imputation of neglect of duty, and the whole Pennsylvania guard was 
called out for service in the mining district. 

The situation now seemed desperate, and more radical people be- 
gan to talk of seizing the mines and working them under government 
supervision. Then Roosevelt took a more positive tone. 
He called to Washington representatives of the New York gg^g^' * 
banks which financed the mines and railroads concerned, 
and induced them to use their influence to make the owners agree to 
arbitration. What he would have done had they still held out does 
not appear. The upshot was that the "coal trust," as the owners 
were called, yielded and a committee of arbitration was named by the 
president. The miners returned to work at the old wages and in the 
following spring were awarded ten per cent increase of wages, half 
of their original demands. The incident made Roosevelt popular 
and served to call attention to the fact that the country's supply of 
anthracite had fallen into the hands of a small number of men. 

The annual message of 1902 was strong for federal control of cor- 
porations. It attacked the system by which the corporations could 
take advantage of state charters, saying: "This country 
cannot afford to sit supine on the plea that under our ^0°*^°^ °^ 
peculiar system of government we are helpless in the tions. 
presence of new conditions." The president was willing 
to strengthen the constitution if it was not strong enough to deal 
with the problem. His opponents replied that he was a radical and 
would overthrow the constitution. His own idea was that new con- 
ditions had arisen and that the people are always wise enough to make 
a government which provides for their wants. Congress gave little 
heed to his suggestions, but February 13, 1903, it passed the law to 
create a department of commerce and labor, which began at once 
collecting facts to show whether or not the trusts had sought to stifle 
competition in defiance of the Sherman anti-trust law. 

The years 1901-1903 were a period of great prosperity. Business 
men had been so indifferent to the law of 1890 that they seemed to 
think it a dead letter. Many trusts were organized and . 
large quantities of "watered" stock were issued. The ig^|^ ° 
most notable example was the United States Steel Cor- 
poration with $1,018,000,000 capital and $301,000,000 bonds. The 
rage for gigantic corporations was so great that the public could not 
buy the bonds, and in 1903 the speculative market collapsed so com- 
pletely that steel common sold for less than 9 per cent of par. A 
shrewd observer remarked that the country was suffering from "in- 
digestible securities." This collapse cooled for a time the country's 
aversion to trusts ; for it was said that experience showed they could 
not exist profitably. But the return of confidence was early, the 
stocks rose in the market, and by adopting a more cautious policy they 



832 ADMINISTRATIONS OF ROOSEVELT AND TAFT 

began to show the great earning power in concentration. The real 
point at issue was : Should this advantage accrue to the men who 
effected the combination or to the people ? 

The year 1904 was a presidential election year, and Roosevelt was 
very strong with the country. The opposition in his own party cor 
centrated on Mark A. Hanna ; but he was a millionaire, 
Roosevelt ^^^j ^^ ^^^ believed he could be elected. When he died 
JNoininatea, t-, , n i r • , 

1904. -bebruary 15, 1904, all hope of nammg any other conserv- 

ative was abandoned, and Roosevelt was selected with- 
out opposition. Charles W. Fairbanks, of Indiana, was nominated 
for vice-president. The platform declared for a reasonable restriction 
of trusts and declared that the tariff should be. reformed by its friends. 
The prospects of the democrats were gloomy. Expansion, as an 
issue, had to be abandoned, there seemed to be little interest in the 
tariff, and Roosevelt had so emasculated their opposition 
Parker iq trusts that there was little left on which they could make 

by^^e * * ^ stand. The men of the East were full of bitter recrimi- 
Democrats. nations for Bryan, who had twice been defeated. All 
the party's calamities, they thought, came from trusting 
the "Western will-o'-the-wisp," and they demanded a return to "safe- 
and-sane" policies. Bryan himself realized his inability to succeed. 
He was still strong in the West and South, but his friends were willing 
to give an Eastern man an opportunity. Thus it happened that Judge 
Alton B. Parker, of New York, a man little known to the public, was 
nominated for president and Henry G. Davis, of West Virginia, for vice- 
president. The platform denounced trusts, demanded the enforce- 
ment of the Sherman law, arraigned the protective tariff, and indorsed 
several other minor reforms. 

Then followed a whirlwind of speech-making by the republican 
candidate. Wherever he went, he was received with an enthusiasm 
which Parker, a man of solid worth and steady tempera- 
Election, rnent, was not able to arouse. The latter made it very 
clear that he repudiated the free coinage of silver, an action 
which the Western democrats considered a direct insult to Bryan, 
and many of them are supposed to have shown their resentment at the 
^olls. The election result was that Roosevelt carried every Northern 
and Western state and broke the traditional "solid South" by 
securing the vote of Missouri. The " safe-and-sane " man of the East 
had been defeated more decisively than Bryan in either of the previous 
canvasses. 

Roosevelt's Second Term 

His overwhelming election naturally gave Roosevelt confidence in 
his position, and he was not the man to use the advantage moderately. 
The house, strongly republican, felt the effects of his popularity and 
was inclined to support him in most of his measures. But the senate 



RAILROAD RATES 833 

contained many enemies, members of his own party, who wished to 
check what they considered his overreaching ambition. They had 
their opportunity when, late in 1904, he sent them treaties 
providing that future disputes between the United States Roosevelt 
and certain other powers might by agreements made senate, 
with the powerfe concerned be referred to the Hague tri- 
bunal for settlement. Such agreements would be negotiated by the 
president, and to adopt the suggestion would greatly increase his power. 
The senators were in no mood to diminish their treaty-making power, 
and amended the project by inserting the word "treaties" instead of 
"agreements. " The president dropped the projected reform. He was 
deeply offended, and wrote a stinging letter to the chairman of the 
senate foreign committee. The breach between him and his opponents 
was materially widened. 

The immediate reform on which the president had now set his 
heart was to enlarge the powers of the interstate commerce commis- 
sion so that it might fix maximum rates, and deliver 
effective judgments on matters within its jurisdiction. Rat^Bm 
Congress did not accept the suggestion. During the 
summer he made many speeches throughout the country, and in all of 
them spoke for railroad regulation. Much interest was manifested, 
and in his next annual message the subject was brought up with 
emphasis. The result was the Hepburn rate-bill, which after a long 
and bitter struggle became a law June 29, 1906. It forbade rebates, 
conferred rate-making power on the interstate commerce commission, 
and gave the commission power to specify the manner in which rail- 
roads should keep their accounts. The bill originally made final the 
decisions of the commission, but the senate insisted that there should 
be appeal to the courts. At this point affairs hung for a long 
time, but it was finally agreed that there should be a limited review 
by the courts. Roosevelt declared himself satisfied with the com- 
promise. 

Two other laws which passed at this session through the president's 
efforts show how much the reforming temper influenced congress. 
One grew out of the report of a special committee to in- 
vestigate th'j meat-packing houses. Alarming conditions ^?** ^'^ . 
were found to exist, and it was now provided that no meat products, 
should be shipped out of the state in which it was packed 
without rigorous government inspection. Another law prohibited 
adulteration, and required that all food sold in interstate commerce 
should have correct labels. The last law has been severely resisted 
by the manufacturers, but Presidents Roosevelt and Taft have uni- 
formly supported its execution. 

A law was also passed to prohibit corporations from contributing to 
campaign funds. It was partly the result of the tremendous upheaval 
of sentiment in 1905, when it was discovered that New York life in- 

3H 



834 ADMINISTRATIONS OF ROOSEVELT AND TAFT 

surance companies had been making large campaign contributions 
Chauncey M. Depew, senator from New York, admitted that he re- 
ceived a salary of $20,000 as director of one of the 
Political companies, for which he rendered no considerable service. 
tions. " '^^^ other New York senator was largely interested in 
an express company, and used his influence to prevent the 
enactment of a parcels post law. Depew himself was prominently 
connected, and was identified with the business control of the New 
York Central Railroad. Both men were bitter opponents of 
Roosevelt. 

Other hostile senators were less prominently identified with monied 
interests. Some of them were men of excellent character and ability, 
and they undoubtedly felt that they were fighting a radical 
Popular movement which had in it much that was evil. If they 
the^^enate. could have sloughed off from their own cause certain men 
acting from self-interest, and if divesting themselves of 
their closest relations with capitalists they could have stood before 
the country as the representatives of conservative ideas, pure and 
simple, they would have had a strong support among the people. As 
it was, conservatism and the defense of corporations were identified 
in the popular mind. It seemed to many that the senate had ceased 
to be representative of the interests of all the people. Before the Roose- 
velt movement began there was a cynical feeling abroad that wealth 
would control the government, whatever the feeling of the masses. 
Roosevelt's fight against corporations was thus also a fight to break 
down the influence of a powerful party organization. It was a war 
against the bosses, both local and national. A few Western senators 
supported it outright, and the democrats helped for party reasons. 
One of the results was a demand for a constitutional amendment for 
the election of senators by the people, a measure which several times 
passed the house only to be lost in the senate itself. 

Meanwhile, the president continued his campaign against the trusts. 
He was an excellent fighter, and he attacked with fervor. He was met 
with a storm of denunciation, which did not stop short of 
'^^d^p^hr attacking his veracity. He was said to be drunk with the 
Opinion. ^^^^ ^^^ power and to be afiflicted with an inordinate opin- 
ion of his own importance. As usually happens with a 
popular leader, he was cordially hated by those he opposed, and blindly 
trusted by those who believed that he was, spite of his personal short- 
comings, the only hope of the cause they felt so important. In this 
state of affairs, it was not possible to get important reforms through 
congress, but the popular opinion steadily grew in favor of reform. 
Gradually the leaders of the senate opposition began to be retired in 
favor of less hostile men, although those who were left showed no signs 
of yielding to the coming storm. 
The approach of the year 1908, a presidential election year, was 



ELECTION OF 1908 835 

watched anxiously by both factions. Roosevelt had announced that 
he would not accept reelection, and his opponents hoped 
to put into the presidency a man of less extreme views, dominated 
He himself was concerned that his successor should be 
one who would not relax the combat he had carried forward. The 
man he favored was William H. Taft, formerly governor of the Philip- 
pines, and in 1908 secretary of war. He was known as an honest 
administrator, a man of excellent mental ability and fine personal 
character. He was a Roosevelt man, and had the entire confidence of 
the reformers. The opposing faction had no man who could command 
united support, and they resorted to the "favorite-son" expedient. 
Their total strength was not considerable, and with the president's 
support Taft was easily nominated for first place when the republican 
convention assembled at Chicago, June 16, 1908. James S. Sherman, 
of New York, in sympathy with the conservatives, was named for vice- 
president. On the trust question the platform was all that Roose\elt 
desired. It demanded that the law of 1890 should be amended to give 
the federal government greater control over corporations engaged in 
interstate trade. It also declared for a revision of the tariff in a special 
session of congress immediately after the inauguration of the next 
president. Possibly this measure was supported in some quarters by 
those who thought that bringing forward the tariff question would 
lessen the intensity of the struggle against trusts ; but it was evident 
that there was a growing popular feeling that the tariff should be 
lowered. 

Let us now turn to the democrats. The overwhelming defeat of 
Parker in 1904 disposed, for a time, of the idea that the old Cleveland 
alignment could be restored, and pointed to the recovery 
by Bryan of his former position in the party. The East ucnninated 
still viewed him with disfavor, but the West and the South 
were loyal. His two defeats were undoubtedly a handicap, but if 
Bryanism was to control, who was a stronger leader than Bryan him- 
self ? His power was seen in the selection of Denver for the conven- 
tion city, and when the convention was organized, July 7, his friends 
were in control. His opponents were so weak that he was nominated 
on the first ballot, with 888| of the 994 votes cast. John W. Kern, of 
Indiana, was nominated for vice-president. The platform was long, 
but it announced the traditional Bryan policies. 

As formerly, there were several minor parties, each of which nomi- 
nated candidates. The most significant was the socialist party, which 
named for its leaders Eugene V; Debs, of Indiana, and 
Benjamin Hanford, of New York. Here also came to its didates °' 
culmination the Hearst movement, which for several years 
had attracted much attention. It was originated by William R. 
Hearst, a wealthy owner of many newspapers. He first appeared as, 
a democrat, and organized an "independence Ii_ v'^uo" as his peculiar 



836 ADMINISTRATIONS OF ROOSEVELT AND TAFT 

weapon of attack on the party organization. He made himself feared, 
and in 1905 was nearly elected mayor of New York on an anti-Tam- 
many ticket. In 1906 he was an independent candidate for governor 
of New York, but was defeated by Governor Hughes after an exciting 
campaign. In 1908 he cast off all semblance of democracy, organized 
the independence party, with Thomas L. Hisgen as the candidate. 

The attitude of Roosevelt was sharp and bitter. January 31, 
1908, he sent congress a special message which was nothing less 
than a manifesto intended, as it seems, to rally his sup- 
D°fi^^^h'* porters in view of the coming struggle. The Standard Oil 
Foes. Company had been indicted as a result of the investiga- 

tions of the newly established department of commerce 
and labor. It was shown that it had received rebates from a railroad 
in Illinois, and the jury rendered an adverse verdict. Judge Landis 
imposed fines for the several specific violations alleged, amounting to 
more than $29,000,000. It was believed to be an extreme punish- 
ment, and was set aside by the United States Circuit Court of 
Appeals, on the ground that it was excessive. But it showed that a 
great corporation could be brought to justice. In the message of 
January, 1908, the president referred to the matter in severe terms. 
The company, he said, had given out an ingenious and untruthful 
defense of its action. For his enemies he had, also, vehement words. 
He spoke bitterly of the representative of "wealth accumulated on a 
giant scale by all forms of iniquity, ranging from the oppression of 
wage workers to the unfair and unwholesome methods of crushing out 
competition, and to defrauding the public by stock- jobbing and the 
manipulating of securities." "Certain wealthy men of this stamp," 
he continued, "have banded together for a work of reaction. Their 
work is to overthrow and discredit all who honestly administer the law, 
to prevent any additional legislation which would check and restraia 
them." At this same time he professed to discriminate carefully 
between the rich men who obeyed and those who defied the law. Dur- 
ing the campaign of 1908 Taft gave no evidence that he did not ap- 
prove of this strong onslaught on the foes of the existing administration. 

By this time Roosevelt had many opponents in the newspaper world. 
The great city dailies are ordinarily million-dollar enterprises, and are 
necessarily in close connection with the capitalists. It was, therefore, 
natural that they were among his opponents. On the other hand, the 
country press was largely sympathetic. The arguments of both sides 
were exaggerated. To many quiet persons it seemed that Roosevelt 
sought to arouse the poor against the rich, and they considered this 
beneath the dignity of a president of the United States. Many others 
looked upon him as the only hope of restoring the government to the 
people, and they tolerated his vigorous methods as the natural ex- 
pressions of a strong-willed man. 

In the beginning of the campaign both Taft and Bryan proposed to 



REPUBLICAN PARTY DIVISIONS 837 

refrain from public speaking, but the people were so insistent that 
they gave up their design. During the last two months of 
the campaign both candidates spoke frequently and to The Election 
large audiences. Bryan's reception was enthusiastic, but 
the spirit of Roosevelt was behind Taft, and he was elected trium- 
phantly. The democrats carried ail the Southern states except 
Missouri, together with Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada, and Oklahoma, 
a total of 162 votes. Taft carried the rest, 321 votes. Of the minor 
candidates, Debs, the socialist, had the largest popular vote, 420,890. 

Taft's Administration 

The last session of congress under Roosevelt was marked by a series 
of messages recommending measures in keeping with his advanced 
ideas, to all of which congress showed ill-disguised con- 
tempt. The country greeted his successor heartily. ^Idri hLa*' 
Although he was a Roosevelt man, he was of a mild dis- 
position and it was thought he would be less irritating than his pred- 
ecessor. March 15 congress met in extra session to consider the 
tarifE, according to the recent republican platform. The country ex- 
pected reform, and the house, under the leadership of Congressman 
Payne, quickly passed a bill making notable reductions. In the senate 
it encountered opposition from a group popularly called "stand- 
patters," led by Senator Aldrich, of Rhode Island, who were able to 
raise the rates of the Payne bill. A long wrangle followed when the 
bill went to a committee of conference. The result was uncertainty, 
and the business world ere long demanded that the politicians settle 
their contentions. Meanwhile there was much speculation about the 
action of the president. He was in constant consultation with Aldrich 
and other members of congress and sought to have the rates lowered. 
His efforts were unavailing, and the bill as it passed was an Aldrich 
victory. Many Western republican senators wished a more decided 
revision, and urged Taft to apply the veto. When he finally sent his 
approval they were disappointed, and charged him with going over to 
the standpatters. He was undoubtedly very unwilling to prolong the 
party breach Roosevelt had precipitated, and when he had once acted 
felt it his duty to stand by his decision. In September, a month after 
the bill became a law, he made a speech at Winona, Minnesota, in 
praise of the recent tariff bill, and this further irritated the Western 
men. 

The Payne-Aldrich law did, in fact, divide rather than unite the 
republican party. Taft said it was the best tariff law ever made by his 
party, but its reductions were very slight, and it made a large portion 
of the people think little could be hoped from the policy of revising 
the tariff by its friends. To have vetoed it, however, would have 
arrayed the majority of the party against the president and would not 



838 ADMINISTRATIONS OF ROOSEVELT AND TAFT 

have removed the uncertainty which the business community con- 
sidered the worst phase of the situation. In signing it Taft thought he 
had taken the less of two evils, but he soon found that the insurgents, 
as the Western men now began to be called, were capable of severe 
hostility. They were not numerous, but by combining with the 
democrats they could make much trouble for the adminstration. 

A significant feature of the bill was a tax of one per cent on the in- 
come of corporations whose net earnings exceeded $5000. It was to 
yield a considerable revenue, but its greatest importance 
Corporation ^^^ ^^^^^ jj. j-g^ognized the principle that congress could 
tax the great corporations. Taft wished, also, to tax the 
incomes of individuals, but was restrained because the supreme court 
had decided that the income tax of 1894 was unconstitutional. He 
contented himself with suggesting that congress submit to the states 
an amendment permitting such a tax. Congress acquiesced, and in 
1913 the desired amendment was accepted by the necessary number of 
states. 

In August, 1909, Gifford Pinchot, head of the forestry bureau, depart- 
ment of the interior, attacked his superior. Secretary Ballinger, for re- 
opening for sale certain lands which had been withdrawn 
andPhfchot ^^ Roosevelt. Ballinger was also charged with unduly 
favoring the rich Cunningham syndicate in regard to the 
patents of valuable coal lands in Alaska. After an investigation, Taft 
supported Ballinger. Pinchot was in sympathy with the insurgents, 
and was an old Roosevelt supporter. His friends took up the quarrel, 
which became so bitter that at Taft's suggestion an investigating 
committee was appointed. Before it reported, Pinchot wrote an out- 
spoken letter, in which he condemned the secretary and was at once 
dismissed, January 7, 1910. The committee exonerated Ballinger by 
a partisan vote. Later investigations, however, resulted in canceling 
the Cunningham claims. The Ballinger-Pinchot controversy added 
to the discontent of the insurgents, and promoted the belief that Presi- 
dent Taft was not a good judge of men. 

In the spring of 19 10 insurgency won its first notable victory, and 
at the same time broke the overweening power of the speaker. The 
authority of this officer rested on his right to appoint the 
^Mh^°^*' house committees and on his membership on the rules 
Speaker. Committee, which by reporting new rules as exigency de- 
manded controlled legislation. Reed, who filled the oflfice 
from 1889 to 1891, and 1895-1899, had held these powers, but he was a 
broad-minded man and used them for the general good. Cannon, 
speaker from 1903-1911, was a clever and relentless exponent of the 
standpat doctrines, and was bent on perpetuating his control over 
legislation. Under him the speaker was chosen by a small number of 
kindred spirits who were rewarded by important committee assign- 
ments. To many protests against the system he replied that he was 



AN INSURGENT VICTORY 839 

the servant of the house, which could remove him whenever it saw fit. 
In truth, he was responsible to a majority of the party caucus, and 
could only be removed when the caucus so decided or when a group of 
the majority party united with the minority party, in ordinary times 
an unlikely occurrence. 

But 1910 was not an ordinary time. The insurgents, goaded by the 
speaker's attempts to punish them for their resistance, were willing to 
unite with the democrats to break the tyranny from which 
they suffered. March 19 they introduced a resolution to (jyction 
enlarge the rules committee from five to fifteen members 
and to leave their appointment to the house. Objection was made 
that the resolution was out of order. Cannon knew the insurgents 
expected the support of the democrats, and refused to pass on the point 
of order until he was sure of a majority. The session was prolonged 
through the night in fruitless wrangling, and then the house adjourned 
for a day. But the insurgents resisted all overtures, and when Cannon 
again faced the house he was defeated. He ruled that the insurgent 
motion was out of order, and was promptly reversed by his allied foes. 
A new rule was promptly adopted, eliminating the speaker from the 
rules committee, enlarging it to ten members, and providing that it be 
chosen by the house. In the moment of defeat the speaker announced 
that he would entertain a motion to vacate the chair. A democrat 
moved his dismissal, but enough insurgents voted in the negative to 
defeat the motion. Cannon was thus retained in the chair, but was 
shorn of his great power. The rule of the house "oligarchy" was 
broken, and in the future a mere majority, by amending the rules when 
it sees fit, can carry through the measures it desires. The next house 
was democratic. It maintained the advance gained in March, 1910, 
and further reduced the speaker's authority by leaving the selection of 
committees to the house itself, each party nominating a portion in 
caucus. 

Meanwhile, the president urged several important measures on 
congress, some of which became laws. A commerce court was created 
with authority to pass upon cases investigated by the inter- 
state commerce commission, postal saving banks were Measures 
established, a law was passed requiring the publication of 
the campaign expenses of candidates for congress, and the powers of the 
interstate commerce commission were enlarged in a new railroad bill. 
The insurgents supported all these bills but the last, which they 
thought too lax. A measure recommended by Taft for the federal 
incorporation of interstate corporations was allowed to die in its early 
stages, the opposition being, apparently, on the part of the regulars. 
During the same year public interest was stimulated by a common out- 
cry against high prices. There was an attempted boycott of the so- 
called "meat trust" and a futile prosecution of the National Meat 
Packing Company. The "interests," it was said, were intrenched 



840 ADMINISTRATIONS OF ROOSEVELT AND TAFT 

behind the poUtical machines, and in many sections nominating pri- 
maries were demanded. Governor Hughes, of New York, a leader oi 
the liberals, took up the fight against the machine in a campaign to 
secure an efficient primary law. Defeated by the regulars in the state 
legislature, he called the assembly back for an extra session, but even 
this expedient was unsuccessful. 

In this condition of popular unrest the autumn elections were held, 
and the result was republican defeat. The democrats carried the 

house by a majority of sixty-seven, and elected governors 

cratic'nouse. ^^ ^^^ usually republican states of New York, Ohio, New 

' Jersey, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. It was a rebuke 

to the party of Cannon and Aldrich, and President Taft, who could not 

well repudiate his political friends, was involved in their disaster. 

Let us now return to Roosevelt. March 23, 1909, he set out on an 
expedition to hunt big game in Africa. His actions were kept before 

the country by a vigilant newspaper press, even while he 
Return.* ^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^ most inaccessible jungles of the Dark Continent. 

March 21, 1910, he emerged from the jungles and reached 
Khartum, returning to the United States by way of Europe, where he 
was entertained by princes and statesmen. He arrived at New York 
in June and received a tremendous demonstration of welcome. His 
old friends were now prominent insurgents and urged him to enter 
politics in their behalf. Outwardly he expressed friendship for Taft, 
but he threw himself with energy into the campaign in New York. 
He was able to control the republican convention of the state, deliver- 
ing a stinging defeat to the party organization under Barnes. His 
candidate for governor was Henry L. Stimson, who had risen into prom- 
inence by conducting an able prosecution of the Sugar Trust. But 
the defeated machine proved indifferent to Stimson, who was defeated 
by Dix, the democratic candidate. Roosevelt's enemies, among them 
the leading New York dailies, joyfully declared that he was eliminated 
as a political leader. 

The elections in the West had not injured the standing of the insur- 
gents, and they came to the capital when congress assembled in Decem- 
ber as pleased as the democrats. Taft, though he felt the rebuke he 
had received, bore himself with dignity. His message suggested a 
suspension of plans to regulate corporations until the operation of laws 
already in force could be observed. He seems to have had in mind 
suits recently brought against several trusts, among them the Stand- 
ard Oil and the American Tobacco companies. This suggestion was 
well received by business men, but the insurgents looked at it with 
suspicion. 

January 26, 191 1, the president sent congress the outline of a Cana- 
dian reciprocity treaty. It provided for lower duties or none at all on 
many food products and some manufactured articles, and in return 
it was expected that Canada would make similar concessions on Ameri- 



DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP 841 

can agricultural implements as well as on other commodities. The 
large portion of the public who favored lower rates hailed the treaty 
with pleasure. Some saw in it cheaper food products and 
others an entering wedge for general tariff reform. The Rgcfr U 
insurgents opposed it on the ground that it sacrificed the 
grain-growing Northwest in behalf of the East. They could not prevent 
its passage in the house, but defeated it by diligent obstruction in the 
senate. Taft, however, called an extra session of the new congress, 
in which the democrats controlled the house and nearly controlled the 
senate. 

The situation was now unusual. A republican president was ask- 
ing for a reduction of tariff rates under the guise of reciprocity and his 
only hope of success was the acquiescence of his opponents. 
But the situation was equally delicate for the democrats. Democrats 
On the wave of a popular upheaval all their hopes for 191 2 
depended on handling wisely the measures then in hand. If they 
angered the insurgents and drove them back to the regular republicans, 
their affairs would be confused in the upper house. In this dilemma 
they found an able leader in Oscar W. Underwood, of Alabama, chair- 
man of the ways and means committee. His plan was to accept Cana- 
dian reciprocity, which his own majority could carry through the house 
and which would be passed through the senate by the democrats and 
the Taft republicans. To offset the displeasure of the insurgents he 
would pass other bills lowering rates on articles manufactured in the 
East, which the democrats and insurgents acting together could carry 
through the senate. It is true the latter bills might be vetoed by Taft, 
but that would only put the onus of blame on the regular republicans 
and give the democrats a fair ground of combat in the struggle of 191 2. 

The scheme was well conceived, and was carried through success- 
fully. Canadian reciprocity was enacted, and close after it came a 
"farmers' free list bill," then a woollens bill, and a cotton 
schedule bill. All but the first were vetoed on the ground J^^jf"^^ 
that they were not scientifically drawn. A tariff com- 
mission was a feature of the Payne-Aldrich act, and Taft announced 
that he awaited its report. The democrats replied that laying taxes 
was a high function of government confided by the constitution to con- 
gress with careful restrictions, and that it ought not to be left to the 
determination of a small number of men, however expert they were in 
finance. 

When the extra session adjourned August 22, 191 1, Taft seemed to 
be in a good position politically. His reciprocity measure was the 
greatest tariff concession a president had wrung from the 
party of protection. His friends felt that time would RgJecJeJ*^ 
justify its wisdom, and wipe out the unpopularity that arose 
from the Payne-Aldrich law. September 21 all these hopes fell with 
the announcement that Canada had defeated reciprocity. The action 



842 ADMINISTRATIONS OF ROOSEVELT AND TAFT 

was partly due to the growing influence of manufactures in Canada, and 
partly to the feeling that reciprocity would make the country depend- 
ent economically on the United States. The latter idea was unduly 
emphasized by the Canadian protectionists, who found support in 
careless utterances by the American speaker. Champ Clark, and even 
by President Taft himself. 

The regulars received in 191 1 another hard blow in the investiga- 
tion of the charges that in 19 10 Senator Lorimer, of Illinois, secured 
his seat through bribery. An investigation was conducted by the 
senate, which decided that, although money had been spent, about 
$100,000, the beneficiary had not spent it, and should keep his seat. 
The verdict did not satisfy the people, who believed that an election 
secured by bribery should be vacated, even though the man elected 
had not furnished the money. The party organization in Illinois, 
with which Lorimer was closely identified, supported Taft, and this 
caused the president's opponents to say that he associated with the 
Illinois bribers. The charges against the senator were renewed and 
in 191 2 his election was declared invalid. 

In the spring of 191 1 the suits brought in 1909 against the Standard 
Oil and American Tobacco companies were decided against the com- 
panies by the supreme court, and these two trusts were ordered to dis- 
solve under a plan to be approved by the court. The parts out of 
which the companies were originally made up had lost their identity, 
and it was decided to divide each mammoth whole into certain com- 
panies, distributing the shares of stock as well as the property. This 
arrangement, it was thought, would secure a return of competition. 
Keen observers, however, realized that the resultant companies would 
be owned by persons who formerly owned the trusts and who had 
learned the advantages of cooperation. They prophesied that the plan 
would not secure effective competition. Their view seemed supported 
by the announcement that several other trusts in danger of prosecution 
were about to ask the courts to be allowed to dissolve under the same 
plan. Undoubtedly the trusts were suffering from the uncertainty of 
the situation before them and would gladly accept the proposed escape 
from it. Further confirmation of this view was seen when the stocks 
of the resultant oil and tobacco companies rose steadily in the market. 
Taft, who at first was inclined to accept the prescribed dissolution as a 
remedy for the existing trust problem, ,oon "ound that it added little 
to his standing as a public leader. 

The most important work of congress in 191 2 was the passage by 
democrats and progressives of several tariff bills which the president 
. vetoed. They related to the sugar, steel, wool, chemical, 
iiri<n2 '°^ ^^^ cotton schedules, and to the excise. A bill to continue 
the tariff board was defeated. Other bills passed and ap- 
proved are mentioned below (see page 851). A bill to require news- 
papers to disclose their ownership in order that the public may know 



LEADERSHIP OF THE INSURGENTS 843 

what interests have relations to their policies was introduced and was 
passed when it was incorporated in the post-office appropriation bill. 
A bill to repeal the commerce court was passed, but met a presidential 
veto. The court has become unpopular because by it the interstate 
commerce commission is denied full jurisdiction over matters which 
come before it. Provision to kill the court was introduced into the 
legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation bill, but this was 
vetoed on the ground that a rider should not be attached to such a bill. 
This appropriation bill was finally passed without the objectionable 
rider, and the commerce court was continued until after March 3, 
1913 ; but no further funds were voted for the court. During the 
year an investigation was begun of the official conduct of District 
Judge Hanford, of Washington, but the judge resigned before it came 
to a hearing. Impeachment proceedings were instituted against 
Judge Archbald, of the commerce court, and he was convicted, the 
charge being that he accepted money from parties having cases before 
his court. In the short session, I9i2-i9i3,an immigration bill passed 
congress but was vetoed because it provided a hteracy test for naturali- 
zation. 

The Presidential Election of 191 2 

Three republicans played important parts in the campaign of 191 2, 
Taft, Roosevelt, and Senator La Follette, of Wisconsin. The last 
mentioned, called by admirers "Battling Bob," came into 
prominence as an antagonist of the regular Wisconsin 
republicans led by Senator Spooner. By earnest appeals to the people 
he drove Spooner into retirement and established direct primaries 
and public control of railroads in his state. Securing a seat in the 
senate in 1906, he showed himself a tireless opponent of the Taft 
regulars, and in 191 1 was considered a likely Western candidate 
for the presidential nomination. His views were too advanced 
for the East, and it was conceded that he would not take the 
prize away from Taft ; but it was thought that if the latter were 
defeated at the polls, La Follette would be a man to be reckoned 
with in the future. 

The Eastern insurgents accepted his leadership with some hesitation, 
for they thought Roosevelt a stronger man. In 191 1, they organized 
at Chicago a Progressive Republican League, outwardly in support of 
La Follette. Similar local organizations were also widely formed. 
All these were republican. Roosevelt was known to be in sympathy 
with the movement, and it was whispered that he might become the 
candidate of the league, displacing the Wisconsin leader. February 2, 
191 2, La Follette made a violent and rambling speech at a Philadelphia 
banquet. It was evident that a too strenuous canvass had overcome 
his physical strength, and his friends hurried him to a sanitarium. His 
collapse proved temporary, but the haste with which the Roosevelt 



844 ADMINISTRATIONS OF ROOSEVELT AND TAFT 

progressives accepted it as final suggested that they gladly took it as 
an opportunity to bring forth their favorite. They so utilized the 
interval of La FoUette's eclipse that he could not recapture his lost 
position. 

February lo seven progressive governors with seventy other prom- 
inent progressives, representing twenty-four states, met to urge 

Roosevelt to, become a candidate for the republican nom- 
Candtdate^ ination. February 14 he replied that the selection of a 

candidate should be left to republicans in primaries and 
that he would abide such a decision. Under existing conditions this 
answer made him a candidate. Three days earlier, at Columbus, 
Ohio, he had made a speech which, widely published under the title 
"A Charter of Democracy," was his personal platform. It declared 
for the recall of judicial decisions, asserted that the courts should not 
make law, and indorsed the initiative and referendum, a short ballot, 
presidential primaries, and popular election of senators. His frank 
appearance in the arena brought down on him the attacks of Taft 
men and democrats. Immediately after his election in 1904 he had 
issued a statement that he should consider his coming administration 
a second term and would not accept another nomination. That state- 
ment was a source of much embarrassment before the campaign of 
191 2 ended. 

The national republican convention was to meet at Chicago, June 
18, and the two factions began a vigorous canvass to secure the dele- 

gates. As Taft had the support of the organization men 
th^ B^°ses generally, Roosevelt demanded primaries, and when the 

demand was opposed declared that his opponent was the 
champion of the bosses. In fact, the old Piatt machine of New York, 
now led by Barnes, the old Quay machine of Pennsylvania, now led 
by Penrose, the Lorimer machine of Illinois, and other less prominent 
groups of party managers were for Taft ; but, nevertheless, Roosevelt's 
accusation was unjust. Taft had ever stood for clean government, 
and could not rid of bosses the party which had made him its leader 
with the aid of Roosevelt himself. 

Thirteen states employed primaries in one form or another, and 
Roosevelt carried nine, Taft two, and La Follette two. In Illinois 

and Ohio, Roosevelt had the popular indorsement, but 
Selecting ^^^ ^y^^^ ^^ ^gg jg£^. j.j^g selection of delegates to conven- 
gates. tions chosen in the old way, and the conventions named 

men not in sympathy with Roosevelt. Most of the states 
having no primaries selected Taft delegates. Wherever they felt 
themselves victims of wrongs the progressives named contesting dele- 
gations, some of them on very weak grounds. The Southern dele- 
gates, peculiarly under the iniluence of the officeholders, were gener- 
ally for Taft. The contests first went before the national committee, 
controlled by the regulars, who made up the temporary roll of the con- 



BRYAN AT BALTIMORE 845 

vention. Out of 254 disputed seats 235 were awarded to Taft men. 
The regulars claimed the contests were insignificant, but the progres- 
sives asserted that Roosevelt was the victim of fraud. The states 
holding primaries had chosen 36 delegates for La FoUette, 48 for Taft, 
and 278 for Roosevelt. This, it was said, indicated that the republican 
voters wanted Roosevelt and the machines wanted Taft. The tem- 
porary roll gave the latter a majority of about 20. 

July 15 the progressive leader arrived in Chicago. Asked how he 
felt he replied, "Like a bull moose," from which phrase came the 
nickname, "bull-moose party." When the convention 
assembled Senator Root was selected for temporary chair- dominated 
man and made the keynote speech. A credentials com- 
mittee was appointed which approved the decisions of the national 
committee in reference to contests. When the progressives questioned 
its report, they were defeated on a roll call. Roosevelt now advised 
his friends in the convention to refrain from further participation. 
On the first ballot for the nominee the result was Taft 561, Roosevelt 
107, La Follette 41, scattering 19, and not voting 344. Taft was de- 
clared the nominee and James S. Sherman was made the candidate for 
the vice-presidency. 

Republican dissensions had much interest for the democrats, who 
had their own conservatives and progressives. If Roosevelt had been 
the republican nominee, it would have been their interest 
to nominate a conservative, since many republicans would ca^°dates 
not vote for a progressive. Under such circumstances the 
conservative democrats might regain control of the party. At first 
this wing seemed inclined to unite on Governor Harmon, of Ohio, who 
satisfied the business men. He was not approved by the Western men, 
and when this was observed sentiment shifted to Underwood, who 
offered the prospect of uniting the South and East. He also was 
opposed by the Western men, of whom Bryan, though not now a can- 
didate, was the most influential leader. Two other prominent as- 
pirants appeared, Governor Wilson, of New Jersey, and Speaker 
Clark, of Missouri. Wilson was Southern born, a man of fine education, 
a reformer who had fought hard against the New Jersey machine, an 
eloquent speaker, and the champion of progressive ideas who, never- 
theless, was likely to be more acceptable to the conservative East 
than an extreme reformer like Roosevelt. Clark was also a pro- 
gressive, but he had risen to prominence as an organization man, 
and while he was popular as a campaign speaker, some persons 
feared that his close association with the regular politicians would 
take off the edge of his reforming zeal, once he was in office. 
Clark's friends, however, resented the idea that he was less a pro- 
gressive than Wilson. Bryan did not at first commit himself as to 
the third and fourth candidate, but he was clear in his opposition to 
the first and second. 



846 ADMINISTRATIONS OF ROOSEVELT AND TAFT 

When the convention met, Baltimore, June 25, each of these can- 
didates had strong support without a majority. The conservatives 
were well organized, and August Belmont, a great New 
emocra c York banker, sat in his state's delegation, while Thomas 
F. Ryan, a successful Wall Street operator, sat in the Vir- 
ginia delegation. It was soon evident that the conservatives feared 
Wilson most, and by agreeing with some of the Clark men they chose 
Alton B. Parker temporary chairman, against the protest of Bryan, 
to whom their action seemed the undoing of the work of years. They 
then offered him the permanent chairmanship, but he would not bind 
his hands by accepting, and the position went to Ollie James, one of 
his supporters, but without a reciprocal pledge by Bryan. The East- 
ern press had many times announced the elimination of Bryan from 
politics, and it again assured the public that he was cleverly outplayed 
in the game. But they burst into applause when, on June 29, he made 
a countermove whose boldness and sagacity have rarely been equaled 
in a party convention. Speaking as an individual delegate, he offered 
a resolution pledging the convention to nominate no man who was 
"the representative of or under obligation to" the great financial 
interests and demanding the withdrawal of Belmont and Ryan from 
the convention. Violent protests followed, but Bryan was not per- 
turbed. He withdrew the latter part of his resolution when assured 
that the gentlemen named would withdraw of their own accord, and 
the first part was adopted by an overwhelming majority. 

The convention proceeded to nominate candidates. On the first 
ballot Clark had 4405 votes, Wilson 324, Harmon 148, Underwood 
117^, and other candidates 56. Balloting continued with 
Conserva- ^^^ probability, as it seemed, that when at last the con- 
servatives were convinced that neither the Clark nor the 
Wilson men would come to either Harmon or Underwood, they would 
throw the strength of these two men to Clark, which would give him 
such a lead that he would secure the two-thirds vote demanded for a 
nomination in a democratic convention. The New York delegation, 
voting under the unit rule and dominated by Murphy, the Tammany 
leader, was supposed to be directing this move, and Sullivan, leader of 
the Illinois organization, and Taggart, who occupied a similar relation 
to the Indiana delegation, were said to be cooperating with Murphy. 
If this plan succeeded, the effect of Bryan's resolution against capital- 
istic domination would be lost. 

The Nebraskan watched these proceedings carefully. He was vot- 
ing steadily for Clark, for whom his state's delegation was instructed, 
but his personal influence was thrown for Wilson. On the 
Bryan's twelfth ballot the New York delegation changed from Har- 

ment. " ^^^ ^° Clark. While the fourteenth was being taken, 
Bryan read a statement saying that Nebraska indorsed 
Clark, thinking he was progressive and opposed to the policy for which 



PROGRESSIVE PARTY FOUNDED 847 

New York stood. He closed by declaring he would no longer support 
New York's candidate, nor would he help nominate a man under ob- 
ligations to "Morgan, Ryan, Belmont, or any other member of the 
privilege-seeking, favor-hunting class." This announcement angered 
the Clark men, but it found response among the Western and Southern 
delegates, who for sixteen years had battled against the class that 
Bryan arraigned. It checked the trend to Clark and was followed by a 
rise in Wilson's vote. The time was then near midnight, Saturday, 
June 29, and the convention adjourned to Monday. Clark, naturally 
much exasperated, issued a denial of the charges implied in Bryan's 
statement, and Bryan publicly announced that he did not doubt 
Clark's good intentions but distrusted the forces combining to secure 
his nomination. Many futile ballots were taken on Monday, July i. 
It began to be feared that a deadlock was inevitable, and rumor said 
that Bryan would propose an adjournment with a referendum. Such 
a course would undoubtedly defeat the conservatives, and they re- 
laxed their efforts. On the 46th ballot enough of them came to Wilson 
to secure his nomination. Thomas R. Marshall, of Indiana, was 
named for vice-president. The platform pledged the candidate, if 
elected, to one term only. 

The day after the republican convention adjourned the Roosevelt 
forces in Chicago met in a mass-meeting, resolved to organize a new 
party, and appointed a committee to carry out their pur- 
poses. The result was a national convention at Chicago, p^^J' 
August 5, 191 2. Eighteen of its delegates were women, 
indicating the party's indorsement of woman's suffrage. There was 
much enthusiasm, and a touch of crusading zeal showed forth when 
the ten thousand delegates and their friends sang "The Battle Hymn 
of the Republic" and "Onward, Christian Soldiers." Roosevelt 
announced the principles of the party in a speech which won the ad- 
miration of friends and foes. He demanded that government be de- 
pendent on the will of the people, that machine politics be destroyed, 
that women be allowed to vote, that labor be given better wages and 
shorter hours of work, and that social justice be secured in all the re- 
lations of government. August 7 the ticket was selected, Roosevelt 
for president and Hiram W. Johnson, governor of California, for vice- 
president. The organization was called the "progressive party," and 
active efforts were made, before and after the convention, to perfect 
its state and local organizations. 

Rarely has a campaign been fought so bitterly with such a slight 
difference of men and principles. In comparison with old-time leaders 
Taft, Wilson, and Roosevelt were all liberals, although 
they differed in degrees of liberalism. On the tariff re- 7^® ^'^*" 
publicans and progressives stood practically together, 
demanding lower rates on a protective basis with a view of maintain- 
ing the higher wages of American workmen. The democrats re- 



848 ADMINISTRATIONS OF ROOSEVELT AND TAFT 

pudiated protection and declared for a tariff for revenue only. Re- 
publicans and progressives would regulate the trusts, although the 
former wished to make the officials of the trusts criminally liable, 
while the latter asked that patents be robbed of their worst monopolis- 
tic features. The democrats opposed trusts generally, desired to 
regulate more effectively interstate public utilities, and to strengthen 
federal control of interstate commerce without weakening state con- 
trol. The republicans ignored the initiative and referendum and 
declared against judicial recall, although they asked for an easier 
method than impeachment of removing bad judges. The progressives 
indorsed each of these three measures, and demanded a referendum for 
judicial decisions annulling state laws. All the parties supported 
conservation of natural resources, a parcels post, currency reform, and 
laws to prevent abuses in campaign contributions. The democrats and 
progressives indorsed the popular election of United States senators, 
a federal income tax, and the nomination of candidates in primaries. 
The progressives demanded woman's suffrage, an easier method of 
amending the constitution, registration of lobbyists, exclusion of 
federal officials from political activity, a department of labor, pro- 
motion of labor unions, and protection of the people from deceptive 
investment schemes. 

The campaign abounded in bitter attacks on Roosevelt by demo- 
crats and republicans. La Follette, who felt keenly his own repudia- 
tion, declared he was the victim of treachery. He is 
paign *™" supposed to have given aid to the democrats. Wilson 
himself denounced the progressive candidate as a tool of 
the steel trust and as a self-seeker. Roosevelt replied with emphasis, 
and made many speeches in the North, West, and South. In Mil- 
waukee, October 14, he was shot by an insane man who imagined that 
Roosevelt was responsible for the murder of McKinley. A serious 
flesh wound was the result, but an excellent constitution well pre- 
served by temperate habits enabled him to recover rapidly. Taft con- 
ducted a quiet campaign and made few speeches. There was little 
hope of his election, and many republicans probably voted for Wilson 
to make sure of Roosevelt's defeat. 

The election occurred November 5, and of the 531 electoral votes 
Wilson received 435, Roosevelt 88, and Taft 8. For the last-named 
but two states voted, Utah and Vermont. Five declared 
Election ^^^ Roosevelt — Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota, South 
Dakota, and Washington. In California the contest was 
close and 11 progressive and 2 democratic electors were chosen. The 
popular vote was 6,290,818 for Wilson, 4,123,206 for Roosevelt, 
3,484,529 for Taft, 898,296 for Debs (socialist), 207,965 for Chafin 
(prohibitionist), and 29,071 for Reimer (socialist-labor). The demo- 
crats carried the house of representatives by a majority of 147 over 
republicans and progressive republicans. 



CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES 849 

Legislative Progress under Taft 

The struggle for party supremacy under Taft ought not to divert our 
attention from the many reform measures which he helped to carry 
through congress. Never has the attention of the people been more 
vigorously directed to matters connected with the development of good 
government on a democratic basis. The most important resulting 
phases are connected with conservation, currency reform, and political 
investigations. 

For a century the national government gave or sold its abundant 
natural resources on generous terms. This policy led to rapid develop- 
ment of the Western regions, but it afforded opportunities 
for overweening fortunes. Although timber and mineral Conserva- 
claims were legally limited in size, speculators obtained '°"* 
large tracts collusively, and by the close of the century ^Q^eTvel 
the country began to realize that a mistake had been 
made. The growing price of lumber, the waste of water power, and 
the danger that threatened through deforesting the watersheds caused 
alarm in the country. Roosevelt, generally willing to extend the 
federal power where the existing system of state relations seemed un- 
able to deal with the situation, had his interest aroused and appointed 
a commission on conservation to report on the danger. It was evident 
to him that the national government should take natural resources 
under a more active control and see that they were used for the benefit 
of all the people. This policy did not please the people of the West, 
who naturally wished to see their waste places settled as rapidly as 
possible. Among them were influential interests who saw in the 
president's ideas a check on their plans for amassing wealth. By 
July I, 1909, the president had issued orders withholding from settle- 
ment 194,000,000 acres, a great deal of it in the western mountains. 
In 1912 congress appropriated $1,000,000, and $2,000,000 a year there- 
after, to purchase lands for forest reserves in the Appalachian and White 
mountains. 

Conservation also dealt with irrigation. Before 1900 private enter- 
prises secured and developed the most obvious irrigation sites, leasing 
or selling water rights to the farmers concerned. Disputes . . 

frequently occurred between the water companies and 
their patrons, and it was evident that here was another outcronping of 
the problem of monopolies. Also the protection of rivers and lakes 
yielding irrigation waters was an important question. Finally, great 
irrigation plans were made which only the government can carry out. 
Out of this complex situation came the national irrigation policy. The 
control of the companies has not yet been settled, but the government 
has reserved from settlement many areas which supply water, and in 
1902 congress advanced $20,000,000 for this purpose, to be satisfied 
out of the proceeds of the sales of improved lands. 
31 



850 ADMINISTRATIONS OF ROOSEVELT AND TAFT 

Our chief known deposits of gold, silver, and copper have long since 
passed into private control, but the coal lands in the Far West have 

been recently reserved. The most notable instance of this 
Lands nature refers tc the Alaskan deposits, which are very 

valuable. In 1909 it became known that t,^ adjacent 
claims for such lands of 160 acres each, made out in the names of 
distinct individuals, were likely to pass into the hands of a group of 
Colorado capitalists known as the Cunningham group. The claim- 
ants had paid the price fixed by law, $10 an acre, but it was said that 
the lands were worth $4,000,000. Secretary Ballinger was supposed 
to favor the claimants, and Pinchot's protest against them was one of 
the causes of the controversy with which the names of the two men 
were associated. As a result of the exposure the claims were event- 
ually disallowed. One thousand other claims were pending, and after 
investigation by Secretary Fisher, Ballinger 's successor, 750 of them 
were disallowed. The rest seem to have been filed in good faith, but 
they were held up, pending the adoption by congress of a fixed plan for 
the control of natural monopolies. The secretary favored govern- 
ment ownership with leases to corporations, and his plan had the sup- 
port of ex-President Roosevelt, but at the close of 191 2 no decision 
had been reached. This delay was received with dissatisfaction by the 
people of Alaska. 

Recent years have made increasingly apparent the need of a more 
elastic currency. The Aldrich-Vreeland act, 1908, undertook to supply 

the need by allowing banks to issue additional notes on 
Reform ^ depositing approved state, county, or municipal bonds and 

by forming associations with joint responsibility to issue 
notes secured by commercial paper. The plan was not received favor- 
ably by the banks, although in 1910 a number of the proposed associa- 
tions were formed under pressure of the secretary of the treasury. 
In the Aldrich-Vreeland act was a provision for a monetary commis- 
sion. Senator Aldrich becoming chairman. It was to investigate actual 
conditions and to suggest a sound plan of reform. The first result 
was a series of reports on banking abroad and at home. An abundance 
of individual discussion seemed to show that the financial interests were 
opposed to a great central bank, although it was equally clear that 
there should be central control of note issues and reserves. 

In January, 191 1, Senator Aldrich, chairman of the monetary com- 
mission, reported the scheme known as the Aldrich currency plan. It 

proposed the federal incorporation of a " Reserve Associa- 
drich Plan tion " with a capital of $300,000,000 to be subscribed for 

by the national banks organized in fifteen districts, each 
district to be subdivided into local associations. The Reserve Associa- 
tion was to discount commercial paper for banks and to receive and 
disburse the national funds. It was not to lend money to individuals. 
When it was established the issue of money by national banks was to 



CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATIONS 851 

cease and the Reserve Association was to issue its own notes instead, 
subject to national taxation. The plan met a great deal of criticism, 
and in October, 191 1, it was modified in some important particulars. 
The scheme found favor with the banks of the country, but was not 
received favorably by the people. It was evident that it was a pri- 
vately owned central bank under a less unpopular name, and it was 
pointed out that by uniting all the banks and trust companies of the 
country in one organization it would deliver the banking function into 
the hands of a vast and powerful combination. If the public should at 
some future time wish to break the hold of this combination, the task 
would require an upheaval in the business world far more serious than 
that which accompanied the destruction of the second Bank of the 
United States. 

The restless and suspicious attitude of the public toward corpora- 
tions and their political influence resulted in several congressional 
investigations. Among them were authorized in 1910 
investigations of the issue of railroad stocks and bonds, 9°"^®,^" 
and employers' liability and workmen's compensation, and vestigations. 
in 191 2 an investigation of the so-called "money trust" 
and "shipping trust," and the increased cost of anthracite coal. These 
investigations caused much distress to business, especially the inves- 
tigation aimed at the concentration of banking capital. In 1910 New 
Mexico and Arizona were given permission to frame constitutions and 
apply for statehood. A year later they presented themselves at the 
door of congress, but the latter had adopted the recall of judges and 
was refused admission. By a filibuster New Mexico's case was made 
to fall with that of Arizona. It was not until 191 2 that both were ad- 
mitted, the objectionable clause in the Arizona constitution being 
omitted. 

Of other important acts passed in Taft's administration the follow- 
ing may be mentioned: a law to create a commerce court (1910) ; a 
law to establish postal saving banks (1910) ; a "white 
slave" act (1910) ; an act to require publicity for cam- 
paign contributions in federal elections (1910, amended and extended 
in 191 1, and the amount of contributions limited) ; a canal act, pro- 
viding for administration of the canal and the canal zone and remitting 
the toils to American vessels engaged in coastwise trade (191 2) ; a 
pension law adding $25,000,000 annually to the appropriations (191 2) ; 
a law to create a children's bureau in the department of commerce and 
labor (191 2) ; an act to establish civil government in the territory of 
Alaska (191 2) ; and a law creating a department of labor (1913). In 
191 2 a constitutional amendment for the popular election of senators 
was submitted to the states and ratified by them early in 1913. Such 
a reform had long been demanded by the states, but it was defeated 
by the senate itself. The passage of the amendment was due to the 
hard fight which under Roosevelt and Taft was directed against the 
obstructive power of the upper house of congress. 



852 ADMINISTRATIONS OF ROOSEVELT AND TAFT 

The defeat of the repubhcans in 191 2 and the return of the demo- 
crats to power seems to be a turning point in American party history. 
Out of eleven years of struggle with its inevitable uncertainty has come 
an advance in popular government and a checking of the influence of 
wealth and political machines. Whether or not popular control is 
safer and wiser than the old conservatism is a question over which 
the citizens of to-day are still divided. It is a question as old as our 
government, and its latter-day reappearance in a form adjusted to 
present conditions makes the existing political situation as interesting 
and important as the Jeffersonian crisis of 1800. 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

The best original source of national history for this period is The Congressional 
Record. The acts of congress are to be found in The United Stales Statutes at Large, 
and the messages of the presidents are in the Record for the day they are com- 
municated, and generally in both the Senate and House Documents. In these two 
series are found most of the reports of the investigation committees. The annual 
message of the President and the reports of the heads of department are in Abridg- 
ment, Messages and Documents. 

Valuable contemporary works are: The American Year Book (1910-); The 
International Year Book (1907-); The Annual Register (1902-). The periodicals 
of the period are very useful, especially The Outlook, The American Review of Re- 
views, The Independent, The World's Work, and Public Opinion. 

Of biographies see: Croley, Marcus Alonzo Hanna (191 2); Hovey, Life Story 
of J. Pierpont Morgan (191 1) ; CuUom, Fifty Years of Public Service (191 2) ; Coo- 
lidge, Orville H. Plait (1910); Autobiography of Thomas C. Piatt (1910-); Riis, 
Theodore Roosevelt (1904, 191 2) ; Leupp, The Man Roosevelt (1904) ; Hale, Woodrow 
Wilson, the Story of his Life (191 r) ; Hitchcock, E. A., Fifty Years in Camp and Field 
(1910), a diary of a prominent democrat; Autobiography of Robert M. La Follette 
(1913) ; and Great Leaders and National Issues of igi2. 

Of general works the following are useful : Stanwood, A History of the Presidency, 
iSgy-igog {igi2) ; W'dlkeT, History of the Sherman Law (1910) ; Noyes, Forty Years 
of American Finance, i86$-igoj (1909) ; Oberholtzer, The Referendum in America 
(1912, revised ed.) ; Haines, The Senate from igoj to igi2 (1912); Jordan, Five 
National Platforms Dissected, Classified, Indexed (191 2); White, The Old Order 
Changeth (191 2) ; Sedgwick, The Democratic Mistake (191 2) ; Beard, Documents on 
the Initiative, Referendum, and Recall (191 2); Butler, Why Should We Change our 
Form oj Government? (1912) ; and McCarthy, The Wisconsin Idea (1912). 

For Independent Reading 

Hovey, The Life Story of J. Pierpont Morgan (191 1) ; Leupp, The Man Roosevelt 
(1904) ; Coolidge, Orville H. Piatt (1910) ; White, TIte Old Order Changeth (191 2) ; 
Butler, Why Should We Change our Form of Government? (191 2) ; McCarthy, The 
Wisconsin Idea (191 2) ; and Autobiography of Robert M. La Follette (19 13). 



INDEX 



Abercrombie, expedition against Canada, 
126. 

Abolition. See antislavery. 

Academies, for educational use, 478. 

Acadia, settled, 112. 

Acadians, removal of, 124. 

Adams, the, 328. 

Adams, Charles Francis, nominated for vice- 
president, 452 ; minister to England, 522 ; 
and the Geneva arbitration, 673. 

Adams, John, and the declaration of inde- 
pendence, 187; peace commissioner, 214; 
first minister to England, 226; opposed 
to Cincinnati, 229; vice-president, 256; 
reelected vice-president, 271 ; Hamilton's 
opposition to, 273 ; elected president, 273 ; 
presidency of, 276-290 ; relation to his 
party, 276 ; desires to conciliate repub- 
licans, 276; and French quarrel, 278, 
282 ; political views, 283 ; and Dr. Cooper, 
284 ; reorganizes cabinet, 287 ; opposed by 
Hamilton, 273, 276, 282, 287, 288, 289 ; 
defeated, 288-290. 

Adams, John Quincy, commissioner at 
Ghent, 334 ; opposed to Hartford Conven- 
tion, 336 ; secretary of state, 367 ; share in 
the Monroe Doctrine, 375 ; candidate for 
presidency, 376, 377, 378, 379; elected, 
379~38o ; bargain charged, 379, 389 ; 
parties forming under, 382-384; message, 
382 ; war on, 383 ; Panama congress, 383 ; 
and the patronage, 389 ; his support in 
1828, 390; supports Jackson in nullifica- 
tion, 409; on West India trade, 416; 
opposes annexation of Texas, 422; and 
antislavery petition, 431. 

Adams, Samuel, colonial leader, 170; and 
"Boston Massacre," 172 ; defends soldiers, 
172 ; and committees of correspondence, 
174; opposed to Cincinnati, 229; on rati- 
fication, 248. 

Africa, western coast explored, 25. 

Agriculture, in early Virginia, 50 ; in the 
early Carolinas, 83 ; in colonial period, 
140; state of, 1800-1815, 345; progress 
after civil war, 665. 

Aguinaldo, leads revolts against Spain, 809 ; 
Dewey aids, 809 ; captured, 810. 



Aix-la-Chapelle, treaty of, 120. 

Alabama, territory created, 345 ; population, 
1820, 345 ; a state, 373 ; ratification of her 
constitution, 624 ; readmitted, 624 ; repub- 
licans overthrown, 632. 

Alabama, the confederate ship, 523. 

Alabama Claims, the, under A. Johnson, 
670 ; Sumner's statement of, 671 ; arbitra- 
tion of, 672-674. 

Alabama-Mobile river system, 3. 

Alaska, purchase of, 643 ; boundary con- 
troversy, 825 ; and Cunningham syndicate, 
838; civil government in, 851. 

Albany, Congress at, 1690, 116; 1754, 
122. 

Albemarle, settlements in, 82. 

Aldrich, N. W., and tariff of 1883, 715 ; and 
Payne-Aldrich bill, 837 ; report on cur- 
rency, 850. 

Algiers, at war, 295, 296. 

Algonkins, the, 18; and the French, 113. 

Alien Laws, passed, 283 ; Jefferson's way of 
meeting, 285. 

Allen, Ethan, exploits of, 182. 

Altgeld, Governor, pardons convicted anar- 
chists, 743 ; and Pullman strike, 743. 

Alverstonc, L.jrd, 825. 

Amadas, Philip, discovers Roanoke Island, 
42. 

Amador, Dr., 8ig. 

Ambrister, Captain, executed by Jackson, 

369- 

Amelia Island, occupied, 331. 

Amendments, suggested by the ratifying 
states, 248 ; method of making, 253 ; ten 
amendments, 258 ; eleventh and twelfth, 
360 ; suggested by Hartford convention, 
337 ; thirteenth, 580, 599 ; fourteenth, 
607-609 ; rejected by South, 608, 619 ; 
accepted under congressional reconstruc- 
tion, 610; war, interpreted, 635-638; for 
income tax, 838 ; for popular election of 
senators, 851. 

America, named, 33. 

American Colonization Society, 428. 

American Tobacco Company, dissolution 
suit, 840, 842. 

Ames, Oakes, 650. 



853 



854 



INDEX 



Amherst, Jeffrey, at capture of Louisburg, 
125 ; at capture of Montreal, 128. 

Amnesty, proclamation of 1863, 596 ; 
Johnson's, 600 ; act of 1872, 634 ; act for 
general, 634. 

Anarchists, Chicago, 742. 

Anderson, Major, in Fort Sumter, 512, 515 ; 
surrenders, 516. 

Andover Seminary, founded, 355. 

Andre, John, concerned with Arnold, 202. 

Andrew, Rev. J. O., and slavery issue, 471. 

Andros, Edmund, governor of New England, 
94 ; strong measures, 95 ; overthrown, 96 ; 
and slavery controversy, 902. 

Anglican church, in New England, 148 ; in 
Virginia, 151 ; in Maryland and the Caro- 
linas, 151; in other colonies, 152; the 
Bishop of London, 152 ; proposed American 
bishop, 164 ; as an establishment, 352 ; 
reorganized, 354. 

Annapolis Convention, 241. 

Antietam, battle of, 555. 

Antifederalists oppose ratification, 247-249 ; 
on the first amendments, 258; disappear- 
ance of, 269. 

Antimasonic party, organized, 403 ; opposed 
Clinton, 403. 

Antislavery, early period of movement, 428- 
431- 

Apaches, 685. 

Appalachian Mountains, influence of, i, 2. 

Appointments to office, 292, 393. 

Arapahoes at war, 684, 686. 

Arbitration treaties, rejected by Senate, 833. 

Arbuthnot, hanged by Jackson, 369. 

Archbald, Judge, 843. 

Area of United States, i. 

Argus, the, 328. 

Aristocracy, suspected, 218, 228, 229, 230. 

Arizona, mining in, 678; a territory, 679, 
680 ; a state, 680, 851. 

Arkansas, a state, 463 ; war in, 541 ; recon- 
structed under Lincoln, 597 ; readmitted, 
624; republicans overthrown, 632. 

"Armed Neutrahty," league of, 206. 

Armstrong, John, Secretary of War, 326, 330. 

Army, a British, in the colonies, 164; pay 
in arrears, 223; plot of officers, 224; 
seize Philadelphia, 224; half-pay to offi- 
cers, 229; Cincinnati, 229; in whisky 
insurrection, 268, 269 ; to serve against 
France, 279, 281 ; condition of in 181 2, 
320,326; value of militia, 330 ; after war of 
1812, 363; in civil war, 517, 572-574; 
organization in 1898, 795 ; and the cap- 
tured Spaniards, 802 ; disease at Santiago, 
803 ; wounded recover, 803. 



Army, confederate, raising, 572, 590; boun- 
ties, 573, 590 ; negro troops, 573 ; numbers, 
590. 

Army, union, organizing, 572; "bounty 
jumping," 573; negro troops in, 573; 
numbers, 590. 

Arnold, Benedict, in Canada, 184, 194 ; 
against St. Leger, 196 ; his treason, 201 ; 
in Virginia, 211 ; in Connecticut, 212. 

"Aroostook War," the, 437. 

Arthur, Chester A., nominated for vice- 
presidency, 702 ; removed from collector- 
ship, 702, 708 ; becomes president, 705 ; 
and civil service reform, 709 ; and nomina- 
tion in 1884, 716. 

Articles of Confederation, committee to 
prepare, 187; adopted, 1781, 217, 238; 
analysis of, 238-240; weakness of, 222; 
attempts to amend, 225, 240. 

Asbury, Francis, 353. 

Ashburton, Lord, in Washington, 438. 

Assembly, the colonial development of, 100 ; 
in New York, 103. 

"Assiento," 120. 

"Association," the, 179. 

Asylum, the Right of, in Chile, 770. 

Atchison, and the Kansas-Nebraska act, 486. 

Atlanta, captured, 537. 

Bacon, Nathaniel, opposes Governor Berke- 
ley, 90; his death, 91. 

Bacon's Rebellion, 90. 

Bad Axe, battle of, 466. 

Baker, Colonel, at Ball's Bluff, 545. 

Balboa, discovers the Pacific, 37. 

Baldwin, decisive vote in Constitutional 
Convention, 245. 

BaUinger-Pinchot controversy, 838. 

Ballot Reform, 71 1-7 12. 

Ball's Bluff, battle of, 545. 

Balmeceda, 768, 769. 

Baltimore, attacked by British, 330. 

Baltimore, the, sailors of, attacked, 771 ; at 
Manila, 791. 

Baltimore, Lord. See Calvert. 

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, early history, 
464 ; development of, 733, 734. 

Bank of North America, 228. 

Bank of the United States, first, created, 260. 
and the currency, 348; McCulloch v. 
Maryland, 359 ; second, chartered, 363 ; 
service of, 364; Jackson's "war" on, 
411-415; charter vetoed, 412; deposits 
removed, 413; protest charges, 418; fin- 
gering hope of recharter, 432 ; attempted 
recharter under Tyler, 435. 

Banks, combinations of, 740. 



INDEX 



8SS 



Banks, Deposit, 423. 

Banks, General, attacked by Jackson, 547; 

at Cedar Mountain, 551. 
Banks, National, created, 575. 
Baptists, in the Colonies, 148, 151; early 

history, 353; Primitive and Missionary, 

353; divided by slavery, 456, 472. 
Barbary States. See Tripoli. 
Barlowe, Arthur, discovers Roanoke Island, 

42. 
Barnburners, 451; at convention of 1848, 

452; secede, 452. 
Barre, Col. Isaac, 166. 
Barron, Captain, 314. 
Baton Rouge, acquired, 331. 
Baum, defeated at Bennington, 195. 
Bayard, J. A., commissioner at Ghent, 

334- 

Bayard, T. F., secretary of state, 719; and 
Samoa, 765. 

Bayonne Decree, 316. 

Beaumarchais, 198. 

Beauregard, General, at Bull Run, 519; 
against Butler, 564. 

Behaim, Martin, 26. 

Belknap, Secretary, and Indian frauds, 652. 

Bell, John, nominated by whigs, 508; vote 
of, 509- 

Belligerency, recognition of, 522. 

Bellomont, Governor, and salary contro- 
versy, lOI. 

Bennington, battle of, 195. 

Benton, Thomas H., and censure resolutions, 
415; specie currency favored, 423. 

Berkeley, Admiral, 314. 

Berkeley, Sir William, governor of Virginia, 
si; his policy in Virginia, 89; opposed by 
Bacon, 90; return to England, 91 ; and the 
Anglican Church, 151. 

Berlin Decree, 308. 

Bernard, Governor, of Massachusetts, 171. 

Biddle, Nicholas, asks for new charter, 411; 
Jackson and, 411; carries charter in con- 
gress, 412; continues to hope, 413; and the 
panic, 414. 

Bienville, 115. 

Bifurcated Invasion of the South, 526. 

Big Black river, battle of, 531. 

Big Horn, Little, battle of, 688. 

Bigot, hampers Montcalm, 127; punished, 
127. 

"Bird Woman," guides Lewis and Clark, 
3S6. 

Birney, J. G., in Ohio, 429; candidate for 
presidency, 1844, 443. 

Black Code, revised, 430; ante bellum, 602; 
post bellum, 602 ; effects of, 602. 



"Black Friday," 647. 

Black Hawk, war of, 466. 

Black Hills, gold found in, 679; Indians 
driven out, 687. 

Bladensburg, battle of, 329. 

Blaine, J. G., raises Southern issue, 653 ; 
secretary of state, 703, 723; nominated 
1884, 716; the "Mulligan Letters," 717; 
and reciprocity, 725; and nomination of 
1892, 749; and fur seal controversy, 767; 
and Mafia incident, 768; and Isthmian 
Canal, 818. 

Blair, F. P., in "Kitchen Cabinet," 393; 
founds the Globe, 402. 

Blair, F. P., Jr., in Missouri, 517; nominated 
for vice presidency, 642. 

Blair, Rev. James, commissary, 152; founder 
of William and Mary College, 154. 

Blanco, General, command in Cuba, 787; and 
Cervera, 799. 

Bland, R. P., champion of Silver, 699; can- 
didate for nomination, 1896, 760. 

Bland-Allison law, 699. 

"Blanket Injunctions," 744. 

Block, Adrian, explorations of, 72. 

Blockade, established, 517; keeping the, 
569; rimning the, 592. 

"Blocks of five," 722. 

Blount, J. H., in Hawaii, 773. 

Blue, Victor, back of Santiago, 795. 

Boeuf, Fort de, 122. 

Bonds, in civil war, 574, 576. 

Bou Homme Richard, 205. 

Bonus Bill, for internal improvements, 365. 

Boone, Daniel, 233. 

Border States, saved for the union, 517. 

Boscawen, failure on the St. Lawrence, 121. 

Boston, settled, 64; population, 142; cul- 
ture of, 155; troops sent to, 171; "Boston 
Massacre," 172; "Tea Party," 176; port 
closed, 176; blockaded, 177; siege of, 
180-182; evacuated, 182. 

Boundaries, 1783, 215. 

Boutwell, G. S., secretary of the treasury, 
644; financial policy, 662. 

Bowdoin, Governor, and Shays's Rebellion, 
236. 

Boxer Revolt, 823. 

Braddock, effect of his defeat, 106 ; expedi- 
tion of, 123. 

Bradford, William, elected governor, 61. 

Bradley, J. P., his appointment as judge, 
664. 

Bragg, General, in Kentucky, 529; at Perry- 
ville, 529; at Stone's river, 530; at Chicka- 
mauga, 533; at Chattanooga, 535; re- 
moved from command, 535. 



856 



INDEX 



Brandywine, battle of, 194. 

Brant, Joseph, 203. 

Bray, Rev. Thomas, 152. 

Brazil, coast discovered, 32; skirted by 
Cabral, 34. 

Breckenridge, J. C, nominated for presi- 
dency, 506; his vote, 509. 

Brewster, William, at Scrooby, 59; goes to 
America, 60. 

Brock, General, against Hull, 322. 

Broke, Captain, 327. 

Brooklyn, battle of, 189. 

Brooklyn, the, 800, 801. 

Brown, B. Gratz, governor of Missouri, 648; 
nominated for vice-presidency, 648. 

Brown, General Jacob, 324; at Chippewa, 
325; at Lundy'sLane, 325. 

Brown, John, retaliates on his opponents, 
491; his raid, 502-304; his object, 502; 
his death, 503 ; significance of, 503. 

Brown, Moses, and Cotton Mills, 349. 

Brown University, founded, 154. 

Brough, governor of Ohio, 583. 

Brougham, Henry, 320. 

Bryan, W. J., speech in Chicago convention, 
759; nominated, 760; his campaign, 761; 
defeated, 762; not crushed, 762; candidate 
in 1900, 827; and the convention of 1904, 
832; nominated in 1908, 835; influence in 
democratic nomination, 845, 846-S47. 

Bryant, William Cullen, and the Barn- 
burners, 451; an independent, 694; civil 
service reformer, 707. 

Buchanan, James, and nomination of 1852, 
485; nominated in 1856, 495; elected, 
496; attitude in crisis, 512. 

Buckner, General, at Fort Donelson, 527. 

Buell, General, cooperates with Grant, 528; 
against Bragg, 529; removed from com- 
mand, 530. 

Buena Vista, battle of, 447. 

Buffalo, city of, 341. 

Buford, Colonel, at Waxhaw, 207. 

Buford's cavalry, at Gettysburg, 560. 

Bull, papal, dividing the new world, 29. 

"Bull Moose" party 845; organized, 847. 

Bull Run, campaign of, 518-520; second 
battle of, 550-553 ; Lee's plan of attack, 
551; its execution, SSI-SS3- 

Bunau-Varilla, 818. 

Bunker Hill, battle of, 181. 

Burchard, Rev. S. D., incautious utterance, 
719. 

Burgoyne, General, expedition against New 
York, 193-198; and Carleton, 195. 

Burke Act, concerning Indians, 690. 

Burlingame Treaty, the, 774. 



Bumside, General, in East Tennessee, 533, 
in command in Virginia, 555; the Fred- 
ericksburg campaign, 555-557; in North 
Carolina, 570; military arrests, 583. 

Burr, Aaron, elected vice-president, 288; 
289, 290; plots with Pickering, 300 ; kills 
Hamilton, 301; scheme. of, 303-306; trial 
of, 305- 

Burr, G. L., and Venezuelan boundary, 780. 

Bute, Lord, colonial poUcy of, 161. 

Butler, B. F., on the James, 564; "Contra- 
bands," 577; charged with cotton sales, 
592; prosecutes Johnson, 615; succeeds 
Stevens, 633; relations with Grant, 633; 
645; and the Sanborn contracts, 651; 
Greenback candidate, 698; and civil 
service reform, 708. 

Butler, Colonel John, 203. 

Byrd, Col. WilHam, culture of, 155. 

Cabinet, constitutional basis of, 252. 

Cabot, George, at Hartford convention, 
337- 

Cabot, John, explorations of, 35. 

Cabot, Sebastian, fame of, 35. 

Cabral, voyage to Brazil, 34. 

Calaveras skull, the, 11. 

Calhoun, J. C, elected to congress, 318; 
and the second bank, 364 ; on the tariff, 
364 ; on internal improvements, 365 ; 
secretary of war, 367 ; 369 ; candidate for 
presidency, 377, 378 ; elected vice-presi- 
dent, 377 ; position in Jackson party, 382 ; 
opposition of Van Buren, 382 ; supports 
nullification, 387 ; reelected \dce-president, 
390 ; influence in the cabinet, 392 ; af- 
fected Eaton aSair, 394 ; struck through 
internal improvements, 394 ; report on 
public improvements, 395 ; and state 
rights, 396 ; and Jackson's "union" toast, 
399 ; breach with Jackson, 401-402 ; three 
papers on nullification, 407 ; becomes 
Southern champion, 422 ; secretary of state, 
439 ; Texas annexation, 439, 444 ; and Van 
Buren's letter, 442 ; on slavery in Oregon, 
453 ; compromise speech, 1850, 455 ; death 
of, 488. 

California, purchase desired by Polk, 446 ; 
occupied by American forces, 448 ; not 
made a territory, 452, 453; admitted to 
Union, 455, 457; gold discovered, 480; 
settlement of, 481 ; government of, 481 ; 
and Chinese, 774 ; and Japanese, 776. 

Calvert, CeciHus, his policy, 53, 57 ; checks 
the Jesuits, 55 ; his proprietary rights, 
57. 

Calvert, George, Maryland granted to, 52, 



INDEX 



857 



Calvert, Leonard, governor of Maryland, 

S3. 54-56. 
Cambridge Agreement, 63. 
Camden, battle of, 207 ; burned, 211. 
Campos, in Cuba, 784, 786. 
Canada, ceded to England, 129 ; the cession 

criticized, 130, 161, 170; and Quebec Act, 

177; invaded by Americans, 183, 1Q4; 

capture expected, 321 ; struggle for, 321- 

326 ; line of defense, 321 ; reciprocity with, 

841, 842. See New France. 
Canals, where located, 3 ; the Erie, 4 ; use 

of, 464. See Internal improvements. 
Canning, George, and the Orders in Council, 

308; his irritating attitude, 313; on 

Chesapeake-Leopard affair, 315; and the 

Monroe Doctrine, 375. 
Cannon, Speaker, power reduced, 838. 
Capital, the national, located on the Po- 
tomac, 260. 
Capital, financial, growth after civil war, 665. 
Carleton, General, and the Indians, 685. 
Carleton, Sir Guy, against Arnold, 184, 194, 

19s ; retained in Canada, 195. 
CarUsle, J. G., secretary of the treasury, 

753 ; maintaining parity, 754 ; bonds for 

gold, 754. 
Carolina, created, 81, 82 ; early history, 82- 

83 ; fundamental constitutions, 82 ; two 

divisions, 82 ; misrule of proprietors, 106 ; 

sale to crown, 107. 
Caroline, Fort, iii. 
Carpet-baggers, 621. 
Carthage, battle of, 541. 
Cartier, Jacques, explorations of, 36, 112. 
Carver, John, governor of Plymouth, 61. 
Cass, Lewis, nominated for presidency, 

452 ; defeated, 452 ; in 1852, 485 ; leaves 

cabinet, 512. 
Catherine of Aragon, and Columbus, 28, 31. 
Caucus, nominating, origin, 288; destroyed, 

378. 
Cedar Creek, battle of, 565. 
Cedar Mountain, battle of, 551. 
Cerro Gordo, battle of, 449. 
Cervera, departs from Cape Verde Islands, 

790 ; reaches Santiago, 793 ; search for, 

793 ; in Santiago, 799 ; destruction of his 

fleet, 800-801. 
Chamberlain, D. H., in South Carolina 

politics, 655, 657, 694. 
Chambersburg, burned by Early, 565. 
Champion Hill, battle of, 531. 
Charaplain, founds Quebec, 112 ; attacks the 

Iroquois, 112. 
Champlain, Lake, battle of, 325. 
Chancellorsville, battle of, 557-559. 



Channing, Rev. William E., founds Amer- 
ican Unitarianism, 355. 

Chantilly, battle of, 553. 

Chapultepec, taken, 450. 

"Charlefort," 11 1. 

Charles I, and the colonies, 77. 

Charles II, and the colonies, 80. 

Charleston, settled, 83; and tea duty, 175; 
attacked by the British, 183 ; taken by 
the British, 207 ; British driven into, 211 ; 
evacuated, 214; democratic convention 
at, 505 ; evacuated by Hardee, 540 ; 
naval operations against, 570. 

Chase, Samuel, at trial of Dr. Cooper, 284; 
impeachment of, 294. 

Chase, S. P., and opponents of Lincoln, 
582, 584 ; presides over impeachment, 
615-617; and democratic nomination, 
642 ; and legal tender cases, 664. 

Chattahoochee, Sherman crosses, 537. 

Chattanooga, campaign for, 532-535 ; battle 
of, 535. 

Cherokees, 18; relations with the English, 
121; war against the Americans, 130; 
at war, 1776, 203; and Spain, 265; pun- 
ished by Tennesseeans, 265 ; removal of, 
400, 466 ; in the West, 466. 

Cherr>' Valley, raided, 203. 

Chesapeake, the, defeated by the Shannon, 
327. 

Chesapeake Bay, campaign in, 329-330. 

Chesapeake-Leopard incident, 314; settled 
by the President, 318. 

Cheves, Langdon, elected to Congress, 318. 

Chew house, the, 194. 

Cheyennes, war with southern, 684, 686, 
war with northern, 685, 687, 688. 

Chicago, desires transcontinental railroad, 
681 ; a railroad center, 733, 734 ; strike of 
1886, 742. 

Chickamauga, battle of, 533; Park, 795. 

Chickasaws, removal of, 400, 466. 

Chile, revolution against Balmeceda, 768 ; 
Eagan's sympathy, 769 ; the Itata, 769 ; 
right of asylum, 770 ; the Baltimore, sailors 
of, attacked, 770. 

China, American relations with, 822 ; Boxer 
revolt, 823 ; legations surrounded, 823 ; 
army of relief, 823. 

Chinese Immigration, 774. 

Chippewa, battle of, 325. 

Chivington's Massacre, 684. 

Choctaws, removal of, 400, 466. 

Choiseul, criticism of England's policy, 130. 

Churubusco, 449. 

Cibola, 39. 

Cienfuegos, Schley at, 793, 794. 



858 



INDEX 



Cincinnati, society of, 22g; city founded, 

342- 
Citizenship, National, defined by the courts, 

635-638. 
Civil Rights Bill, of 1866, 606 ; of 1875, 634 ; 

interpreted by courts, 637. 
Civil Service Reform, Grant and, 646 ; 

origin of reform, 707 ; Sumner and, 707 ; 

Jenckes and, 707 ; first commission, 708 ; 

Pendleton act, 7og ; execution of, 709- 

711 ; under Cleveland, 709, 720. 
Claiborne, WiUiam, claims Kent Island, 55, 
Clark, Champ, candidate for nomination, 

845. 

Clark, George Rogers, 203. 

Clark, William, explorations of, 356. 

Clay, Henry, elected to Congress, 318; 
commissioner at Ghent, 334 ; on tariff, 
364 ; on internal improvements, 365 ; 
heads opposition, 367 ; on South America, 
367; attacks Jackson, 370; on the Mis- 
souri compromise, 374 ; candidate for presi- 
dency, 1824, 377, 378, 379 ; makes Adams 
president, 379 ; bargain charged, 382 ; 
united with Adams, 382 ; and Panama 
congress, 383 ; and the tariff, 385 ; 
nominated, 1832, 404; defeated, 405; 
his compromise tariff, 410 ; for the bank, 
412, 414, 415; censure of Jackson, 414; 
on surplus, 424 ; loses nomination, 434 ; 
opposed to Tyler, 435 ; on Texan annexa- 
tion, 442 ; and compromise of 1850, 454- 
457 ; death of, 488. 

Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, made, 458; and 
a canal, 815 ; annulled, 817. 

Cleveland, Grover, and the civil service, 709, 
711, 720; governor of New York, 716; 
nominated for presidency, 716; elected, 
719; as president, 719; cabinet, 719; 
and opponents, 720; and tariff reform, 
721 ; renominated, 722 ; on pensions, 726; 
reelected, 728; on Wilson-Gorman bill, 
729; on silver, 1S92, 750; opposition of 
West and South, 751 ; nominated, 1892, 
751; elected, 752; second cabinet, 753; 
and the Sherman silver law, 755 ; pro- 
tecting the reserve, 755-757 ; repudiated 
by his party, 758 ; Hawaiian policy, 773 ; 
and Venezuelan dispute, 778-781 ; and 
Cuba, 78s, 786. 

"Cliff Dwellers," the, 12. 

Climate, variations of, i. 

Clinton, De Witt, and election of 1812, 319; 
and Erie canal, 366. 

Chnton, General, demonstration against 
Albany, 197; relieves Howe, 200; in the 
South, 207; aids Cornwallis, 212. 



Clinton, George, on ratification, 249; a 
republican, 270; and vice-presidency, 271 ; 
in the election of 1800, 288; Jefferson 
favors, 300, 301 ; elected vice-president, 
302 ; death of, 319. 

Coal, deposits of, 8-10 ; anthracite, 9 ; dis- 
tribution, 9. 

Coal lands, conservation of, 850. 

Coal strike, anthracite, 830. 

Cobb, Howell, 499. 

Cochrane, Admiral, 330. 

Cod fisheries, 5. 

Colbert and New France, 115. 

Cold Harbor, battle of, 563. 

Colfax, Schuyler, vice-president, 642 ; and 
the Credit Mobilier, 650. 

Coligny, plants colony in Florida, iii. 

Colleges, progress of, 478-479 ; relation to 
churches, 478, 479. 

Colombia, and an isthmian canal, 814 ; 
treaty with, 814 ; Hay-Herran convention, 
818; and Panama revolution, 819. 

Colon, the, 800, 801. 

Colonial government, struggle for assembly 
in New York, 103 ; colonial treasurer, 
104; the New England town, 134, 156; 
the Southern County, 135, 155 ; local, 
155-158; mixed form of, 156. 

Colonial policy, 813-814. 

Colonial system, characteristics of, 99-101. 

Colonies, British supervision, depends on 
king, 76 ; Laud's commission, 77 ; War- 
wick's commission, 77 ; Lords of trade, 
77 ; effects of Puritan Revolution, 77 ; 
Navigation Laws, 78. 

Colorado, explorations of, 39. 

Colorado, settled, 677 ; state and territory, 
678, 680. 

Columbia, S. C, burned, 540. 

Columbia University, founded, 154. 

Columbus, Christopher, early life, 27 ; and 
Toscanelli, 27; seeking aid, 28; sets sail, 
28 ; land discovered, 29 ; discoveries, 29, 
30, 31 ; honored in Spain, 29, 31 ; death of, 
31. 

Comanches, 685. 

Combinations, industrial, 731-744; prin- 
ciples of, 731 ; early, 731 ; advantages 
claimed for, 732 ; in railroads, 732-735 ; 
in manufactures, 736-740; in banking, 
740-741 ; in labor, 740-744. 

Commerce. See trade. 

Commerce Court, 839, 843. 

Committees of Congress, 258. 

Committees of correspondence appointed, 
174. 

"Common Sense," Paine's, 186. 



INDEX 



«59 



Compact theory, in 1798, 285. 

Competition, conditions of, 731. 

Compromise of 1850, desire for harmony, 
454 ; Clay's proposals, 455 ; debated, 455- 
457; adopted, 457; finality of, 485. 

Concord, battle of, 180. 

Confederacy, the, arming for war, 517 ; 
problems, 586 ; constitution, 587 ; its 
president, 587 ; peace movement in, 588 ; 
foreign affairs, 588 ; and France, 589 ; 
navy of, 589 ; finances of, 590 ; manufac- 
tures in, 591 ; railroads in, 591 ; cotton, 

5QI. 
"Confederate States of America," organized, 

Sii- 

Confiscation acts, first, 576 ; second, 576, 
578. 

Congregationalists, 354. 

Congress, flees from Philadelphia, 225; 
composition of, 250. 

Congress, the, 328. 

Congress, authority of, 359 ; approves 
Lincoln, 519; supports war, 519. See 
Continental Congress. 

Conkling, Roscoe, and renomlnation of 
Grant, 652, 702; quarrel with Blaine, 
694, 703 ; and Garfield, 703 ; resigns 
senatorship, 704 ; on civil service reform, 
708. 

Connecticut, river towns founded, 69 ; 
Lord Saye and Sele, 69 ; Saybrook settled, 
69 ; New Haven settled, 69 ; New Haven 
and Connecticut merged, 69 ; government 
of New Haven, 69; Pequot War, 70; 
and New England Confederation, 71 ; 
New charter, 80 ; and the Dominion of 
New England, 94; resists stamp act, 168; 
ratifies the constitution, 247 ; population, 
341 ; constitutional revision in, 473. 

Conservation, 849. 

Consolidation, national, checked by courts, 
636. 

Constellation, the, 279, 328; defeats /'/wiwr- 
gente, 281. 

Constitution, federal, prepared, 242-247; 
adopted, 247-250; analysis of, 250-254; 
interpretation of, 285-287 ; interpreted by 
Marshall, 357; and dependencies, 813. 

Constitution, the, constructed, 279; takes 
the Guerriere, 327; takes the Java, 327. 

Constitutions, state, reform of, 472-476. 

Continental Congress, called, 178; two sides 
in, 178; significance of, 179; second con- 
gress, 181 ; authority of, 217 ; inefSciency, 
217 ; end of, 256. 

"Contrabands," 577. 

Contreras, taken by Scott, 449. 



Contiibutions, political, from corporations, 
834; law on, 839, 851. 

Convention, constitutional, advantage of, 
241; suggested, 241; elected, 242 ; meets, 
242 ; proceedings, 242-247. 

Convention, nominating, origin of, 404. 

Cooley, T. M., on execution of the interstate 
commerce act, 735. 

Cooper, Peter, nominated by Greenback 
party, 697. 

Cooper, Dr. Thomas, trial of, 284. 

Copperheads, 582. 

Corinth, Johnston at, 528 ; taken by Halleck, 
529- 

Corn, Indian, significance of, 8 ; a staple, 8. 

Cornbury, Lord, governor of New York, 103. 

CornwalUs, Lord, in New Jersey, 191 ; in 
command in the South, 207 ; at Camden, 
207 ; at Charlotte, 208 ; pursues Greene, 
2og ; in North Carolina, 209 ; at battle of 
Guilford Courthouse, 210; in Wilmington, 
210; enters Virginia, 211; surrenders, 313. 

Corporation tax, 838. 

Corte-Real, Caspar, 34. 

Cortez, Hernando, in Mexico, 37. 

Cosa, Juan de la, 38. 

Cotton, a staple crop, 8 ; gin invented, 345 ; 
and slavery, 346 ; area of, 346 ; production 
and price, 346. 

Cotton, Rev. John, against Roger Williams, 
66 ; against Mrs. Hutchinson, 67 ; against 
Quakers, 67. 

County, the, planted, 135 ; government, 
15s ; in New York, 156. 

Courts, federal, the system, 252 ; established, 
257 ; jurisdiction defined, 357-360. 

Cowpens, battle of, 208. 

Cox, J. D., secretary of interior, 644; resig- 
nation of, 645. 

"Crater, the," at Petersburg, 564. 

Crawford, W. H., and the presidency, 1816, 
367 ; in the cabinet, 367 ; candidate in 
1824, 377, 378, 379. 380; support goes to 
Jackson, 382. 

Crazy Horse, in Sioux War, 687, 688. 

Credit Mohilier, the, 649. 

Creeks, the, 18; and the English, 121; 
relations with the United States, 265 ; 
Creeks subdued by Jackson, 332 ; at treaty 
of Fort Jackson, 332 ; relation with Semi- 
noles, 368 ; removal of, 400, 407, 466. 

"Crime against Kansas, The," Sumner's 
speech, 490. 

"Crisis, The," Turnbull's, 387. 

Crittenden, Senator, efforts to avoid war, 

513- 
Crittenden Compromise, 512. 



86o 



INDEX 



Cromwell, Oliver, and the colonies, 77, 80. 

Crook, General, against the Sioux, 687-689 ; 
and Dull Knife's band, 689. 

Crops, staple, 8. 

Crown Point, taken by the British, 127; 
taken by Ethan Allen, 182. 

Crozat, has monopoly in Louisiana, 115. 

Cuba, discovered, 29; settled, 31; two 
parties in, 782 ; ten years' war, 782 ; 
reforms promised, 784-785 ; revolt of 1S95, 
785 ; methods of the Cubans, 785 ; Ameri- 
can intervention, 786-790 ; reforms oiTered 
by Sagasta, 7S7 ; and Spanish war debt, 
80s ; condition since the war, 806-807 ; 
Piatt amendment, 807 ; reoccupation, 
807. 

Culpeper, Pope at, 550. 

Culpeper, Lord, governor of Virginia, 92. 

Cumberland road bill, vetoed by Monroe, 
395- 

Currency, early, 348; in the civil war, 575. 
See Finance. 

Curtis, B. R., opinion in Dred Scott case, 
498; defends Johnson, 615. 

Curtis, G. W., and civil service reform, 646, 
707, 708; as an independent, 693, 718. 

Custer, General, and the Indians, 686; 
death of, 688. 

Cutler, Manasseh, and Ohio Company, 232. 

Daiquiri, landing at, 796. 

Dakota, early history, 679 ; a territory, 679 ; 
a state, 680 ; 748 ; gold in, 679, 687 ; Sioux 
at war, 685, 687-689. 

Dale, Captain, in Tripolitan war, 295. 

Dale, Sir Thomas, in Virginia, 49. 

Dallas, George M., vice-president, 441. 

Dartmouth College, founded, 154. 

Dartmouth College v. Woodward, 359. 

Davenport, Rev. John, 69. 

Davie, William R., partisan leader, 207. 

Davis, J. C. Bancroft, 673. 

Davis, JeSerson, at Buena Vista, 448 ; 
secretary of war, 486; Southern leader, 
488 ; resolutions in the senate, 505 ; pres- 
ident of the confederacy, 511; friendship 
for Bragg, 535 ; leaves Richmond, 567 ; 
proposes to continue resistance, 568 ; as 
confederate president, 587 ; imprisoned, 
641 ; death, 641. 

Dawes Act, concerning Indians, 690. 

Deane, Silas, in Paris, 198. 

Dearborn, in Jefferson's Cabinet, 292 ; in 
war of 1812, 323. 

Debt, Revolutionary. See Finances. 

Debts, British, in treaty of 1783, 216; 
not paid, 227, 261. 



Decatur, 327; burns the Philadelphia, 296; 
in the Mediterranean, 296. 

Declaratory Act, 168. 

Deerfield, attacked, 118. 

Delaware, settled by Sweden, 75 ; conquered 
by Stuyvesant, 75; acquired by Penn., 
86; boundary controversy, 87, 88; govern- 
ment, 87 ; relation to Pennsylvania, 104 ; 
ratifies constitution, 247. 

De Lesseps, Ferdinand, in the United States, 
816. 

De Lima v. Bidwell, 814. 

De Lome, letter published, 787. 

Democracy, development of, 181 5-1 861, 
472-476. 

Democratic party, in the civil war, 581 ; 
in elections of 1862, 582 ; copperheads, 
582, 583 ; in the South after the war, 621 ; 
condition of, after the war, 640; in 1868, 
642; in 1872, 648; in 1876, 652-657; 
gain house of representatives, 651 ; investi- 
gating election of 1876, 695; efforts to 
repeal election laws, 696, 697 ; in elections 
of 187S, 697 ; its progress before 1884, 719 ; 
split in, 653, 702, 716, 720; Western and 
Southern wings, in 1892, 751; convention 
of 1896, 758-760; carries house in 1910, 
840. 

De Monts, plants colony, 112. 

Departments of state created, 257 ; of the 
navy, created, 281. 

Dependencies, government of, 813, 814. 

Depew, C. M., 834. 

Detroit, held against Pontiac, 131 ; in the 
revolution, 204; position of, 321; Hull at, 
322 ; recovered, 323. 

Deux-Ppnts, Colonel, 213. 

Dewey, George, ordered to Manila, 791 ; 
Battle of Manila Bay, 791 ; a rear admiral, 
791 ; on Schley-Sampson controversy, 804. 

Dexter, and Hartford Convention, 336. 

Diaz, Bartholomew, 26. 

d'Iberville, settle Louisiana, 115. 

Dickinson, John, "Farmer's Letters," 170; 
and the articles of confederation, 238. 

Diedrich, Admiral von, at Manila, 792. 

Dingley Tariff Act, 729. 

Diplomacy, a new school of, 762. 

Diplomatic History of the United States, 
beginning of, 119 ; treaty of Paris, 129. 

Discourse on Western Planting, 44. 

Discovery of America, by the Norse, 23 ; by 
Zeno brothers, 23 ; bearing of oriental 
trade on, 24 ; relation to spread of knowl- 
edge, 25, 26. 

District of Columbia, located, 260; slave- 
trade abolished, 455, 457. 



INDEX 



86 1 



Donclson, Fort, captured, 527. 

Dongan, Governor, and the Iroquois, 114. 

Dorchester, speech to Indians, 263. 

Dorr, Thomas W., struggle for constitu- 
tional reform, 474; takes up arms, 475. 

Douglas, Stephen A., at nominating conven- 
tion of 1852, 485; and the Kansas-Ne- 
braska Act, 487 ; opposes Lecompton 
Constitution, 492, 493 ; in debate with 
Lincoln, 499-503 ; destroyed by Lincoln, 
501 ; Freeport doctrine, 501 ; opposition of 
South to, 505 ; at Charleston convention, 
505 ; nominated for presidency, 506 ; 
supports the war, 516. 

Dow, Neal, 480. 

Downes v. Bidwell, 814. 

Draft, in use, 572 ; riots, 572. 

Drainage systems, 2. 

Drake, Sir Francis, 41 ; at Roanoke Island, 
42. 

Dred Scott Decision, 497-499 ; its futility, 
499; in Charleston convention, 505. 

Drift man, 12. 

Drummond, William, execution of, 91. 

Drury's Bluff, battle of, 564. 

Duane, W. J., secretary of the treasury, 
413. 

Dudley, and vote purchasing, 722. 

Dudley, Joseph, governor of Massachusetts, 
95, 102 ; sentences Leisler, 103. 

"Duke's Laws," the, in New York, 83, 157. 

Dull Knife's Band, fate of, 689. 

"Dunmore's War," 203. 

Duquesne, Fort, taken by Forbes, 125; 
called Fort Pitt, 126. 

Dutch, stock in middle colonies, 145. 

Duxbury, 62. 

Dwight, Theodore, in Hartford convention, 
337- 

Dyer, Mrs., execution of, 68. 

Eagan, in Chile, 769, 771. 

Early, General, in Pennsylvania, 559; at 
Gettysburg, 559; his raid toward Wash- 
ington, 565 ; at Cedar Creek, 565. 

East India Company, and tea, 175. 

Eastward Ho, 44. 

Eaton, Dorman B., and civil service reform, 
708, 709. 

Eaton, John H., in Jackson's cabinet, 392 ; 
affairs of his wife, 394 ; resigns from the 
cabinet, 402. 

Eaton, Mrs., Jackson and, 394, 401. 

Eaton, Theophilus, 69. 

E^aton, William, 295. 

Edmunds, Senator, reform candidate in 1880, 
702 ; and in 1884, 716, 718. 



Education, in the colonies, 153-155 ; colleges, 
153-154; the churches and, 154; the 
college curriculum, 155; middle schools, 
155; colonial culture, 155; progress of, 
until 1861, 476-480; public school system, 
developed, 476-478; the academy, 478; 
colleges, 478-480. 

Edwards, Rev. Jonathan, 150, 354. 

El Caney, attacked, 797, 798. 

Elections, when held and how, 251. 

Elections, presidential, 1789, 256; 1792, 271; 
1796, 273; i8oo, 288-290; 1804, 302; 
1808, 311; 1812, 319; 1816, 366; 1820, 
368; 1824, 379-380; 1828, 390; 1832, 
403-405; 1836, 425; 1840, 433-435; 
1844, 441-443; 1848, 451-452; 1852, 485; 
1856,496; 1860,506-509; 1864, 584; 1868, 
641-643; 1872, 649; 1876, 652-657; 1880, 
702; 1884, 719; 1888, 723; 1892, 752; 
1896, 762; 1900, 827; 1904, 832; 1908, 
836; 1912, 848. 

Electoral Commission of 1877, 656. 

Ellsworth, OUver, in constitutional conven- 
tion, 245. 

Elkton, 194. 

Emancipation, during civil war, 577-581 ; 
"contrabands," 577; with compensa- 
tion, 578, 580; in confiscation acts, 578; 
proclamation of, 579, 580; thirteenth 
amendment, 580. 

Embargo Act, passed, 310; enforcement of, 
310; repealed, 311 ; effects of, 311. 

Employees, non-agricultural, 741. 

Endicott, John, settles Salem, 63. 

Enforcement bill, of 1870, 633; of 1871, 
634; of 1874, 634. 

England, explorations of, 35 ; refuses com- 
mercial treaty, 262 ; at war with France, 
266; neutrality proclamation, 266; influ- 
ence in American politics, 271, 276; 
attitude toward neutral trade, 272, 279; 
restricts American trade, 306-309; im- 
pressment, 306; relenting, 319; war 
plan, 321; and New England discontent, 
335 ; and the fisheries, 347 ; execution of 
Arbuthnot and Ambrister, 369 ; relations 
with, during the civil war, 521-524; favors 
the South, 521 ; grants confederate bel- 
ligerency, 522; and the Trent affair, 522; 
confederate cruisers, 523; and Alabama 
claims, 670, 674 ; in Samoa, 765 ; our 
Samoan relations with, 765-766; and 
fur seal controversy, 767 ; and the Amer- 
ican war with Spain, 790; and Hay- 
Pauncefote treaty, 817. 

English bill, the, 493. 

English stock, distributed, 145. 



862 



INDEX 



Enterprise, the, 295, 328. 

Eric the Red, 23. 

Erie, Fort, 321. 

Erie, Lake, battle of, 323, 324. 

Erie Railroad, development of, 733. 

Erskine, treaty of, 316. 

Established Church. See Anglican Church. 

Estaing, Count d', at Newport, 200; at 

Savannah, 207. 
Essex, the, 295, 328 ; the case of, 307. 
Essex county, 336. 
"Essex Junto," 288. 
Eustis, secretary of war, 326. 
Eutaw Springs, battle of, 211. 
Evans, R. D., at Santiago, 800, 801, 802. 
Evarts, William M., defends Johnson, 615, 

616, secretary of state, 694; refuses to 

attend White House dinners, 703. 
Everett, Edward, on the patronage, 389. 
Ewell, General, in Pennsylvania, 558, 559, 

560, 561. 
Explorations, on the coast, 31-38. 
Explorations of the interior, 37-39- 
Ezra Church, battle of, 537. 

Fairbanks, C. W., elected vice-president, 

832. 

Fairfield, Governor, 437. 

Fallen Timber, battle of the, 263. 

Falmouth burned, 186. 

Farragut, Admiral, at New Orleans, 529; 
takes Mobile Bay, 571. 

Far West, exploration of, 355-357- 

Fava, Baron, withdrawn, 768. 

"FederaUst," the, authorship of, 247. 

Federalists, favor ratification, 247-249 ; 
after ratification, 269; strong policy of, 
283-285; overthrow of, 287-290; divided, 
287; defeated, 288; against war of 1812, 
320; and the war of 1812, 335-337. 

Ferguson, Major, in North Carolina, 208; 
at King's Mountain, 208. 

Filipinos, army in the field, 809 ; revolt 
of, 810 ; revolt subdued, 810 ; native politi- 
cal party, 812. 

Fillmore, Millard, vice-president, 451, 452; 
president, 458. 

Finances, revolutionary debt, 222; conti- 
nental money, 223; attempts to confer 
taxing power on congress, 225; first 
revenue bill of federal congress, 257 ; 
reorganization under Hamilton, 259-261 ; 
refunding the revolutionary debt, 259; 
assumption of state debts, 259; Bank 
estabhshed, 260; excise tax, 261; policy 
of Gallatin, 293; and war of 181 2, 319, 
330, 321, 336, 348; currency, 1783-1815, 



348; in the war of 1812, 348; national 
debt paid, 422; deposit banks, 423; 
specie currency favored, 423 ; surplus 
revenue, 424 ; specie circular, 425 ; sub- 
treasury, 433; in civil war, 519, 574-576; 
bonds issued, 574, 576; legal tender act, 
574; national banks, 575; currency issued, 
575 ; confiscation acts, 576 ; confederate, 
590 ; Pendleton's ideas, 642 ; at the end 
of the civil war, 660; refunding, 661; 
war taxes reduced, 661, 663; legal tender 
reduced, 661 ; resumption of specie pay- 
ment, 668; inflation demanded in the 
West, 697 ; Greenback party, 697 ; free 
coinage, 698; Bland-Allison law, 699; 
resumption achieved, 699-700; tariff 
reform, 712-715; war taxes, 713; the 
surplus, 714, 724; McKinley Act, 724- 
726, 727; Bland law in operation, 746; 
Silver notes, 746 ; shrinkage of bank 
notes, 746 ; sentiment for silver, 747 ; 
Sherman silver law, 747 ; Windom sec- 
retary of treasury, 747 ; attack on the 
reserve, 753, 755 ; repeal of Sherman 
silver law, 754-755 ; reserve diminished, 
755; "endless chain," the, 755-757; 
Morgan-Belmont agreement, 756 ; con- 
fidence restored, 757 ; a corporation tax, 
838; currency reform, 850; Aldrich- 
Vreeland act, 850 ; Aldrich currency report, 
850. 

"Fiscal Corporation," 435. 

Fish, Hamilton, secretary of state, 644 ; 
and Santo Domingo annexation, 671 ; 
the treaty of Washington, 672; the 
Alabama arbitration, 673 ; and the Vir- 
ginius, 783. 

Fisheries, 4-6; colonial, 141; whaling, 142; 
and treaty of 1783, 215; condition of, 
1783-1815, 347. 

Fisher's Hill, battle of, 565. 

Fisk, James, scheme to corner gold, 646. 

Fletcher, Governor, in New York, 103. 

Fletcher v. Peck, 302, 358. 

Florida, the French in, 1 1 1 ; attacked by 
South Carolina, 119; West, claimed by 
Jefferson, 300 ; Jefferson's plan to acquire, 
302; conquest expected in 1812, 321, 
331; plans to seize, 332; negotiation to 
purchase, 368-370; acquired, 370; a 
state, 463 ; Seminoles under Osceola, 467 ; 
readmitted, 624 ; repubHcans overthrown, 
632; disputed returns in 1876, 65s, 657; 
surrendered to democrats, 657. 

Florida, the confederate ship, 523. 

Floyd, General, at Fort Donelson, 527. 

Food products, 7. 



INDEX 



863 



Foote's Resolutions, 3g6. 

Foraker Act, 814. 

Forbes, General, expedition against Fort 
Duquesne, 125. 

"Force Bill," 410. 

Forest, General, and negro prisoners, 574. 

Forests, 6. 

Forts, Southern, status of, 512 ; negotiations 
attempted, 515; Sumter attacked, 516. 

Forts, Western, not surrendered, 262 ; in the 
Jay treaty, 272. 

Foster, British minister, 335. 

"Fourteen-Diamond-Ring" Case, the, 814. 

Fowltown, attacked, 369. 

Fox, Charles James, 308. 

Fox's Blockade, 308. 

France, explorations of, 35 ; colony of, in 
Florida, in; as a colonizing nation, in, 
115, 129; immigrants from, 145; treaties 
of alliance and commerce, 1778, 198-200; 
volunteers, 198; sends d'Estaing, 200; 
army at Yorktown, 212; relations with, 
1793, 266; neutrality proclamation, 266; 
GenSt in America, 266 ; interpreting the 
treaties, 267; in American politics, 271, 
276; attitude toward neutral trade, 271, 
279; and Monroe's mission, 277; refuses 
to receive Pinckney, 278; seizes American 
ships, 279; feeling against, 279; warships 
attacked, 281 ; three commissioners sent, 
279; X, Y, Z papers, 280; treaty of 1800, 
282; settles claims, 417-419; seizing 
American ships, 313, 316; in Mexico, 589, 
643; and confederate arms, 589; Seward 
and Mexico, 643. See Napoleon. 

Franklin, battle of, 538. 

Franklin, Benjamin, and Pennsylvania 
militia, 105; at Albany congress, 1754, 
123; supports acquisition of Canada, 
130, 161; and Philadelphia culture, 155; 
on stamp act, 168; and "common sense," 
186; and declaration of independence, 
187; in Paris, 198; peace commissioner, 
114; opposed to Cincinnati, 229; in Con- 
stitutional Convention, 242, 245. 

Franklin, General, at Fredericksburg, 556. 

"Franklin, State of," 234. 

Frayser's Farm, battle of, 549. 

Frederick the Great, on Washington, 192. 
Fredericksburg, battle of, 555-557- 
Free coinage. See Silver. 
Freedmen, attitude in 1865, 601, 603; 
"forty acres and a mule," 603; receive 
the franchise, 607, 609-611; as citizens, 
620; republicans, 622 ; on the juries, 637. 
Freedmen's Bureau, created, 603 ; bill of 
1866, 605. 



Freeman's Farm, battles of, 197. 
Free Soil Party, organized, 452; in 1852, 
, 48s. 
P>6mont, J. C, in California, 449 ; nominated 

for presidency, 495 ; in Missouri, 542, 

577 ; emancipation order, 578. 
French, activity in Ohio valley, 121; in the 

English colonies, 145. 
French and Indian wars, 11 5-130; influence 

of, 100. 
Frenchtown, 323. 
Friar lands, ^12. 
Frolic, the, 327, 328. 
Frontenac, services to New France, 115, 

116; control of the lakes, 116; and the 

Iroquois, 117. 
Frontenac, Fort, destroyed, 125, 126. 
Frontier, advance in colonial times, 2, 100. 
P'rontiersmen, American-born, 148. 
Fugitive Slave Law, 351; a new, 455, 457; 

not enforced, 486. 
Fur seal controversy, 767. 
Fur trade, 4. 

Gage, General, commander-in-chief, 171; 
in Boston, 178, 180; attempts to seize 
supplies, 180; Bunker Hill, 181. 
Gaines's Mill, battle of, 548. 
Gallatin, Albert, and whisky insurrection, 
268; secretary of treasury, 292; financial 
policy, 293 ; compared with Hamilton, 
294; and war finance, 319, 320, 321; 
commissioner at Ghent, 334. 
Gama, Vasco da, reaches India, 34. 
Game, destroyed in the West, 683. 
Garfield, James A., announces radical pro- 
gram, 608 ; nominated for presidency, 
702 ; elected, 702 ; cabinet, 703 ; relation 
to civil service reform, 704, 708 ; death of, 
705- 
Garrison, W. L., work of, 429. 
Gas pee, destroyed, 175, note. 
Gates, General, against Burgoyne, 197 ; 
command in the South, 207 ; superseded, 
208; and army plot, 224. 
Guam, acquisition of, 806. 
Genesee lands, 341. 

Gengt, in the United States, 266 ; on Wash- 
ington, 266; and the republicans, 266, 271. 
Geneva, arbitration tribunal at, 673. 
Georgia, established, 109; government of, 
no; relations with Spaniards, no; White- 
field, Rev. George, no; and stamp act, 
168; overrun by British, 206; recovered 
by Americans, 211; ratifies the constitu- 
tion, 248 ; and Western lands, 263, 264 ; 
and parties, 271 ; and Yazoo claims, 301, 



864 



INDEX 



302 ; cedes lands, 344 ; Indians to be 
removed, 344 ; immigration to, 344 ; land 
grants in Fletcher v. Peck, 358; and the 
Cherokees, 400, 407, 466 ; rejects nullifica- 
tion, 400 ; Indians removed, 466 ; Governor 
Jenkins removed, 623; military govern- 
ment restored, 625 ; readmitted, 625 ; 
republicans overthrown, 631. 

Georgia v. Stanton, case of, 612. 

Germain, Lord, 192, 193. 

Germans, settled in the colonies, 146. 

Germ'i.ntown, battle of, 194. 

Germany, in Samoa, 765, our Samoan rela- 
tions with, 765-766 ; feeling in regard to 
war with Spain, 790; her fleet in Manila 
Bay, 792 ; and Venezuelan debts, 826. 

Gerry, Elbridge, commissioner to France, 
279, 280; vice-president, 319. 

Gettysburg, battle of, 559-562. 

Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, and colonization, 
42. 

Glacial period, influence of, 6. 

Gloucester, the, 800, Soi. 

Glover, Colonel, 190. 

Goethals, G. W., at Panama, 822. 

Gold, deposits of, 10. 

Gold, in Hayti, 30; in California, 480; 
mining of, 677-680. 

Gold plank, adopted by republicans, 760. 

Goldsboro, N. C, Sherman halts at, 541. 

Gorges, Sir Ferdinando, 62, 70. 

Gorman, A. P., opposed to Cleveland, 721. 

Gosnold, Bartholomew, aids colonization, 
45 ; a Virginia councillor, 47. 

Gould, Jay, scheme to corner gold, 646. 

Gourgues, Dominique de, in. 

Government, colonial, Virginia, 45, 49; 
Maryland, 53; Plymouth, 61, 62; Massa- 
chusetts, 64 ; New Haven, 69 ; New Eng- 
land confederation, 71 ; in New Nether- 
land, 74 ; in Carolinas, 82, 83 ; in New 
York, 83 ; the New York assembly, 84 ; 
influence of revolution of 1688, 100; 
voting money, 101-102. 

Governor, salary of, 101-102. 

Graham, William A., nominated for vice- 
presidency, 485. 

"Granger Laws," 734. 

Grant, Colonel, against the Cherokees, 131. 

Grant, U. S., campaign in the Tennessee, 
527-529; at Forts Henry and Donelson, 
527 ; confident position on the Tennessee, 
528; at battle of Shiloh, 528; operations 
against Vicksburg, 530-532; at Chatta- 
nooga, 34; lieutenant-general, 535; trans- 
ferred to Virginia, 535 ; from the Wilder- 
ness to Petersburg, 563-564; pursues 



Lee, 567 ; at Appomattox, 567 ; secretary 
of war, 614; quarrel with Johnson, 614; 
attitude toward reconstruction, 633, 
645 ; nominated for presidency, 641 ; 
elected, 643 ; his political errors, 644 ; 
cabinet, 644 ; and civil service reform, 
646 ; the Gould-Fish scheme, 646 ; renom- 
inated, 648 ; reelected, 649 ; as president, 
649 ; relation with whisky ring, 65 1 ; and 
Belknap scandal, 652; candidate for 
third term in 1876, 652; in 1880, 702; 
Santo Domingo treaty, 671; trip around 
the world, 702 ; and civil service reform, 
707. 

Grasse, Count de, in the Chesapeake, 212. 

Graves, Admiral, to aid of Cornwallis, 212. 

"Great Awakening," the, 150. 

Great Meadows, 122. 

Greeks and sphericity of the earth, 26. 

Greeley, Horace, on emancipation, 579; 
on JeSerson Davis's bond, 641 ; nomi- 
nated by liberal republicans, 648 ; indorsed 
by the democrats, 648 ; death of, 649. 

Green, Duff, 402. 

Greenback Party, 697, 698, 702. 

Greene, Nathaniel, at Bunker Hill, 182 ; 
at Brooklyn, 189; at Forts Washington 
and Lee, 191 ; in command in the South, 
208 ; retreat in North Carolina, 209 ; at 
Guilford Courthouse, 210; returns to 
South Carolina, 210; success in the 
South, 211. 

Greenville, Fort, treaty of, 263. 

Grenville, George, colonial policy of, 162- 
164 

Grenville, Sir Richard, at Roanoke Island, 
42. 

Groveton, Jackson at, 552. 

Guadaloupe Hidalgo, treaty of, 450. 

Guadeloupe, not ceded in 1763, 129. 

Guantanamo, seized, 795. 

Guerriere, the, and impressments, 317; taken 
by the ConstikUion, 327. 

Guilford Courthouse, battle of, 210. 

Habeas Corpus, suspension of, 585, 586; 

act concerning, 613. 
Hahn, Governor, in Louisiana, 597. 
"Hair Buyer," the, 203, 204. 
Hakluyt, Richard, and Virginia colonization, 

44. 
Hale, John P., 452 ; nominated in 1852, 

485. 
Hale, Nathan, 190. 
"Half-Breeds," 695. 
"Halfway Covenant," the, 150. 
Halleck, General, commands in the West, 



INDEX 



86s 



527; takes Corinth, 529; called to Wash- 
ington, 530; and Pope, 550. 
Hamet, 295. 

Hamilton, the "Hair Buyer," 203, 204. 
Hamilton, Alexander, at Yorktown, 213; 
desires strong government, 223 ; defends a 
tory, 231; plan in constitutional conven- 
tion, 243; and the "Federalist," 247; on 
ratification, 249 ; secretary of the treasury, 
257; financial system, 259-261; and the 
bank, 261; his nationalism, 261; and the 
whisky insurrection, 267-269 ; and feder- 
alist party, 270; and Washington, 271; 
opposed to Adams, 273, 276, 282, 287, 
289; private character attacked, 278; 
and command of army, 281 ; defeats 
Burr, 289 ; compared with Gallatin, 294 ; 
defeats Burr's plots, 301 ; killed by Burr, 
301. 
Hampton, Wade, 324; and South Carolina 

governorship, 655, 657, 694. 
Hampton Roads, reached by the Virginia 

colonists, 46. 
Hampton Roads conference, 566. 
Hancock, John, colonial leader, 172; and 
Shays's Rebellion, 236; and ratification, 
248. 
Hancock, W. S., military governor, 623 ; 

nominated for presidency, 702. 
Hanna, M. A., and McKinley, 1896, 760; 
suggested for nomination in 1904, 832. 
Harding, Sir John, and the Alabama, 523. 
Harlem, battle of, 190. 
Harmar, Fort, treaty of, 262. 
Harmon, Judson, candidate for nomination, 

84s, 846. 
Harper's Ferry, John Brown at, 502-504 ; 

captured by Jackson, 554. 
Harrisburg, threatened by Ewell, 559. 
Harrison, Benjamin, and the civil service, 
709 ; nominated, 722 ; elected, 723 ; cabinet, 
723; not popular, 748; and Blaine, 749; 
split with Quay, 749 ; renominated, 749 ; 
defeated, 750; maintaining the reserve, 
752 ; and Hawaii, 773. 
Harrison, W. H., at Tippecanoe, 318; on 
the Canadian frontier, 323 ; recovers 
Detroit, 323 ; at battle of the Thames, 
323 ; and the land sales, 343 ; supported 
for presidency, 1836, 425; elected presi- 
dent, 434; death of, 435. 
Harrison's Landing, 549. 
Hartford, settled by Dutch, 69 ; arrival of 

English, 69; expulsion of Dutch, 75. 
Harvard College founded, 153; curriculum, 

153. 
Harvard University, development of, 480. 



Havana, taken by the British, 129. 
Haverhill, taken by French and Indians, 117. 
Hawaii, early history, 771 ; work of mis- 
sionaries, 772 ; treaty with, 772 ; revolu- 
tion of 1893, 772 ; annexation refused, 
772. 773 ; annexation accomplished, 773 ; 
present status, 774. 
Hawkins, Captain John, and the slave trade, 

41. 
Hay, John, treaty with England, 817 ; con- 
vention with Herran, 818; treaty with 
Panama, 820; and China, 822-824. 

Hayes, R. B., nominated, 653; disputed 
returns, 654 ; declared elected, 657 ; 
attitude toward South, 658, 693, 694- 
695 ; cabinet, 694 ; a divided party, 695 ; 
as president, 703 ; and civil service reform, 
708; and an isthmian canal, 816. 

Hayes, Mrs., in the White House, 703. 

Haymarket anarchists, 742. 

Hayne, R. Y., in debate with Webster, 
396-398. 

Hayne-Webster debate, 396-398. 

Hay-Pauncefote treaty, 817. 

Hayti, discovered, 29; settled, 30, 31. 

Hearst, W. R., 835. 

Heath, Sir Robert, 52. 

Helper, H. R., his "Impending Crisis," 504. 

Hendricks, Thomas A., nominated for vice- 
presidency, 653, 716. 

Henry, Fort, captured, 527. 

Henry, John, 335. 

Henry, Patrick, resolutions on stamp act, 
166; committee of correspondence, 174; 
and George Rogers Clark, 203 ; opposes 
ratification, 249; on amendments, 257. 

Hepburn rate-bill, 833. 

Hepburn v. Griswold, 663. 

Herkimer, General, 196. 

Highlanders, settled in the colonies, 147. 

Hill, A. P., at Mechanicsville, 548; in Gettys- 
burg campaign, 558, 559, 560. 

HiU, D. B., opposed to Cleveland, 720; 
governor of New York, 720; waives oppo- 
sition to Cleveland, 722; and the Cleve- 
land vote, 7 23 ; candidate for nomination, 
750; speech at Chicago convention, 759. 

Hill, D. H., at Mechanicsville, 548; lost 
dispatch to, 554. 

Hillsborough, Lord, secretary of the colonies, 
171. 

Hoar, E. R., attorney -general, 644; dis- 
missed, 645. 

Hobson, R. P., at Santiago, 794. 

Hojeda, 31, 32, 36. 

Holden, W. W., Governor, 600; appeals to 
martial law, 631 ; impeached, 632. 



3K 



866 



INDEX 



HoUand. See Dutch. 

Hood, General, succeeds Johnston, 537 ; 
fights around Atlanta, 537; threatens 
Sherman's base, 537 ; movement against 
Nashville, 538; beaten, 530. 
Hooker, General, in Tennessee, 534; at 
Lookout Mountain, 534; at Fredericks- 
burg, 557 ; in command, 557 ; Chancellors- 
ville, 557-558. 
Hooker, Rev. Thomas, 69. 
Hornet, the, sinks the Peacock, 327. 
Horse Shoe Bend, battle of, 332. 
"Hortalez et Cie," 198. 
Houston, Sam, in Texas, 421. 
Howard, General, at Chancellorsville, 558. 
Howe, Elias, 465. 

Howe, General George, death of, 126. 
Howe, General William, at Bunker Hill, 
181; succeeds Gage, 182; operations at 
New York, 188-191 ; Philadelphia cam- 
paign, 194-195; superseded, 200; battle 
of Monmouth, 200; not in cooperation 
with Burgoyne, 193, 195 ; expedition 
against Philadelphia, 193-194. 
Howe, Lord, ofi New York, 188; meets 

d'Estaing, 201. 
"Hubbell, My dear," 704. 
Hudson, Henry, explorations of, 72. 
Hudson Bay Company, founded, 119. 
Hudson river, desired by France, 116. 
Huguenots, in South Carolina, 83 ; settled 

in colonies, 145. 
Hull, Captain Isaac, 327. 
Hull, General, at Detroit, 322. 
Humphreys, Governor, removed from office, 

623. 
Hunkers, 451 ; at convention of 1848, 

452. 
Hurons, and the French, 113. 
Hutchinson, Mrs. Anne, her heresy, 66; 

trial, 67 ; banished, 67 ; death, 67. 
Hutchinson, Chief Justice, 167. 
Hyde, Edward. See Lord Combury. 

Idaho, territory and state, 678, 680, 748. 

Illinois, territory created, 344; county of, 
204 ; Black Hawk war, 466. 

Immigration, 1815-1861, 461-462; distribu- 
tion of, 462 ; and politics, 462 ; growth 
after civil war, 665; Chinese, 774; Japan- 
ese, 776. 

Impeachment of Johnson, collecting evi- 
dence, 613; the trial, 615-617. 

Impressment of seamen, 306; a cause of 
war, 313 ; and Chesapeake-Leopard affair, 
314; negotiations concerning, 315; not 
settled at Ghent, 334. 



Income tax, amendment suggested, 838; 

adopted, 838. 
Independence, two groups of opinion, 186, 
187; states recommend, 187; declara- 
tion of, 187. 
Independents, the, as a political force, 693 ; 
relation to civil service reform, 707-708 ; 
in campaign of 1884, 718. 
Indians, hold back the frontier, 2; and 
early man, 12; classification of, 13-15; 
Algonquian family, 13 ; Iroquoian family, 
14; Muskhogean family, 14; Siouan 
family, 14; Caddoan family, 14; Sho- 
shonean family, 14; Shahaptian family, 
14; Salishan family, 14; Athapascan 
family, 14; Eskimauan family, 14; Pa- 
cific coast tribes, 15; culture of, 15-21; 
government, 15-17; the clan, 15; the 
sachem, 16; the chief, 16; the council, 
16; the brotherhood, 17; names, 17; 
wars, 17; leading tribes, 18; wars against 
whites, 18; character, 19; mind, 19; 
religion, 19; mythology, 20; houses, 20; 
pueblos, 20; and civilization, 21; present 
state, 2 1 ; called such by Columbus, 29 ; 
enslaved, 30; harsh treatment by Span- 
iards, 30; of Virginia, 47, 48; wars in 
Virginia, 51 ; relations with Plymouth 
colony, 61 ; Pequot war, 70 ; war against 
New Netherland, 73; King Philip's war, 
92; raids on New England, 116, 117, 
118; relations with English, 121 ; Southern 
friendship sought by France and England, 
121 ; trade with Southern, 121 ; Cherokeea 
at war, 1759, 130; treaty at Fort Niagara, 
132 ; war in Ohio, 262 ; treaty of Green- 
ville, 263 ; depredations in the South, 
265 ; punished by Tennesseeans, 265 ; 
plans of Tecumseh, 318; the Southern, 
318; Creeks subdued, 332; Northwestern 
pressed back, 344; Seminole war, 368; 
in Georgia, 400; status of a tribe, 400; 
process of removal, 465-468; Black 
Hawk war, 466; reservation system, 
468; of the Far West, 683-689; arrival 
of white men, 683 ; game destroyed, 
683 ; far western tribes, 683 ; wars of, 
684-689; commission of 1 867-1 868, 685; 
Sioux commission, 688 ; treaties not to be 
made with, 690; Dawes act, 690; Burke 
act, 690; late poUcy, 690, 691. 
Indiana, territory created, 344. 
Indiana, the, 800, 801. 
Indian territory, conditions of, 467. 
Indigo, a staple crop, 8. 
Industrial combinations. See Combina- 
tions. 



INDEX 



867 



Industry, after the revolution, 225; after 

civil war, 664-666. 
Inhabitants, early, 11-13. 
Injunctions, use against strikers, 744. 
"Insular Cases," 814. 
Insurance, life, investigating the companies, 

833- 
Insurgents, the, origin of, 837 ; victory over 

Cannon, 838; in campaign of 191 2, 843; 

found the progressive party, 847. 
Internal improvements, policy of, 365 ; 

bonus bill vetoed, 365 ; by the states, 

366 ; checked by Jackson, 394-396 ; 

Cumberland road bill, 395 ; Calhoun's 

report on, 395 ; later history of, 396. 
Interstate commerce act, 735 ; powers of 

commission increased, 833, 839. 
Iowa, a state, 463. 
Iowa, the, 800, 801. 
Iron, deposits, 8, 10; early manufacture 

of, 10. 
Iroquois, 18; attitude toward French, 112; 

{X)wer of, 113; relations with the EngUsh, 

114; Frontenac and, 117, 118; recognized 

as British subjects, 119; and the Albany 

congress, 122. 
Irrigation, 849. 
Island No. 10, 529. 
Isthmian canal, and Clayton-Bulwer treaty, 

4S8. 
Isthmian canal project, early history of, 

814-817; French canal, 815-816; Hayes's 

idea, 816; Nicaraguan, 817; Panama, 

817-818, 821-822. 
Italy, and Mafia incident, 767. 
Itata, the, 769. 

Jackson, Andrew, and Burr, 304; to serve 
against Florida, 332 ; conquers the Creeks, 
332; at Pensacola, 332; New Orleans 
campaign, 332-334; enters Florida, 369; 
attacked by Clay, 370; candidate for 
presidency, 1824, 377, 378, 379-380; 
his party in 1825-1829, 382; attack on 
Adams, 384; as party leader, 388; party 
demands, 389; elected, 390; inaugurated, 
392 ; his cabinet, 392 ; checks internal 
improvements, 394-396; "Union" toast, 
399; attitude toward Georgia, 400; open 
breach with Calhoun, 401 ; cabinet reor- 
ganized, 402 ; renominated, 402, 404 ; 
elected, 405 ; denounces nullification, 
408; and the "force bill," 410; "war" 
against the bank, 411-415; idea of a 
bank, 412; resolutions of censure, 415; 
and West India Trade, 415-417; the 
French claims, 417-419; and the surplus. 



424; on Van Buren's Texas letter, 442; 
Georgia Indians removed, 466 ; relation 
to democratic reform, 474. 

Jackson, F. J., minister from England, 
316, 335- 

Jackson, Fort, treaty of, 332. 

Jackson, Stonewall, at Bull Run, 519; 
diversion in the valley, 547 ; at Cedar 
Mountain, 551; takes Harper's Ferry, 
554 ; at Antietam, 555 ; at Fredericksburg, 
556; at Chancellorsville, 557; death of, 
558. 

Jackson, Mississippi, captured by Grant, 
531. 

James I, and the colonies, 76. 

Jameson, J. Franklin, and Venezuelan 
boundary, 780. 

James river, opened by the federals, 546; 
McClellan reaches, 549. 

Jamestown, settled, 47 ; early history, 47- 
50 ; natural beauty, 47 ; disease at, 47 ; 
starvation, 48 ; land distributed, 49. 

Japan, relations with, 775-777 ; war with 
Russia, 824; at treaty of Portsmouth, 
824. 

Jay, John, peace commissioner, 214; and 
the "Federalist," 247; on ratification, 
249; negotiates treaty, 272. 

Jay Cooke and Co., failure of, 666. 

Jefferson, Thomas, 174; and the declaration 
of independence, 187 ; and Northwest, 232 ; 
secretar>' of state, 257 ; and assumption, 
260; against the bank, 261 ; forms republi- 
can party, 270 ; leaves cabinet, 271 ; elected 
vice-president, 274; and election of 1796, 
274; declines French ministry, 276; 
reply to alien and sedition laws, 285 ; 
elected president, 288-290; views of, 
291-292 ; inaugurated, 291-292 ; cabinet, 
292 ; appointments, 292 ; and the federal 
courts, 294 ; and Louisiana purchase, 
296-299; popularity of, 300; and Burr, 
300 ; and Randolph, 301 ; reelected, 302 ; 
and trade restrictions, 307-3 1 1 ; and 
Monroe treaty, 310; and embargo act, 
3 1 0-3 1 1 ; on the Chesapeake-Leopard affair, 
315 ; failure of his gunboats, 326. 

Jefferson and the state university, 479. 

Jenckes, Thomas, and civil service reform, 
707- 

Jenkins, Governor, removed, 623. 

Jesuits, in Canada, 113. 

Jews, in the colonies, 147. 

Johnson, Andrew, nominated for vice-presi- 
dency, 584, 590; as president, 599; his 
plan of reconstruction, 599-601 ; relations 
with his cabinet, 600; amnesty of, 600; 



868 



INDEX 



pKjpularity in 1865, 604; projected party, 
604; vetoes freedmen's bureau bill, 605; 
popularity wanes, 605 ; vetoes civil rights 
bill, 606 ; enforces congressional recon- 
struction, 611; " swinging-around-the-cir- 
cle," 611; impeachment of, 613-617; 
acquittal, 616-617; and negro suffrage, 
622. 

Johnson, Hiram, nominated for vice-pres- 
idency, 847. 

Johnson, Reverdy, 670. 

Johnson, R. M., 318; elected vice-president, 
425- 

Johnson, Sir William, 124. 

Johnson-Clarendon convention, 670. 

Johnston, A. S., defense of Nashville, 528; 
falls back to Corinth, 528; attacks at 
Shiloh, 528; killed, 528. 

Johnston, Joseph E., at Bull Run, 5ig; 
against Grant at Vicksburg, 531 ; succeeds 
Bragg, 535 ; operations against Sherman, 
535-537 ; removed, 537 ; restored to com- 
mand, 53g ; before Sherman in North 
Carolina, 540, 541 ; defending Richmond, 
545 ; wounded at Seven Pines, 548 ; 
surrenders to Sherman, 568. 

Joliet, reaches the Mississippi, 114. 

Jones, John Paul, 205. 

Jones, Willie, and John Paul Jones, 205. 

Jury, the negro on, 637. 

Kalakaua, king of Hawaii, 772. 

Kalb, arrival in America, 198 ; killed at 
Camden, 208. 

Kansas, struggle for, 489-493 ; two streams 
of settlers, 483 ; two governments, 483- 
490; statehood suggested, 490; Kansas 
debate, 490 ; violence in, 491 ; failure 
of Governor Walker, 492 ; Lecompton 
constitution, 492 ; the English bill, 493 ; 
admitted to the union, 493. 

Kansas-Nebraska act, origin of, 486; 
passed, 487 ; significance, 487 ; conse- 
quences, 489. 

Kaskaskia, 343 ; taken by Clark, 204. 
.Kearny, General, expedition to California, 
448. 

Kearney, Phil, killed in battle, 553. 

Kermebec, colony on, 46. 

Kennesaw Mountain, battle of, 536. 

Kent, General, at Santiago, 796, 797, 798. 

Kent's Island, 55. 

Kentucky, Indians attack, 203 ; aid given 
against Ferguson, 208; settled, 232, 233; 
a state, 264; threatened rebellion of, 
264; and parties, 271; struggle for union 
in. 517; defense of, 527; Bragg in, 529. 



Kentucky resolutions, 285-287. 

Key West, American fleet at, 793. 

Kidnapping, 137. 

Kieft, William, governor of New Amster- 
dam, 73. 

King, W. R., elected vice-president, 485. 

King George's War, 120. 

King's Mountain, battle of, 208. 

King WilUam's War, 116. 

"Kitchen Cabinet," 393. 

Knights of Labor, early history, 741 ; violent 
element, 742 ; and St. Louis strike, 742 ; 
and Chicago strike, 742 ; decline of, 743. 

"Know Ye" resolutions, 236. 

Know-Nothing party, origin, 493 ; failure of, 

494- 

Knox, Henry, secretary of war, 257 ; supports 
Hamilton, 261 ; and new army, 281. 

Ku Klux act, of 187 1, 629, 634. 

Ku Klux Klan, history of, 627-630 ; methods, 
628; organization, 628; congress interferes, 
629 ; achievement of, 629 ; connected with 
politics, 630; in North Carolina, 631. 

Labor, white servants, 137 ; redemptioners, 

146; department of, 851. 
Ladrone Islands, 805, 806. 
Lafayette, Marquis, volunteers, 198; at 

Monmouth, 200; in Virginia, 211. 
La Folette, Senator, presidential candidate, 

843. 

Lake George, battle of, 124. 

Lamar, L. Q. C, on Seward, 507 ; in Cleve- 
land's cabinet, 720. 

Land, bottom, 2, 7 ; distributed in Plymouth, 
61 ; distribution of, in Virginia, 49; return 
from, in early Virginia, 50 ; patroons in 
New Netherland, 73 ; distribution of, 
134; taking it up, 136; Western, 231-234; 
surrendered by states, 231; sale of, 232, 
342, 343 ; military grants, 342 ; great 
companies, 342 ; Southwestern, 345. 

Lane, Ralph, and Roanoke Island, 42. 

Lansing skulls, 12. 

La Salle, explores the Mississippi, 114. 

Las Guasimas, 796. 

Laudonniere, leads colony to Florida, in. 

Laurens, Henry, peace commissioner, 814. 

Lawrence, Captain, 327. 

Lawrence, Kansas, attacked, 491. 

Lawton, General, at Santiago, 796, 797, 798; 
carries El Caney, 798. 

Lecompton constitution, the, 492 ; Douglas 
opposes, 492 ; defeated, 493. 

Lee, Arthur, in Paris, 198. 

Lee, Fort, 188, tgi. 

LeCj General Charles, in New York cam- 



INDEX 



869 



paign, 191 ; his character, 197 ; at Mon- 
mouth, 200; dismissed, 200; on Gates, 
207. 

Lee, R. E., repulsed in West Virginia, 526; 
as commander, 545 ; takes command, 548 ; 
defeats McClellan, 548-549 ; moves against 
Pope, 551-553; the .\ntietam campaign, 
553-555; at Fredericksburg, 555-557; 
at Chancellorsville, 557-55S; invasion of 
Pennsylvania, 558; in Gettysburg cam- 
paign, 558-562 ; his generalship, 562 ; 
at the Wilderness. 563 ; at Spottsylvania, 
563 ; at Cold Harbor, 563 ; evacuates 
Richmond, 566; surrenders, 567; captures 
John Brown, 503. 

Lee, R. H., resolutions in continental con- 
gress, 187 ; on ratification, 249. 

Lee, the, 182. 

Legal tender, retiring the notes, 662 ; 
decisions on, 663-664 ; redemption of, 
668; more demanded, 668; resumption 
act, 669. 

Legal tender act, 574. 

Leif Ericsson, 23. 

Leisler, Jacob, initiates revolution, 96; 
defeat of, 102. 

Leopard,, attacked by Chesapeake, 314. 

Lepe, Diego de, 32. 

Levis, attacks Quebec, 128. 

Lewis, Meriwether, explorations, 356. 

Lewis, W. B., in "Kitchen Cabinet," 

3Q3- 

Lewis and Clark, explorations, 355. 

Lexington, battle of, 180. 

Liberal republicans, origin of, 64S ; nominate 
Greeley, 648. 

Liliuokalani, Queen, 772, 773. 

Linares, General, defender of Santiago, 
796, 797 ; errors of, 802. 

Lincoln, Abraham, in debate with Douglas, 
499-503; "House divided" speech, 500; 
destroying Douglas, 501 ; nominated for 
presidency, 508 ; elected. 509 ; attitude 
toward secession, 514; first inaugural, 
515; calls for volunteers, 517; and Mc- 
Clellan, 545, 546, 549 ; and emancipation, 
577-581 ; at Hampton Roads, 566 ; 
assassinated, 568 ; his greatness, 568 ; 
war policy criticized, 581, 582 ; his renom- 
ination opposed, 583; renominated, 584; 
reelected, 584; military law, 585, 586; 
plan of reconstruction, 596-599; amnesty 
proclamation, 596 ; and the Wade-Davis 
bill, 597 ; and negro suffrage, 597, 622. 

Lincoln-Douglas debates, 499-502 ; elTect of, 
502. 

Lincoln, General, at Charleston, 207 ; receives 



Cornwallis's sword, 213; and Shays's 
Rebellion, 236. 

Little Big Horn, battle of, 6SS. 

LitUe Sarah, the, 267. 

Livingston, Edward, minister to Paris, 
418. 

Livingston, Robert R., 187; on ratification, 
249; and Louisiana purchase, 297-299. 

"Locofocos," 433. 

Lodge, H. C, in campaign of 1884, 716. 

Logan, General J. A., nominated for vice- 
presidency, 716. 

Logan, James A., culture of, 155. 

London Company, created, 45, 46 ; reformed, 
50; services to Virginia, 51 ; and Mar>- 
land settlement, 52 ; and Pilgrims, 52, 

59- 

Longstreet, General, at Chickamauga, 
533 ; at Knoxville, 534 ; at second 
Bull Run, 552 ; at Fredericksburg, 
556 ; in Gettysburg campaign, 559, 
560, 561. 

Lookout Mountain, capture of, 534. 

Lords of Trade, 77. 

Lorimer, Senator, investigation, 842. 

Loudon, Fort, captured, 130. 

Louisburg, taken by colonials, 120, futile 
expedition against, 125; taken, 125, 126. 

Louisiana, early history, 115; purchase of, 
296-299 ; boundaries of, 299 ; and Burr's 
scheme, 304 ; territory of, 345 ; territory 
of Orleans, 345 ; admitted to union, 345 ; 
population of, 1810, 345 ; reconstructed 
under Lincoln, 596; readmitted, 624; 
republicans overthrown, 633 ; disputed 
returns in 1876, 655, 657 ; surrendered 
to democrats, 657. 

Louis XIV, and New France, 115. 

Lowndes, William, elected to congress, 31S; 
on the tariff, 364. 

Lumber industry-, 6. 

Lundy, Benjamin, work of, 428. 

Lundy's Lane, battle of, 325. 

Lutheran Church. 354. 

Lyon, General, and Missouri secessionists, 
517, 526; death of, 526; defense of Mis- 
souri, 541. 

Lyttleton, Governor, and Cherokee war 
130. 

McCardle, ex parte, case of, 613. 

McClellan, General, in West Virginia, 520, 
526; in command in Virginia, 545 ; tardi- 
ness, 545 ; in the Peninsular campaign, 
546-550 ; controversy over, 550 ; in the 
Antietam campaign, 554 ; nominated 
for presidency, 584. 



870 



INDEX 



McCormick reaper, invented, 465. 
McCuUoch, Hugh, as financier^ 660; his 

refunding plans, 661. 
McCulloch V. Maryland, case of, 359. 
MacDonald, Donald, 183. 
MacDonough, Captain, victory on Lake 

Champlain, 325. 
McDowell, General, in Bull Run campaign, 

519; and McClellan, 546, 547; at second 

Bull Run, 554. 
Macedonian, the, 327, 328. 
McGillivray, Alexander, 265. 
McHenry, Fort, defended against British, 

330. 
McHenry, James, dismissed from the cabinet, 

287. 
McKinley, William, Jr., and the civil service, 

711; and the tarifif, 715; as leader, 723; 

his tariff bill, 724-726; effect of, 727; 

nominated, i8g6, 760; campaign of, 761; 

elected, 762 ; attitude toward Spain, 

787, 789; and the Maine, 788; demands 

armistice in Cuba, 789 ; suggests war, 

789 ; responsible for Manila, 792 ; and 

Schley-Sampson controversy, 804; and 

acquisition of the Philippines, 805 ; 

reelected, 827 ; death of , 827 ; later policy 

of, 829. 
McKinley tariff and Sherman silver law, 

747- 

McLane, Lewis, and the bank, 412, 413; 
and West Indian trade, 417. 

McLean, J. J., for president, 425 ; in Dred 
Scott case, 498. 

Macomb, General, 325. 

Macon, Nathaniel, speaker, 303; "Macon's 
Bill No. 2," 311, 313. 

"Macon's Bill No. 2," 311, 313, 317. 

Madison, on Potomac smugglers, 241 ; 
"Notes" on constitutional debates, 242; 
author of Virginia plan, 243 ; and the 
"Federalist," 247; supports ratification, 
249 ; and first revenue bill, 257 ; position 
on refunding, 259 ; retaliatory resolu- 
tions, 272; declines French ministry, 276; 
and Virginia Resolutions, 285-287 ; sec- 
retary of state, 292 ; disliked by Randolph, 
302 ; elected president, 311; hoodwinked 
by Napoleon, 317; favors war party, 
319; renominated, 319; reelected, 319. 

Mafia Incident, 767. 

Magellan, voyage of, 33. 

Mails, use for antislavery literature, 430. 

Maine, early settlements in, 62, 70; hold of 
British in, 331 ; a state, 373; boundary 
dispute, 437-438; prohibition in, 480. 

Maine, the, destroyed at Havana, 787, 788. 



Maiden, Fort, 321; Hull before, 322; evac- 
uated, 323. 

Malvern Hill, battle of, 549. 

Manassas, battle of, 552. 

Mangum, W. P., 426. 

Manhattan Island. See New York. 

Manila, battle of, 791 ; holding the bay, 
792 ; Aguinaldo at, 809 ; capture of, 792, 
809. 

Manley, John, 182. 

Manufactures, colonial, 140; British restric- 
tions on, 141; new era of, 348; early, 
349 ; effect of embargo, 349 ; effect on 
society, 349 ; demand a tariff, 364, 384- 
386 ; growth of, 463 ; combination in, 
736-740. 

Maps of America, early, 36. 

Marbois, and Louisiana purchase, 299. 

Marbury v. Madison, case of, 357. 

Marco Polo, 26. 

Marcy, W. L., a Hunker, 451. 

Maria Teresa, the, 800, 801. 

Marietta, settled, 342. 

Marion, partisan leader, 207 ; under Greene, 
210. 

Marquette, Father, reaches the Mississippi, 
114. 

Marshall, John, on ratification, 249; com- 
missioner to France, 279; secretary of 
state, 276, 287 ; Chief Justice, 291 ; at 
Burr's trial, 305 ; influence on the constitu- 
tion, 357-360. 

Marshall, Thomas R., nominated for vice- 
president, 847. 

Martin, Luther, 242, 245. 

Martinique, not ceded in 1763, 129. 

Marye's Heights, 556. 

Maryland, early history, 52-57 ; government 
of. S3. 54 ; religious toleration, 53 ; first 
colony, 53, 54 ; the assembly, 54 ; manors 
in, 55 ; Jesuits in, 55 ; struggle for Kent's 
Island, 55; and Virginia politics, 56; 
civil war in, 57 ; toleration act of 1649, 
57; battle of Providence, 57; and the 
restoration, 80; reactionary government 
under Charles Calvert, 88; revolution, 
89, 97; trade, 142; religion in, 151; and 
western lands, 232; confers with Virginia 
on trade, 241 ; struggle for union in, 517 ; 
Lee invades, 553-555 ; mihtary arrests 
in, 585- 

Mason, Captain John, 62, 70. 

Mason, George, on ratification, 249. 

Mason and SUdell, seized on the Trent, 522. 

Massachusetts, early settlements in, 62, 63. 

Massachusetts, and New England confeder- 
ation, 7 1 ; during the restoration period. 



INDEX 



871 



80 ; charter annulled, 93 ; and the Dom- 
inion of New England, 94 ; rule of .\ndros, 
93-95 ; overthrow of Andros, 96 ; new char- 
ter, 97; salary controversy, loi ; and paper 
money, 158; resists stamp act, 167; 
resists quartering troops, 169; in the 
revolutionary quarrel, 170; parliament 
censures, 171; troops sent, 171; com- 
mittees appointed, 174; charter changed 
by parliament, 176; general sympathy for, 
177; Shays's Rebellion, 236; ratifies the 
constitution, 248 ; public schools in, 476 ; 
work of Horace Mann, 477 ; cedes Maine, 

373- 
Massachusetts, the, 800, 801. 
Massachusetts Bay, colony of, charter, 63 ; 

population, 64 ; early government, 64 ; 

the franchise, 65 ; suspected by the king, 

66. See Massachusetts. 
Massasoit, 61. 

Matamoras, taken by Taylor, 447. 
Mather, Rev. Cotton, and witchcraft, 149. 
Mather, Rev. Increase, and witches, 149. 
Mayflower, voyage of, 60. 
"Mayflower Compact," the, 61. 
Mays\-iUe veto, 395. 
Meade, General, in command, 559 ; in 

Gettysburg campaign, 559-562. 
"Meat Trust," 839. 
MechanicsviUe, battle of, 548. 
Mecklenburg county, resolves of, 180. 
"Mediterranean Fund," 293. 
Menendez, Pedro, iii. 

Merrimac, the, 569 ; sunk at Santiago, 794. 
Merritt, Wesley, at Manila, 792, 810. 
Methodist Church, founded in America, 

353 ; divided by slavery, 456, 471. 
Mexico, conquest of, 37 ; and Burr's scheme, 

304; early relations with Texas, 419; 

refuses to sell Texas, 420 ; refuses to sell 

California, 446 ; war with, 446-450 ; city 

of, taken, 450; treaty with, 450; French 

in, 589, 643. 
Michigan, territory created, 344; a state, 

463- 
Mifflin, Governor, and whisky insurrection, 

268. 
Milan Decree, 309. 
Miles, N. A., and Jefferson Davis, 64 ; 

takes Porto Rico, 801. 
Military government established in the 

South, 609-611, 622-625; supreme court 

on, 612, 613 ; reestablished in the South, 

622-625. 
Military law, in civil war, 581, 585, 586. 
Milligan, ex parte, case of, 612. 
"Millionaires panic," 739. 



Mineral oils, 10. 

Minerals, 8-1 1. 

Mining, in the Far West, 677-680; condi- 
tions, 678 ; laws, 678. 

Minnesota, a state, 463. 

Minuit, Peter, governor of New Amsterdam, 
72 ; in Delaware, 75. 

Missionary Ridge, battle of, 535. 

Mississippi, territory created, 344; popula- 
tion, 1820, 345; new Black Code in, 602; 
Governor Humphreys removed, 623; 
readmitted, 625 ; republicans overthrown, 
632; the "Mississippi plan," 632. 

Mississippi river, as a means of transporta- 
tion, 2; explored by French, 114; opened 
north and south, 529; opened at Vicks- 
burg, 532. 

Mississippi v. Johnson, case of, 612. 

Missouri, territory created, 345 ; develop- 
ment of, 371; asks for statehood, 371; 
compromise, 373; constitution of, 374; 
interest in Nebraska, 486 ; attempt to 
settle Kansas, 489 ; struggle for union 
in, 517, 526, 541-542- 

Missouri Compromise, adopted, 371-374. 

Mobile, desire to annex, 321 ; occupied, 332. 

Mobile Act, 300. 

Mobile Bay, defenses taken, 571. 

Mohawk river and transportation system, 3. 

Mohawks, 113. 

"Molasses Act," 144; renewed, 163. 

Molino del Rey, battle at, 450. 

Monck's Comers, 211. 

Money, continental, 223; paper, after the 
revolution, 236. See Pai>er money. 

Monhegan, 61. 

Monitor, contest with the Virginia, 546, 
570. 

Monmouth, battle of, 200. 

Monocacy, battle of, 565. 

Monroe, James, mission to France, 1794, 
277; his blow at Hamilton, 278; and the 
purchase of Louisiana, 299 ; and Randolph, 
302, 303; makes treaty, 310; secretary of 
state, 317, 330; elected president, 366; 
cabinet, 367 ; and Spanish-American 
states, 367 ; and parties, 368 ; reelected, 
368; and internal improvements, 395. 

Monroe Doctrine, origin of, 374; England's 
relation to, 375 ; Adams's part, 375 ; Rus- 
sia's relation to, 375; announced, 377; 
new meaning in Venezuelan incident, 
778-781 ; and the Venezuelan incident, 
778-779, 780-781, 826 ; Roosevelt on, 827. 

Montana, settled, 678 ; a territory and state, 
678, 680, 748. 

Montcalm, Marquis de, takes Fort WUliam 



872 



INDEX 



Henry, 125; impeded in Canada, 126; 
defense of Quebec, 127; death, 127. 

Monterey, taken by Taylor, 447. 

Monterey, the, at Manila, 792. 

Montgomery, Colonel, against the Cherokees, 
130. 

Montgomery, Richard, in Canada, 184. 

Montgomery, Ala., confederacy organized 
at, 511. 

Montreal, site discovered, 36 ; attempt to 
take, 116; taken by British, 128; position 
of, 321; expedition against, 322. 

Moravians, settlements of, 147. 

Morgan, General, at Cowpens, 208; pur- 
sued by Tarleton, 209 ; retreat of, 209. 

Morgan, J. P., system of banks, 740; and 
bond sales under Cleveland, 756-757. 

Morgan, William, against masonry, 403. 

Morgan, Fort, taken, 571. 

Morris, Gouvemeur, and union, 223; min- 
ister to England, 262 ; minister to France, 
277. 

Morris, Robert, superintendent of finances, 
228. 

Morris, Captain, in Tripolitan war, 295. 

Morse, invents telegraph, 465. 

Morton, L. P., vice-president, 722. 

Morton, O. P., influence at Washington, 
633; and renomination of Grant, 653. 

Motley, J. L., recall of, 645. 

Moultrie, Col., defends Charleston, 183. 

"Mound Builders," the, 12. 

Mounds, 12. 

"Mulligan Letters," 717. 

Murfreesboro, Buel, at, 529; battle of, 
S30. 

Murray, suggests treaty with France, 282. 

Napoleon, and Louisiana, 297 ; and Florida, 
302 ; restrictions on American trade, 307- 
309; hoodwinks Madison, 316. 

Narvaez, explorations of, 38. 

Nashville Convention, 457. 

Nashville, battle of, 539. 

Nast, Thomas, in campaign of 1872, 649. 

National republicans, 403. 

National silver party, 761. 

Native American movement, 462. 

Naturalization, law of 1795, 283; law of 
1798, 283 ; law of 1802, 283. 

Natural resources, 4-1 1 ; preservation of, 
849-850. 

Nature, influence of, i. 

Navigation Acts, ordinance of 1651, 78; 
later acts, 81 ; in practice, 143 ; evaded, 
144; to be enforced, 163; and the revolu- 
tion, 163; and Massachusetts, 170; bear- 



ing on post-revolutionary trade, 226; 
receding, 416. 

Navy, in the revolution, 204-206 ; against 
France, 279, 281; seize French ships, 
281 ; department of , created, 281 ; Jefferson, 
and, 293 ; in war with Tripoli, 295 ; war 
party favors, 319; condition of in 181 2, 
320, 326; naval warfare, 326-329; new 
ships, 327, 328; after war of 1812, 363; 
federal, Ln the civil war, 569-571 ; at New 
Orleans, 529 ; Uberal appropriations under 
Harrison, 727. 

Nebraska, demand for a territory of, 
486. 

Necessity, Fort, 122. 

Neesima, J. H., work in Japan, 775. 

Negroes. See Freedmen, 601. 

Negro troops, 573; as prisoners, 573-574. 

Neutrality proclamation, 266. 

Nevada, settled, 677 ; state and territory, 
677, 680. 

New Amsterdam. See New York. 

Newburg address, the, 223. 

New England, council of, 61, 62 ; and New 
Hampshire, 70; the town, 134; Ufein, 137; 
trade in, 142; 163; religion in, 148, 150; 
education, 153; local government in, 156; 
privateers, 205 ; British sympathy in, 
331, 335-338; ignored by agricultural 
states, 335 ; hopes from Canada, 335 ; 
migration westward, 341 ; rise of manu- 
factures, 349; disestablishment in, 355; 
and the tariff, 385, 386-387. 

New England confederation, origin of, 71 ; 
constitution of, 71 ; decay of, 71. 

New France, condition of, 1628, 112 ; explored, 
iii; settled, 112; Jesuits in, 113; and 
Indian trade, 121 ; in the Ohio valley, 121. 

New Haven, settled, 69 ; government of, 69 ; 
united with New Haven, 80. 

New Hampshire, early history, 62, 70; falls 
to Massachusetts, 70 ; and the Dominion of 
New England, 94 ; and the revolution, 
97 ; ratifies the constitution, 248. 

New Jersey, created, 81, 85 ; East and West 
Jersey, 85 ; granted to Duke of York, 85 ; 
Quaker control, 85 ; and the Dominion 
of New England, 94 ; and the revolution, 
97 ; campaign in, 191 ; tories in, 191 ; recov- 
ered, 192 ; ratifies the constitution, 247. 

New London, taken by Arnold, 212. 

New Mexico, attempt of Polk to purchase, 
446 ; occupied by Kearney, 448 ; not made 
a territory, 453; made a territory, 455, 
457; mining in, 678; territory and state, 
680 ; statehood granted, 85 1 . 

New Netherland. See New York. 



INDEX 



873 



New Orleans, campaign of, 332-334; capture 
of, 529; Mafia riots at, 767. 

Newport, Captain Christopher, in Virginia, 
46, 48. 

Newport, held by British, 192 ; siege of, 200. 

Newspaper ownership, 842. 

New York, explored and settled by Dutch, 
72 ; patroon system, 73 ; disorders in, 73 ; 
Indian wars, 73 ; government, 74 ; Eng- 
lish settlers on Long Island, 75 ; acquired 
by the English, 75 ; government, 83 ; 
conquered by Dutch, 84 ; struggle for 
an assembly, 84 ; and the Dominion of 
New England, 94 ; Leisler revolution, 
96, lo? ■ governor's salary, 102 ; contest 
for assembly, 103 ; money votes in, 103, 
104 ; religion in, 152 ; mixed form of local 
government, 156; "Duke's Law," 157; 
stamp act congress, 167 ; resents quar- 
tering troops, 169 ; assembly suspended, 
170 ; operations around, 188-191 ; attitude 
in constitutional convention, 244 ; ratifies 
the constitution, 249; and parties, 270; 
settlement of western, 341 ; constitutional 
reform in, 473 ; public schools in, 477. 

New York, the, 800, 801. 

New York Central system, development of, 
733, 734- 

Niagara, Fort, expedition against, 124; 
captured, 126; Indian treaty at, 132. 

Nicaragua, canal through, 815, 816, 817. 

Nicholson, Sir Francis, governor of New 
York, 95, 96. 

NicoUs, Col. Richard, governor of New York, 
75 ; takes New Amsterdam, 76 ; approves 
the "Duke's Laws," 83. 

Ninety-six, 210, 211. 

Nomination, presidential, by convention, 
404 ; significance of, 404. See Caucus. 

Non-importation, 1765, 167; revived, 170; 
employed in 1774, 179; act of 1806, 309. 

Non-slaveholders, 469. 

Norfolk, burned, 186. 

Norsemen, discoveries by, 234. 

North and South, relative strength of, 
S18. 

North, Lord, colonial policy of, 171 ; duty 
on tea, 173 ; offers compromise, 1778, 199 ; 
resigns, 214. 

North Carolina, discovered by Spaniards, 
31 ; colony at Roanoke Island, 42 ; settle- 
ment of, 82 ; name, 82, 83 ; evolution of, 
106 ; Cary rebellion, 107 ; Indian wars, 
107 ; sale to crown, 107 ; quitrents, 107 ; 
controversy over county representation, 
13s ; trade, 143 ; race elements in, 146, 
147; religion in, 151; resists stamp act, 



168; Mecklenburg resolves, 180; loyalists 
in, 182; regulators, 183; battle of Moore's 
Creek, 183; authorizes independence, 
186; against nullification, 410; Comwallis 
in, 208-210; American retreat in, 209; 
ratifies the constitution, 249 ; and parties, 
271; constitutional reform in, 474; 
"free schools" in, 477; federal operations 
in, 570; reconstructed by Johnson, 600; 
readmitted, 624 ; Holden and martial 
law, 631 ; republicans overthrown, 632. 

North Dakota, a state, 748. 

Northeast boundary adjusted, 437. 

Northwest, conquered by Clark, 204. 

Northwest Ordinance, the first, 232; the 
second, 233; 343. 

Nova Scotia, ceded to England, 129. 

Novus MunduS; 32. 

Nullification, and the Virginia-Kentucky 
resolutions, 285-287 ; origin of, 385 ; 
Calhoun's "Exposition," 387; the theory, 
388 ; and Hayne-Webster debate, 399 ; 
Georgia rejects, 400 ; attempt to execute, 
407-410; ordinance of, 408; replevin act, 
408; Jackson's proclamation, 409; sus- 
pended, 410; compromise tariff, 410. 

Oberlin College, antislavery center, 429. 

Ocean currents, influence of, 2. 

Oglethorpe, James, founds Georgia, 109; 
governor, 109-110. 

Ohio, French posts in, taken, 125 ; settlement 
of, 232 ; territory of, 233 ; Indians at war, 
262 ; lands opened to settlers, 263 ; settle- 
ment of, 342 ; territory organized, 342 ; 
population of, 343 ; admitted to union, 

344- 

Ohio Company, 232, 342. 

"Ohio Idea," the, 642. 

Ohio valley, French in, 121, 122. 

Okechobee Swamp, battle of, 467. 

Oklahoma, 467. 

Olney, secretary, his Venezuelan dispatch, 
778. 

Olympia, the, at Manila, 791. 

Omnibus Bill, 457. 

Opechancanough, 52. 

Oqiiendo, the, 800, 801. 

Orangeburg, 211. 

Orders in Council, 308; repeal of, 319-320. 

Oregon, explored by Lewis and Clark, 356; 
condition of, 1841, 440; joint occupancy, 
440 ; a political issue, 440 ; immigration to, 
441 ; adjustment of the question, 445 ; 
made a territory, 452; becomes a state, 
463; disputed election returns of 1876, 
655, 657; vote of in 1876, 696. 



874 



INDEX 



Oregon, the, around Cape Horn, 794; at 

Santiago, 800, 801. 
Orient, American diplomacy in, 822-824. 
Orinoco river, discovered, 30. 
Oriskany, battle of, 196. 
Osceola, 466. 

Oswald, British peace commissioner, 214. 
Otis, Harrison Gray, at Hartford convention, 

337- 
Otis, James, on American rights, 165; and 

stamp act, 167; elected speaker, 169; 

wounded, 172. 
Outrages, Southern, 606 ; effects of, 606, 

625. 

Pacific, diplomacy of the, 764; importance 

of, 764. 
Pacific Coast, harbors on, 3; Indians of, 15. 
Pacific Ocean, discovered, 37. 
Pacific railroad, and the Kansas-Nebraska 

act, 486. 
Paine, Thomas, "Common Sense," 186. 
Pakenham, General, at New Orleans, $33. 
Palo Alto, battle of, 447. 
Panama, route adopted, 818; revolution in, 

818-820; republic of, 820; canal treaty, 

820; sanitation in, 821. 
Panama congress, 383. 
Panic of 1837, 432. 

Panic of 1857, 482; political effect of, 499. 
Panic of 1873, 666, 667. 
Panic of 1893, 729, 739, 753. 
Panic of 1903, 739, 831. 
Paper money, in the colonies, 157; after the 

revolution, 236 ; in Rhode Island, 236 ; 

and the Shays's Rebellion, 236. 
Paris, treaty of, 129. 
Parker, Alton B., nominated for presidency, 

832 ; at Baltimore convention, 846. 
Parson's cause, 166. 
Parties, Washington and, 269. 
Patronage, influence of, 1828, 389; under 

Jackson, 393. See Civil Service Reform, 

and Appointments to Office. 
Patroon system, 73. 

Patterson, plan of, in constitutional conven- 
tion, 244. 
Pawtucket, 349. 
Payne- Aldrich bill, 837 ; political effects of, 

837-838. 
Peace, efforts to preserve, Crittenden com- 
promise, 513; senate peace committee, 

513; peace congress, 514. 
Peace movement, confederate, 588. 
Peach Tree Creek, battle of, 537. 
Peacock, the, 327. 
Pea Ridge, battle of, 542. 



Peirpoint, F. H., government at Alexandria, 
520, 596, 601. 

Pelican, the, Drake's ship, 41. 

Pell's Point, 190. 

Pemberton, General, defense of Vicksburg, 
531 ; surrenders, 532. 

Pendleton, G. H., financial ideas, 642 ; and 
nomination of 1868, 642. 

Pendleton act, 709. 

Peninsular campaign, 545. 

Penn, family, late history of, 106. 

Penn, John, 106. 

Penn, William, interested in West Jersey, 
85 ; charter for Pennsylvania, 85 ; as a 
colonizer, 85-88 ; colony lost and restored, 
88; grants "charter of privileges," 104. 

Pennsylvania, charter, 85 ; settled, 86 ; 
government, 86, 87 ; Indians conciliated, 
86 ; Penn in the colony, 86, 87 ; boundary 
controversy, 87, 97 ; political changes in, 
104 ; new charter, 104 ; a militia organized, 
105; Germans in, 146; Scotch-Irish in, 
147; religion in, 152; university of, 154; 
education 10,154,477; ratifies constitution, 
247; the whisky insurrection, 267-269; 
parties in, 270; public schools in, 477. 

Pennsylvania railroad, development of, 

733. 734- 
Pensacola, occupied, 332, 369. 
Pensions, policy of, 726; Tanner and, 749; 

law of 1912, 851. 
People's party, organized, 752. 
Pepperell, William, takes Louisburg, 120. 
Pequots, war with, 70. 
Perry, Oliver H., victory on Lake Erie, 

324- 
Perry ville, battle of, 529. 
Petersburg, siege of, 564, 566. 
Petitions, antislavery, 431. 
Philadelphia, founded, 86 ; population, 142 ; 

culture of, 155; and tea duty, 175; 

occupied by the British, 194, 199; evac- 
uated, 200; congress forced to flee, 224; 

seat of government at, 262. 
Philadelphia, the, loss of, 293, 295, 296. 
PhiUp, King, war against whites, 92. 
Philippines, acquired by treaty of peace, 

805, 806; under Spanish authority, 809; 

revolt of Aguinaldo, 809; government 

estabhshed, 810-812; assembly of, 812; 

population of, 811; tariff relations, 812; 

friar lands, 812. See Filipinos. 
Phillips, Captain, 802. 
Phillips, Wendell, Johnson's charges against, 

60s. 
Phips, Governor, salary controversy, loi; 

fails against Quebec, 117. 



INDEX 



87s 



Pickens, at Cowpens, 209 ; partisan leader, 

207. 
Pickens, Fort, relief of, 512. 
Pickering, Judge, impeached, 294. 
Pickering, Timothy, secretary of state, 271 ; 

and Monroe's mission, 277, 278; desires 

French war, 279; dismissed, 287; plots 

with Burr, 300; and Rose, 315; and New 

England discontent, 335-337- 
Pickett's charge, 561-562. 
Piedmont region of the South, 468. 
Piegans, massacre of, 686. 
Pierce, Franklin, elected president, 485 ; 

attitude toward Kansas, 490. 
Pike, Zebulon, explorations of, 356. 
Pike's Peak, named, 356. 
Pilgrims, origin of, 59 ; in Leyden, 59 ; depart 

for America, 60. 
PiUow, Fort, taken, 574; negro prisoners at, 

574- 

Pinchot, Gifford, controversy with Ballinger, 
838. 

Pinckney, C. C, plan in constitutional 
convention, 243 ; mission to France, 278- 
280; command in new army, 281. 

Pinckney, Thomas, Hamilton's plan to elect, 
273- 

Pinckney, William, in England, 309; makes 
treaty, 310. 

Pinzon, Vicente Yanez, 32. 

Pitt, Fort, held against the Indians, 131. 

Pitt, William, and the Seven Years' War, 
124, 125, 129, 130; on stamp act, 168; ill- 
ness, 169; pleads for colonies, 176. 

Pitt, William, the younger, and American 
trade, 307. 

Pittsburg, importance of, 3, 4 ; Fort Duquesne 
established, 122; efforts of English to 
take, 122-123. 

Plain, the interior, i. 

Piatt, T. C, resigns senatorship, 704; returns 
to senate, 704; for Blaine in 1884, 716; 
as leader, 723. 

Piatt amendment, the, 807. 

Plymouth, early history, 60-63 ; settlement 
of, 60; early suffering in, 60; government 
of, 61, 62 ; relation with Indians, 61 ; com- 
mon stock, 61 ; religion of, 61 ; colony of, 
60-63 ; charter and grant, 59, 61 ; con- 
ditions of settlement, 60, 61 ; expansion, 
62; government, 61, 62; reorganized, 62. 

Plymouth Colony and New England Con- 
federation, 71 ; and the Dominion of New 
England, 94; joined with Massachusetts, 
97- 

Plymouth Company, created, 45, 46. 

Pocahontas, 52. 



Poland committee, the, 649. 

Polk, James K., nominated, 442; elected, 
443 ; his presidency, 445-452 ; and Oregon, 
445; negotiations with Mexico, 446; 
war with Mexico, 446-450. 

Polly, the, case of, 307. 

Pomeroy Circular, 584. 

Ponce de Leon, 38. 

Pontiac, at war with the whites, 131. 

Pope, General, commands in Virginia, 550; 
defeated at second Bull Run, 551-553; 
as a commander, 553. 

Popular sovereignty, defined, 454; in 1854, 
486, 488 ; in Lincoln-Douglas debate, 
501. 

Population, Virginia in 1616, 50; 1624, 51; 
Maryland in 1660, 58; Plymouth Colony, 
62; Massachusetts, 64; Philadelphia, 86; 
of all the colonies, 1690, 100; in 1760, loi ; 
of South Carolina, 108 ; of North CaroUna, 
108 ; of New France, 113 ; colonial in 1760, 
136; slaves in 1769; 139; Boston, 142; 
Philadelphia, 142 ; New York, 142 ; 
Charleston, 142 ; Baltimore, 142 ; growth, 
1790-1815, 341; of Ohio, 343; of the 
Northwest, 1820, 344; of Alabama and 
Mississippi, 1820, 345; of North and 
South, i860, 461, 518; immigrants, i860, 
461 ; of slaves, 470 ; of Philippine Islands, 
811. 

Porter, Fitzjohn, at second Bull Run, 552. 

Porto Rico, taken by Americans, 801 ; and 
the Spanish treaty, 805, 806 ; civil govern- 
ment in, 814. 

Port Royal, Acadia, captured, 117; taken 
by English, 118. 

Port Royal, S. C, seized, 570. 

Portsmouth, N. H., branch bank at, 411; 
treaty of, 824. 

Portugal, African, explorations of, 25 ; 
American explorations, 34. 

Postal Savings Banks, 839. 

Potomac, smuggling on the, 241. 

Potter, Bishop, on political ideals, 723. 

Powderly, T. V., 741. 

Powhatan, 48, 52. 

Prairies, the soil, 7. 

Preble, Captain, in Tripolitan war, 295. 

Presbyterian Church, 354 ; divided by slav- 
ery, 472. 

Presbyterians, in the colonies, 148; in Vir- 
ginia, 151. 

President, constitutional status, 251, 258; 
war powers of, 585-586. 

President, the, 295, 328 ; and Little Belt, 

317- 
"Prester John," 25. 



876 



INDEX 



Prevost in the South, 207. 

Price, SterUng, in Missouri, 541, 542; in 

Arkansas, 541, 542. 
Prices and panic of 1873, 667. 
Prince Henr>' the Navigator, 25. 
Princeton, battle of, 192. 
Princeton College, founded, 154. 
Privateers, in the revolution, 204 ; in the war 

of 1812, 328. 
Progressive party, founded, 847. 
Prophet, the, 318. 

Proprietary colony, the, described, 81. 
Protestant Episcopal Church, organized, 

354; of the confederacy, 472. 
Pueblo Indians, 13. 
Pujo Committee, 741, 851. 
Pulaski, arrival in America, 198. 
Pullman strike, 743. 
Pure food law, 833. 
Puritanism, origin and belief, 63 ; apology 

for, 65 ; attitude toward Roger Williams, 

65 ; weakening, 148. 
Puritan Revolution and the colonies, 77- 
Putnam, Israel, at battle of Brooklyn, 189. 

Quakers, 353 ; in Massachusetts, 67, 68 ; 
attitude toward oaths, 105 ; toward mili- 
tary service, 105 ; in North Carolina, 
107 ; in Virginia, 151. 

Quay, M. S., as a leader, 723. 

Quebec, site discovered, 36; founded, 112; 
attempt to take, 1690, 116; Sir Hovenden 
Walker's failure against, 118; taken by 
Wolfe, 127; held by Murray, 128; be- 
sieged by Montgomery and Arnold, 183. 

"Quebec Act," 177. 

Queen Anne's war, 118-119. 

Queenstown, attacked, 323. 

Queseda, Cuban leader, 782, 784. 

Race, elements in colonies, 145-148. 

Radicals, principles of, 597 ; Wade-Davis 
bill, 598; Stanton and, 600; efforts against 
Johnson, 605 ; and civil rights bill, 606 ; 
and fourteenth amendment, 607 ; in con- 
trol of congress, 608 ; and tenure-of-ofEce 
act, 611. 

Railroads, early development, 464 ; construc- 
tion after the war, 665 ; transcontinental, 
680; Union Pacific, 680; Central Pacific, 
680; Northern Pacific, 681; Atlantic and 
Pacific, 681 ; Santa Fe, 682 ; Southern 
Pacific, 682 ; Great Northern, 682 ; Con- 
structing the Pacific roads, 682 ; land 
grants abused, 682 ; combinations of, 
732-735; in England, 732; combining 
lines, 733 ; attempts at cooperation, 734 ; 



"Granger laws," 734; railroads and inter- 
state commerce act, 735 ; as a political 
issue, 735 ; the Wabash case, 735 ; Hep- 
bum rate bill, 833. 

Rainfall, 2. 

Raisin, the, the massacre at, 323. 

"Raleigh, Citie of," 43. 

Raleigh, Sir Walter, and colonization, 42-44, 

Rail, Colonel, 192. 

Rambouillet Decree, 316. 

Randall, S. J., and the tariff, 714, 715, 721. 

Randolph, Edmund, in constitutional con- 
vention, 243 ; attorney-general, 257 ; sup- 
ports Jefferson, 261 ; secretary of state, 
271. 

Randolph, Edward, and navigation acts, 93 ; 
hostile to the charters, 93, 94 ; influence 
on the new charter, 97. 

Randolph, John, at impeachment of Chase, 
294 ; opposed to Jefferson, 301 ; opposed 
to Yazoo men, 301, 302 ; shorn of his 
strength, 302, 303 ; supports Monroe, 302. 

Rawdon, Lord, at Camden, 207 ; at Hob- 
kirk's Hill, 210; in Charleston, 211. 

Reciprocity, Blaine secures, 725; McKinley 
on, 829; Canadian, 841, 842. 

Reconstruction, question comes up in con- 
gress, 585 ; two kinds, 594 ; theories of 
status, 595 ; Lincoln's plan, 596-59O ; 
Wade-Davis bill, 597-598; attitude of 
South, 1865, 601, 602, 619; committee 
on, 605 ; freedmen's bureau bill, 605 ; 
civil rights bill, 606 ; the radical program, 
609-611; acts of 1867, 609-611; acts 
enforced in the South, 622-625. 

Redemptioners, 146. 

Red river expedition, 542. 

Reed, Thomas B., on the tariff of 1883, 715 ; 
as leader, 723; speaker, 724; breaks down 
obstruction, 724. 

Registration, Southern, 623. 

Regulators, in North CaroUna, 183. 

Reid, Whitelaw, nominated for vice-presi- 
dency, 749- 

Religion, in Virginia, 46; in Maryland, 53; 
Marv'land Toleration Act, 57 ; and the 
franchise in Massachusetts, 65 ; perse- 
cutions in Massachusetts, 65-68; perse- 
cution in New Netherland, 74; in the 
colonies, 148-152 ; work of the churches, 
148; in New England, 148; Witchcraft, 
149; "Halfway Covenant," 150; the 
"Great Awakening," 150; freedom in 
Rhode Island, 151 ; Anglican Church, in 
New England, 148; in the South, 151; 
British Toleration Act, 152; treatment of 
Catholics, 152; "Say brook Platform," 



INDEX 



877 



153; churches and education, 154; estab- 
lished churches, 352; Methodists, 353; 
Baptists, 353; other churches, 354; Prot- 
estant Episcopal Church, 354; Congrega- 
tionaUsts, 354 ; Unitarian movement, 
3SS ; disestabUshment in New England, 

355- 

Republicanism, inherent, 218, 228. 

Republican party, relations with Genet, 
266; formation of, 270; in election of 
iScxj, 288-2go; princioles, 288, 291-292; 
dissensions in. 300-3C.'. 

Rf'publican party, the second, origin, 494 ; 
Seward joins, 494 ; in Massachusetts, 
495 ; Fremont nominated, 495 ; gain in 
1S58, 502; successful in i860, 508; in 
the civil war, 5S1 ; in 1862, 582 ; moder- 
ate party of Johnson, 604 ; organized in 
the South, 621-622 ; loses the South, 
630-633; in Georgia, 631; in North 
Carolina, 631 ; in Virginia, Tennessee, 
and Texas, 632 ; in Alabama, Arkan- 
sas, and Mississippi, 632 ; loses the 
South, in South Carolina, Florida, and 
Louisiana, 633 ; repressive policy under 
Grant, 633-634; situation of, after the 
war, 640; in the elections of 1866, 640. 

Resaca de la Palma, battle of, 447. 

Resumption of specie payment, act for, 669 ; 
achievement of, 699. 

Revere, Paul, iSo. 

Revolution, colonial assemblies and parties, 
100, loi ; causes of, 161 : principles under- 
Ijdng, 161; Bute's policy, 161; King's 
veto and, 162; navigation acts and, 163; 
Grenville's policy, 162-164; growing 
irritation, 169-170; Townshend Acts, 
169-170; causes summarized, 173; atti- 
tude of three groups, 174 ; first continental 
congress, 178 ; declaration of independence, 
186-18S; indifference of people, 192; 
army of the patriots, 193 ; French alliance, 
198; compromise offered, 199; war ended, 
213 ; treaty of peace, 214-216. 

Reynolds, General, at Gettysburg, 560; 
death of, 560. 

Rhode Island, founded, 66, 68; charter, 68; 
settled, 68; and New England confedera- 
tion, 71; new charter, 80; and the Do- 
minion of New England, 94 ; and the revo- 
lution of 1688, 97 ; religious freedom in, 
151; and paper money, 158; paper-money 
commotions, 236; "Know Ye" men, 236; 
ratifies the constitution, 249; constitu- 
tional reform in, 474-476. 

Riall, General, death of, 325. 

Ribaut, explores Florida, iii. 



Rice, a staple crop, 8 ; trade in, 142, 143. 

Richmond, capitol of confederacy, 519; 
advance on, 519; captured, 566. 

Right of deposit, at New Orleans, 297. 

Rivers, as means of transportation, 3. See 
Transportation. 

Roads, colonial, 134. See Internal Improve- 
ments. 

Roanoke Island, settlement on, 42 ; signifi- 
cance of, 43 ; taken by Burnside, 570. 

Robertson, James, settles in Tennessee, 234. 

Robinson, Dr. Charles, in Kansas, 489. 

Robinson, Rev. John, at Scrooby, 59 ; at 
Leyden, 59, 60. 

Rochambeau, against Comwallis, 212. 

Rockefeller, John D., and the organization 
of the oil trust, 736-739 ; group of banks, 
740. 

Rockingham, ministr>^ of, 169, 214. 

Rocky Mountains, influence of, i. 

Rodgers, Captain John, 317, 327. 

Roman CathoUcs, early settlers in Mary- 
land, 54 ; Jesuits in Marjdand, 55 ; treat- 
ment of, 152, 354. 

Roosevelt, Theodore, as ci\-il service com- 
missioner, 710; in campaign of 1884, 718; 
and Rough Riders, 795 ; and the Panama 
revolution, 819; elected vice-president, 
S27; and McKinley, 829; first message, 
829 ; his policy on trusts, 830 ; appeals 
to the people, 830; and the coal strike, 
830; control of corporations, 831; elected 
president, 832 ; relations with the senate, 
833 ; public opinion for, 834 ; return from 
Africa, 840 ; in New York politics, 840 ; 
becomes candidate in 191 2, 843-844; 
at Chicago convention, 84s ; nominated 
by the progressive partj-, 847 ; shot by 
fanatic, 848; defeated, 848. 

Rose, George, mission to America, 315, 

335- 

Rosecrans, General, at battle of Stone's 
river, 530; campaign around Chatta- 
nooga, 532-534 ; at battle of Chickamauga, 
533 ; removed from command, 534. 

Ross, General, attacks Washington, 329; 
attacks Baltimore, 330. 

Rough Riders, 795 ; at Santiago, 796, 798. 

"Round Robin," at Santiago, 803. 

Rule of war of 1756, 307. 

Rum, manufacture of , 141. 

"Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion," 719. 

Rush, Richard, supported for vice-president, 
390. 

Russell, Jonathan, commissioner at Ghent, 

334- 
Russia, efforts of Czar to make peace, 33$-- 



878 



INDEX 



334; and the Monroe Doctrine, 375; 
sells Alaska, 643. 
Ryswick, treaty of, 117. 

Sabine Cross Roads, 542. 

Sacs and Foxes, driven westward, 465. 

Sagasta, ofifers reform in Cuba, 787 ; yields 
on armistice, 789. 

St. Augustine, founded, in. 

St. Clair, defeat of, 262 ; governor of Ohio, 
342. 

St. Lawrence river, as a menas of trans- 
portation, 2 ; explored by Cartier, 36. 

St. Leger, General, 193 ; defeated, 196. 

St. Louis, founded, 115; desires transcon- 
tinental railroad, 681. 

St. Louis strike, 1886, 742. 

St. Marks, attacked by Jackson, 369. 

St. Mary's, Maryland, settled, 54. 

Salary Grab act, 650. 

Salem, settled, 63 ; witchcraft trials, 149. 

Salisbury, Lord, on Venezuela, 779. 

Samoa, value of, 765 ; conflicting interests 
in, 765 ; storm in, 766 ; divided, 766. 

Sampson, W. T., on north shore of Cuba, 
793 ; at battle of Santiago, 801 ; and con- 
troversy with Schley, 804. 

Sanborn Contracts, the, 651. 

Sandys, Sir Edwin, and Virginia, 50, 51. 

San Jacinto, battle of, 421. 

San Juan Hill, 796, 797 ; carried, 798. 

Santa Anna, opposed to Texas, 421. 

Santiago, Cervera at, 793 ; blockaded, 794, 
795 ; army at, 796-799 ; defenses of, 796 ; 
battle of, 797 ; surrender of, 799. 

Santo Domingo, Napoleon's attempt to 
conquer, 298 ; annexation of, 645 ; treaty 
for annexation, 671 ; and foreign debts, 
827. 

Saratoga, surrender at, 197 ; convention at, 
repudiated, 197. 

Savage's Station, battle of, 549. 

Savannah, taken by British, 207 ; taken from 
the British, 211; entered by Sherman, 

539- 

Saybrook, settled, 69. 

Saybrook platform, 153. 

Scalawags, 621. 

Schenectady, taken by French, 116. 

Schley, W. S., on south shore of Cuba, 793, 
794 ; at battle of Santiago, 801 ; contro- 
versy, 804. 

Schofield, General, at battle of Franklin, 
538; reenforces Sherman at Goldsboro, 
S41 ; secretary of war, 616. 

Schomburgk line, 777. 

Schools, public, growth of, 476-478 ; in New 



England, 476; work of Horace Mann, 
477; in Middle States, 477; in the South, 
477 ; in the West, 478. 

Schurman, President, in the PhiUppiaes, 
810. 

Schurz, Carl, liberal attitude toward South, 
633 ; an independent, 693 ; and civil 
service reform, 707 ; in campaign of 1884, 
718; as leader, 723. 

Schuyler, Fort, siege of, 196. 

Schuyler, General, against Burgoyne, 196. 

Scioto Company, 342. 

Scituate, 62. 

Scotch-Irish, settled in the colonies, 147. 

Scott, Thomas A., as a railroad builder, 
733- 

Scott, Winfield, at Chippewa, 325; at Lun- 
dy's Lane, 325; Mexican campaign, 448- 
450; nominated for presidency, 485. 

Scrooby, 59. 

Seabury, Rev. Samuel, made bishop, 353. 

Secession, suggested in 1798, 285; threatened 
in 1849, 453; Nashville convention, 457; 
Davis resolutions, i860, 505; Yancey's 
Charleston speech, 506; South Carolina 
acts, 511; other states, 511, 517. 

Sedgwick, General, at Chancellorsville, 
557. 558. 

Sedition Law, passed, 284; execution of, 
284 ; Jefferson's way of meeting, 285. 

Seminary Ridge, 560. 

Seminole war, 368-369; under Jackson, 
467-468. 

Senate, opposed to Roosevelt, 833 ; popular 
disapproval of, 834. 

Senators, popular election of, 851. 

Serapis, 205. 

Servants, indented, demand for, 137; kid- 
napping, 137; voluntary servants, 138; 
convicts, 138; vagabonds, 138; condition 
of, 138. 

Seven Pines, battle of, 548. 

Seven years' war, 124-130. 

Sevier, John, 234. 

Seward, W. H., Northern leader, 488; 
joins the republicans, 494; and republi- 
can nomination, 495, 507; Lamar on, 507; 
not nominated, 508 ; and peace with the 
South, 514; and the confederate agents, 
515; Lincoln overrules, 516; wounded, 
568, 600 ; and reconstruction, 600 ; forces 
French out of Mexico, 643 ; and purchase 
of Alaska, 643. 

Sewing machine, invented, 465. 

Seymour, Horatio, nominated, 1868, 642. 

Shafter, General, at Santiago, 796 ; his plan 
of battle, 797 ; as a commander, 804. 



INDEX 



879 



Shannon, the, 327. 

Shaw, Robert G., killed, 570, 573- 

Shays's rebellion, 236. 

Shelburne, ministry of, 214. 

Shenandoah valley, Jackson in, 547 ; Early 

in, 565 ; Sheridan in, 565. 
Sheridan, General, in the valley campaign, 

565-566; as military governor, 623; 

and the Indians, 686, 687. 
Sherman, J. S., nominated for vice-president, 

835- 

Sherman, John, as financier, 662 ; secretary 
of the treasury, 694 ; on Hayes's Southern 
poUcy, 695 ; achieves resumption, 699 ; 
candidate for nomination, 1884, 716; as 
leader, 723. 

Sherman, Roger, 187. 

Sherman, W. T., first move against Vicks- 
burg, 530; at Chattanooga, 534, 535; 
advance toward Atlanta, 535-539 ; takes 
Atlanta, 537 ; march to the sea, 538, 539 ; 
march on Savannah, 539; devastation 
unnecessary, 539-540; in the Carolinas, 
540; halt at Goldsboro, 541; comes to aid 
of Grant, 548; receives Johnston's sur- 
render, 568. 

Sherman anti-trust law, 740. 

Sherman silver law, passed, 747 ; in opera- 
tion, 754 ; repealed, 755 ; the West aroused, 
755- 

Shiloh, battle of, 528. 

Shipping, condition of, 1783-1815, 347. 

Shirley, Governor, and Louisburg, 120; 
expedition against Fort Niagara, 124; and 
removal of Acadians, 124. 

Siboney, landing at, 796. 

Sigsbee, Captain, on Maine disaster, 788. 

Silver, deposits of, 1 1 ; free, origin of move- 
ment, 698 ; the Bland-Allison bill, 699 ; use 
of small silver notes, 746 ; silver forced out, 
746 ; silver sentiment, 747 ; Sherman silver 
law, 747, 754; Cleveland on, 750; maintain- 
ing parity, 754, 755-757 ; Sherman law re- 
pealed, 755; "endless chain," the, 755-756; 
organize in West and South, 758; control 
democratic convention, 758; issue in 1896, 
762. 

Silver mining, 677-678. 

Sinking fund, established, 260. 

Sioux wars, 1866-1868, 685, 687-689; com- 
mission to Sioux, 688. 

Sitting Bull, in the Sioux war, 687-689. 

Slater, Samuel, and cotton mills, 349. 

Slaughter-house cases, 636. 

Slavery, Indian, 30 ; in first Northwestern 
ordinance, 232; in second ordinance, 233; 
excluded from the Northwest, 344 ; relation 



to cotton, 346 ; abolished in the North, 350 ; 
emancipation in the South, 351 ; method 
of abolishing, 350; early congressional 
position, 351; first fugitive slave law, 
351 ; restricted in the West, 351 ; revived 
importations, 352; law of 1807, 352; 
smuggling, 352; and the West, 371; 
fixed in South, 428; effect of agitation on 
South, 430; revised black code, 430; 
new fugitive slave law, 455, 457; as a 
Southern institution, 468-470; disappear- 
ance in the North, 469 ; numbers of 
slaves, 470; treatment of slaves, 470; 
growth of pro-slavery, 471 ; divides the 
churches, 471-472; fugitive slaves not 
returned, 486 ; the Kansas-Nebraska act, 
486-488; new leaders, 488; attitude of 
pro-slavery men, 493, 505, 506. 

Slaves, in the Carolinas, 108; excluded from 
Georgia, no; condition in colonies, 138- 
140; introduced, 138; Spanish type of 
slavery, 139; colonial slave code, 139; 
trade in, 144 ; carried away by British, 
216; three fifths in apportionment, 246; 
importation before 1808, 246; fugitives, 
as "contrabands," 577. See Slavery. 

Slave-trade, 144; beginning of, 41. 

"Sleepy Hollow," 202. 

Slidell, Mexican mission, 446; seized on the 
Trent, 522. 

Sloat, Commodore, in California, 449. 

Sloughter, Henry, governor of New York, 
103. 

Smith, Captain John, sails for Virginia, 
46 ; services, 48 ; relations with the Indians, 
48, 52. 

Smith, Kirby, at Bull Run, 520; in Arkansas, 
542 ; surrenders, 569. 

Smith, Robert, secretary of navy, 292. 

Smuggling, 144. 

Smythe, General, 323. 

"Snap Convention," in New York, 750. 

Social classes, 135, 136-137. 

Social conditions, in Virginia, 49. 

Soils, character of, 6 ; in New England, 6 ; 
in the South, 7 ; in the West, 7. 

Somers, Lieutenant, at Tripoli, 296. 

Sons of Liberty, formed, 166; decline, 169. 

Soto, Hernando de, 38. 

South, the, county in, 135; life in, 137; 
trade in, 142; religion, 151; her interests 
in the constitutional convention, 246; 
retains slavery, 350-351 ; social classes in, 
468; slaveholders in i860, 469; non- 
slaveholders, 469 ; growth of pro-slavery, 
471; see Slavery; public schools in, 
477; position on Kansas, 1856, 493; 



88o 



INDEX 



effect of John Brown on, 504 ; attitude on 
reconstruction, 1865, 601, 619; accepts 
emancipation, 601, 619; economic ruin, 
619; social reversal, 620; in despair, 
620; parties forming, 620-621; "Con- 
serv^ative" party, 621; a republican 
party forms, 621, 622; congressional 
reconstruction in operation, 622-625; 
was it lawless? 623 ; registration of voters, 
623 ; niilitar>' governors, 623 ; registration 
under reconstruction acts, 623 ; constitu- 
tional conventions, 624 ; constitutions 
ratified, 624; why radical reconstruction 
failed, 626; Ku Klux Klan, 627-630. 
South American states, recognition of, 367, 

374- 

Southampton, Earl of, and Virginia, 51. 

South Carolina, misrule in, 106 ; Indian war, 
107; overthrow of proprietors, 108; 
beats oS attack by Spain, 119; trade, 142, 
143 ; religion in, 151 ; and stamp act, 168; 
attack of British at Charleston, 183 ; 
overrun by British, 207 ; aid given at 
King's Mountain, 208; ratifies the con- 
stitution, 248; and nulUfication, 387, 
396, 399 ; not supported by Georgia, 400 ; 
federal operations in, 570; readmitted, 
624; republicans overthrown, 633; dis- 
puted returns in 1876, 655, 657; surrend- 
ered to democrats, 657. 

South Dakota, a state, 748. 

Southern rams, 569. 

South Improvement Co., 736. 

Southwest, the, growth of, 341, 344. 

Spain, explorations of, in the interior, 37-39; 
as a colonizing nation, 39 ; in the seven 
years' war, 128; aids the American revolu- 
tion, 198, 199 ; refuses aid to America, 214 ; 
and treaty of 1783, 214; intrigues in 
Southwest, 263 ; secret boundar>' clause, 
215, 264; and Southern Indians, 265; 
treaty of 1795, 265 ; and the purchase of 
Louisiana, 299, 300 ; and Burr, 304 ; and 
war of 1812, 321, 331; negotiations for 
Florida, 368; protests against Jackson, 
369 ; and American neutrality, in Cuba, 
782, 7S5 ; the Virginius, 783 ; and neg- 
lected Cuban reforms, 784; Cleveland's 
attitude, 785, 786 ; Sagasta's reforms, 787 ; 
the Maine, 787, 788; Cuban armistice 
demanded, 789; war declared on, 789; 
peace with, 805-806 ; and Cuban debt, 805. 

Spanish war, 782-807. 

Speaker, power under Reed, 724; power 
reduced, 838 ; election of 1859, 504. 

Specie circular, issued, 425 ; and panic of 
1837. 432- 



Sphericity of the earth, belief in, 26. 

Spoils system, 393. 

Spottsylvania, battle of, 563. 

Spring, Dr. Gardiner, 412. 

Springfield, settled, 69. 

Squanto, 61. 

Squatter sovereignty. See Popular Sover- 
eignty. 

"Stalwarts," 695. 

Stamp act, proposed, 164; passed, 166; 
effects in America, 166; Patrick Henry's 
resolutions, 166; congress at New York, 
167; repealed, 168; effect of repeal, 168. 

Stanbery, Henry, opinion of, on Johnson's 
powers, 612 ; defends Johnson, 615. 

Standard Oil Company, history of, 736-739 ; 
fined by courts, 836 ; suit to dissolve, 840, 
842. 

Standish, Miles, 61. 

Stanton, in Johnson's cabinet, 601 ; favors 
the radicals, 601 ; and tenure-of-ofiice act, 
611; suspended, 614; removed, 614; 
resigns, 617. 

Stanwix, Fort. See Fort Schuyler. 

Star of the West, 512. 

Star route frauds, 704. 

Stark, John, battle of Bennington, 195. 

State governments; formed by advice of 
congress, 187, 235; var>-ing features, 217; 
suffrage, 217; sovereignty in, 218; two 
schools of citizens, 219; powers under the 
articles, 239; reform of, 472-476. 

State rights, and nullification, 387-388; 
in 1828, 389; party formed, 396. 

States, sovereignty of, 218; loyalty to, 230; 
large and small, controversy between, 
243-245 ; limited by constitution, 253 ; 
authority limited by Marshall, 358-360; 
Southern, status of in reconstruction, 
595 ; reconstructed under Johnson, 600, 
601. 

State universities, development of, 479. 

Steamboats on the interior rivers, 464; 
cross the Atlantic, 464. 

Stephens, A. H., confederate vice-president, 

511- 

Stephens, U. S., found" Knights of Labor, 
741. 

Steuben, Baron von, his strvices, 198. 

Stevens, Thaddeus, leader of radicals, 604; 
power in congress, 604, 607, 608; prose- 
cutes Johnson, 615 ; death of, 625. 

Stewart, A. T., nominated secretary of the 
treasur>', 644. 

Stillwater. See Freeman's Farm. 

Stimson, H. L., candidate for governorship, 
840. 



INDEX 



88i 



Stone's river, battle of, 530. 

Stonrd'oll. the confederate ram, 589. 

Stony Point, 201. 

Strasburg, Va., Jackson at, 547. 

Strong, Caleb, at Hartford convention, 336. 

Strong, William, appointment as judge, 664. 

Stuart, J. E. B., at capture of John Brown, 
503 ; as cavalrj' leader, 559. 

Stuyvesant, Peter, as governor, 74 ; religious 
persecutions, 74 ; takes Swedish settle- 
ments, 75; loses New .\msterdam, 75. 

SuflFrage, in early state governments, 217. 
228 ; grows liberal, 472-474 ; negro, in four- 
teenth amendment, 607 ; in the reconstruc- 
tion acts, 609-611 ; Lincoln on, 597, 622; 
Johnson, 622 ; in Southern constitutions, 
624. 

Sugar, and Wilson-Gorman bill, 7 28. 

Sullivan, General, at Newport, 201. 

Sumner, Charles, speech on Kansas, 490; 
attacked by Brooks, 490 ; a radical, 605 : 
and fourteenth amendment, 607, 608; and 
ci\il rights act, 1875, 634; death of, 1874, 
63s ; Lamar on, 635 ; Grant's quarrel with, 
64s ; states case against England, 671 ; and 
civil service reform, 707. 

Sumner, General, at Fredericksburg, 556. 

Sumter, Fort, relief of, 512, 515 ; attacked, 
516. 

Sumter, partisan leader, 207 ; under Greene, 
210. 

Supreme Court, the, functions of, 252, 357- 
360; in reconstruction days, 611; inter- 
prets war amendments, 635-638. 

Surplus, the, 714; lowered by hard times, 
715; re\-ived, 715; removed through 
expenditure, 725. 

Surplus revenue, distribution, 424; effects 
of distribution, 432. 

Sutro tunnel, 677. 

Sweden, settlements in America, 75. 

Swiss, settlers, 146, 147. 

Sjinmes, land grant of, 342. 

Syracuse, convention at 1855, 495. 

Taft, W. H., in the Philippines, 811, 812; 
restoring order in Cuba, 807 ; nominated 
for presidency, 835; elected, 836; admin- 
istration of, 837-843 ; and Pa>-ne-.\ldrich 
tariff, 837; Ballinger, 838; and Canadian 
reciprocity, 84 1 ; candidate for renom- 
ination, 843-844; republican nominee, 
84s ; elected, 848 ; legislation under, 849- 
850. 

Talleyrand, and American claims, 280; 
accepts treaty, 282 ; and Louisiana, 297- 
299 ; and Florida, 302. 



Tammany, and Tilden, 653, 702 ; and Cleve- 
land, 716, 720. 

Taney, R. B., secretary- of the treasur>', 414; 
removes deposits, 414; Chief Jusdce, 415; 
decision in Dred Scott case, 498. 

Tanner, "Corporal," and pensions, 726, 749. 

Tariff, bill of 1816, 364; growing demand 
for, 384-386 ; bill of 1820, 385 ; bill of 1824, 
385 ; bill of 1828, 386 ; a sectional question, 
384-385 ; South Carolina and, 387-388 ; 
\'erplanck bill. 409 ; compromise bill, 
1833, 410; of 1842, 436; campaign issue, 
1844, 443 ; of 1846, 445 ; Morrill act, 483 ; 
in McCulloch's Ume, 661 ; Wool and 
Woolens act, 661, 713 ; tariff of 1870, 663, 
713 ; two methods of reform, 712 ; tariff of 
1872, 713; tariff of 1875, 713; commission 
of 1882, 714; tariff of 1883, 715; Morri- 
son bUl, 715 ; reform under Cleveland, 721 ; 
Mills bill, 721; issue in 1888. 721-722; 
McKinley bill. 724-726; Wilson bill, 
72S; Wilson-Gorman bill, 729; Dingley 
bill, 729; the McKinley and Sherman 
silver law, 747 ; an issue in 1896, 762 ; 
with Philippines, 812; and the depend- 
encies, 813, 814; McKinley's later policy 
on, 829; Payne-Aldrich, 837; Canadian 
reciprocity, 841 ; democratic bills of 191 1. 
841 : democratic bUls of 191 2, 842. 

Tarleton, in the South, 207 ; at Cowpens, 
20S ; in Virginia, 211. 

Taxation, power of congress over, 359. 

Taxes, external and internal, 165, 170. 

Taylor, " Dick,'' commands in Arkansas, 542 ; 
surrenders, 569. 

Taylor, Zachan,-, campaign on the Rio 
Grande, 446-44S : nominated for presi- 
dency. 451; elected. 452; death of, 458; 
against the Seminoles, 467. 

Tea, duty on, 173; sent to .\merica, 175; 
action of colonies, 175; "Tea party," 
176. 

Tecumseh, his ambition, 318; slain at battle 
of the Thames, 323. 

Telegraph invented, 465. 

Teller, Senator, and silver, 755 ; leaves 
republican party, 761. 

Temperance movement, 480. 

Tennessee, settled, 232, 234; a state, 264; 
reconstructed vmder Lincoln, 597 ; read- 
mitted, 609; republicans overthrown, 632. 

Tennessee, the, 571. 

Tenure-of-ofiice act, passed, 611; tested by 
Johnson, 614. 

Territories, government of, 233. 

Terr>', General, against the Sioux, 687. 

Texas, explored by Pike, 356; early historj-, 



3-- 



882 



INDEX 



4ig; not to be purchased, 420; revolution 
in, 420; annexation, 421, 438, 440, 444; 
opposition of Adams, 421 ; recognition 
extended, 422 ; England's alleged scheme, 
438 ; a state in the union, 444 ; disputed 
boundary, 446 ; boundaries fixed, 450 ; 
debt assumed, 455, 457 ; readmitted, 625 ; 
republicans overthrown, 632. 

Texas, the, 800, 801, 802. 

Thames, battle of, 323. 

Thanksgiving Day, 62. 

Thomas, General, succeeds Rosecrans, 534 ; 
in battle of Missionary Ridge, 535 ; defense 
of Nashville, 538. 

Thomas, Lorenzo, secretary of war, 614. 

Thornton, Colonel, at New Orleans, $33. 

Thoroughfare Gap, 551, 552. 

Ticonderoga, attacked unsuccessfully, 126; 
taken, 127; taken by Ethan Allen, 182; 
not taken by Carleton, 195 ; taken by 
Burgoyne, 195. 

Tilden, S. J., governor of New York, 651 ; 
nominated for presidency, 653 ; disputed 
returns, 654; loses the election, 657; 
and the independents, 694 ; in the investi- 
gation of the election, 696 ; not nominated 
in 1880, 702. 

Tillman, B. R., speech in Chicago convention, 
1896, 759; and the South and West, 759, 
762. 

Tobacco, a staple crop, 8; in Virginia, 50; 
at the restoration, 80, 8i ; decline of price, 
89. 

Tohopeka, battle of, 332. 

Tompkins, D. D., Vice-president, 367. 

Tonti, 114. 

Topeka constitution, 489, 490. 

Tories, as a class, 174, 193; in North Caro- 
lina, 182, 208; in Philadelphia, 199; at 
King's Mountain, 208; compensation 
to, 216, 227; why disliked, 230; hardships 
of, 231 ; in New York, 231 ; compensa- 
tion not made, 262. 

Toscanelli, letter of, 28. 

Toussaint Louverture, 298. 

Towns, planted, 134; government, 156; 
in New York, 156; development of, 463. 

Townshend, colonial policy of, 169; his 
acts, 169, 173; death, 171; repeal of 
Townshend acts, 173. 

Townships, established, 233, 342. 

Trade, colonial, 142-145; state of, 1783- 
1789, 226 ; England refuses to open, 226 ; 
congress to have control, 246 ; England 
refuses concessions, 262 ; restrictions on 
neutral, 272 ; and the Jay treaty, 272 ; the 
carrying, under Jefferson, 306 ; British 



restrictions on, 306-309 ; condition of, 
1783-181S, 346; West India, 415-417. 
See Navigation Acts. 

Transportation, rivers and lakes, 2. 

Treason, defined, 253. 

Treasurer, in New York, 104. 

Treaty, with France, 198; with England, 
214-216; with Spain, 1795, 265; Jay's, 
272-273; with France, 1800, 282; San 
Ildefonso, 297 ; Louisiana purchase, 298 ; 
of Monroe and Pinckney, 310; Erskine's, 
316; of Fort Jackson, 332, 368; of Ghent, 
334, 368; with France, 417; Webster- 
Ashburton, 437 ; Guadaloupe Hidalgo, 
450; Clayton-Bulwer, 458; of Washing- 
ton, 672; of Fort Laramie, 684; with 
Hawaii, 772, 774; Burlingame, 774; 
with Japan, 776; of Paris, 1898, 805; 
Hay-Pauncefote, 817; Hay-Herran (con- 
vention), 818; Hay-Bunau-Varilla, 820; 
of Portsmouth, 824. 

Treaty of 1783, execution delayed, 261, 
272, 273. 

Trent, the, affair of, 522 ; negotiations about, 
523. 

Trenton, battle of, 192. 

Tripoli, war with, 295. 

Trist, N. P., and treaty with Mexico, 450. 

"Truly Loyal," the, 621. 

Trumbull, Lyman, leader of moderates, 
605; vote on Johnson impeachment, 617; 
attitude toward South, 633. 

Trusts, causes producing, 736 ; the Standard 
Oil Co., 736-739; and stock speculation, 
739; opposition to, 739; anti-trust law, 
740; a " money trust," 740. 

Truxtun, Captain, 281. 

Tryon, at New York, 188; raid in Connecti- 
cut, 201. 

Tunis, at war, 295, 296. 

Turnbull, author of "The Crisis," 387. 

Turner, Nat, 430. 

Twenty-Second joint rule, 598; rescinded, 
656. 

Twiller, Wouter van, governor of New 
Amsterdam, 73. 

Tyler, John, nominated, 434 ; presidency of, 
43S~436; repudiated by whigs, 436; and 
Texas annexation, 438-440, 444; favors 
Polk, 443 ; presides over peace congress, 
514- 

"Uncle Tom's Cabin," influence of, 496. 

Underground railway, 429. 

Underbill, Captain John, fights for the Dutch 

in New Netherland, 73. 
Underwood, Oscar, party leader in the 



INDEX 



883 



house, 841 ; candidate for nomination, 
84s, 846. 

Union, suggested at Albany Congress, 1 23 ; 
party in favor of, 222 ; Morris and Hamil- 
ton, 223; Washington on, 224, 240; 
growing sentiment for, 240; Madison for, 
240; cause of, in Hayne-Webster debate, 
3g6; Jackson for, 399. 

Union League, in the South, 627. 

Union Pacific Railroad, and Credit Mobilier, 
649. 

Union party, 581, 584. 

Unions, in the United States, 741-744 ; 
Knights of Labor, 741 ; American Federa- 
tion of Labor, 743. 

United States, the, constructed, 279; takes 
the Macedonian, 327, 328. 

Unity, influence of territorial, i. 

Upshur, and Texas, 439. 

Utah, made a territory, 455, 457 ; settlement 
of, 679 ; a territory, 680 ; a state, 680, 748 ; 
and polygamy, 748. 

Utrecht, treaty of, 119. 

Vaca, Cabega de, 38, 39. 

Vallandigham, C. L., violent speeches of, 
582 ; arrest and trial of, 583. 

Valley Forge, army at, 199. 

Van Buren, Martin, and the election of 
1824, 380; turns to Jackson, 382; opposi- 
tion to Calhoun, 382 ; secretary of state, 
392 ; influence in cabinet, 393 ; influence 
on Jackson, 394; and internal improve- 
ments, 394; benefits by Jackson-Calhoun 
split, 401, 402; minister to England, 402; 
nominated vice-president, 403 ; elected, 
40s; on West India trade, 416; elected 
president, 425; character of, 432; his 
presidency, 432-435 ; and the Texan 
question, 441; a Barnburner, 451; nomi- 
nated by free soil party, 452. 

Vanderbilt, Cornelius, as a railroad builder, 
733 ; and cooperation, 734. 

Vandreuil, governor of New France, 118; 
governor of Canada, 126. 

Vane, Sir Harry, in Boston, 66. 

Van Rensselaer, General Stephen, 323 ; votes 
for Adams, 380. 

Venezuela, boundary dispute, 777-781 ; origin 
of dispute, 777 ; Cleveland's demands 
on England, 779 ; commission appointed, 
780 ; adjusted, 780 ; effects, 780 ; debts to 
other powers, 826 ; Germany and, 826. 

Vera Cruz, taken by Scott, 449. 

Vergennes, friendly to America, 198; and 
the treaty of peace, 214-215. 

Vermont, a state, 264. 



Verrazano, Giovanni da, explorations of, 35. 

Vespucci, with Hojeda, 31; his pretended 
discoveries, 32. 

Vicksburg, significance of, 530, 532 ; first 
attempt to take, 531; second attempt, 
531-532. 

Vincennes, taken by Clark, 204. 

Vinland, 23. 

Virginia, named, 42 ; English opinion of, 44 ; 
government of, 45 ; reforms of 1609, 
49; intrigues, 49; self-government, 50; 
charter annulled, 50; royal governors of, 
51 ; divided, 52 ; and the restoration, 80; 
Berkeley's despotism, 89 ; economic condi- 
tion, 89 ; Bacon's Rebellion, 90 ; during the 
last years of the Stuarts, 92 ; trade, 142 ; 
religion in, 151 ; the university at Henrico, 
153; William and Mary College, 154; 
and paper money,- 158; Patrick Henry's 
resolutions, 166; revolutionary commit- 
tees in, 174; declares independence, 187; 
and conquest of the Northwest, 203 ; 
Cornwallis enters, 211 ; confers with Mary- 
land on trade, 241 ; plan in constitutional 
convention, 243 ; ratifies the constitu- 
tion, 248; parties in, 270; political leader- 
ship, 270; supports Crawford, 377, 378, 
379; waning influence, 378, 393; attitude 
toward nullification, 410; slavery debates, 
1831, 430; constitutional reform in, 474; 
the university of, 479; readmitted, 625; 
republicans overthrown, 632. 

"Virginia, Restored," 521. 

Virginia, the, 569. 

Virginia City, founded, 677. 

Virginia Dare, 43. 

Virginia resolutions, 285-287. 
Virginius, the, 783. 
Vixen, the, 800. 
Vizcaya, the, 800, 801. 

Wade-Davis bill, 597. 

Wagner, Battery, attacked, 570, 573. 

Waldseemiiller, Martin, 33, 36. 

Walker, Robert J., his tariff bill, 445 ; as 
governor of Kansas, 492. 

Walker, Sir Hovenden, 118. 

Wanamaker, John, postmaster-general, 723. 

War, right to declare, 585. 

War of 1812, rise of spirit of resist- 
ance, 318; Madison favors, 319; prep- 
arations for, 319; war declared, 320; 
opposed in New England, 335 ; finances 
of, 336 ; effects of defeat, 324, 336 ; 
lessons of, 338. 

Warfare, lessons of, in battle of Santiago, 
803. 



884 



INDEX 



Washington, a territory, 463 ; a state, 748. 
Washington, Fort, 188, 191. 
Washington, George, journey to the Ohio, 
122; expedition to forlcs of the Ohio, 122; 
defeated, 122; with Braddock, 123; 
commander-in-chief, 182; operations 
around New York, 188-191 ; New Jersey 
campaign, igi ; Philadelphia campaign, 
194; at Monmouth, 200; deceives Clinton, 
212; in Yorktown campaign, 212; and 
kingship, 218; on stronger government, 
224 ; opposes army plot, 224 ; presides over 
constitutional convention, 242 ; elected 
president, 256; on the bank, 261; and 
Genet, 266; and whisky insurrection, 268; 
attitude toward parties, 269; reelected, 
271; Farewell Address, 274; command of 
new army, 281. 
Washington, Lawrence, gets Ohio lands, 

121. 
Washington, taken by British, 329. 
"Washita, battle of the," 686. 
Wasp, the, takes the Frolic, 327. 
Watauga, Indians attack, 203 ; sends aid 

to King's Mountain, 208 ; settled, 234. 
Watercourses. See Transportation. 
Water-power, distribution of, 11. 
Watertown, and taxation, 64. 
Waxhaw, battle of, 207. 
Wayne, Anthony, at Stony Point, 201 ; 

subdues the Ohio Indians, 262. 
Weaver, J. B., nominated for presidency, 702, 
• 752 ; and people's party, 752 ; vote of, 753. 
Webster, Daniel, supports the tariff, 387 ; 
debate with Hayne, 396-398; supports 
Jackson on nullification, 409; opposes 
annexation of Texas, 422; supported by 
whigs, 425 ; remains in Tyler's cabinet, 
436; and the treaty with England, 437; 
on Missouri compromise, 457; death of, 
488. 
Webster, Peletiah, on a stronger govern- 
ment, 240. 
Weed, Thurlow, defeat of Clay, 434; joins 

the republicans, 494. 
Wells, David A., as financier, 660. 
Welsh, settled in the colonies, 147. 
West, Far, physical characteristics, 676; 

arrival of miners, 677. 
West, settlement of, 232-235; discontent 
in, 264; and Burr, 304; and war of 181 2, 
321; at the battle of New Orleans, 333; 
growth of, 341-344; New England and 
Southern streams of migration, 342 ; 
drawn to support the North, 461 ; public 
schools in, 478 ; state universities in, 479 ; 
and the panic of 1857, 482. 



West India Company, Dutch, possession 
of New Netherland, 72. 

West Indies, trade with secured, 415. 

West Point, Arnold at, 201 ; military acad- 
emy, 320; after war of 1812, 363. 

West Virginia, formed, 520; defense of, 520, 
526. 

Wethersfield, settled by Dutch, 69; arriyal 
of the English, 69. 

Weyler, in Cuba, 786, 787. 

Weymouth, George, aids colonization, 45. 

Whale fisheries, 5, 142. 

Wheat, a staple crop, 8 ; area of, increased, 
66s ; prices, 667 ; cr6p of 1879, 700. 

Wheeler, Joseph, at Santiago, 796, 797, 
798, 799- 

Wheeler, W. A., vice-president, 653. 

Whig party, destroyed, 493, 495; "Con- 
science " and " Cotton" whigs, 495. 

Whisky, manufacture of, 267. 

Whisky insurrection, 267-26C}. 

Whisky ring, the, 651. 

White, Hugh L., for president, 1836, 425. 

Whitefield, Rev. George, and the " Great 
Awakening," 150. 

White Plains, battle of, 190. 

"White slave" act, 851. 

Whitney, Eli, 345. 

Wilderness, battle of, 563. 

Wilkes, Captain, seizes Mason and Slidell, 
522. 

Wilkinson, James, in Spanish employ, 264 ; 
corruption of, 264, 304 ; relations with 
Burr, 304, 305 ; expedition on the St. 
Lawrence, 324. 

William Henry, Fort, taken by Montcalm, 
125. 

Williams, Rev. John, captured by French 
and Indians, 118. 

Williams, Roger, driven from Massachusetts, , 
65 ; gets charter for Rhode Island, 68. 

Willing, Thomas, 228. 

Wilmington, Cornwallis in, 211 ; evacuated, 

213- 

Wilmot Proviso, proposed, 451 ; in nominat- 
ing conventions, 451, 452 ; Clay's atti- 
tude, 454. 

Wilson, Henry, vice-president, 649. 

Wilson, James, in constitutional convention, 
242, 244, 245. 

Wilson, Woodrow, candidate for nomina- 
tion, 84s, 846, 847 ; elected president, 
848. 

Wilson committee, the, 649. 

Wilson-Gorman tariff, 728, 729; effect of, 
729, 756. 

Wilson's Creek, battle of, 541. 



INDEX 



885 



Winchester, General, 323. 

Winchester, taken by Jackson, 547 ; Early 
defeated at, 565. 

Winder, General, at Bladensburg, 329. 

Windom, William, secretary of the treasury, 
723 ; ideas of free silver, 747. 

Windsor, Connecticut, settled, 69. 

Wingfield, Edward Maria, and the Vir- 
ginia colony, 46, 47, 48. 

Winthrop, John, relation to Puritan migra- 
tion, 63 ; elected governor, 64 ; deals with 
Watertown, 64 ; presides over trial of 
Mrs. Hutchinson, 67 ; death of, 67. 

Winthrop, John, Jr., settles Saybrook, 69. 

Wirt, William, attorney-general, 367 ; nom- 
inated by anti-masons, 404; vote of, 
405. 



Wisconsin, a territory, 344 ; a state, 463 ; 

Black Hawk war, 466. 
Witches, punished, 149. 
Wolcott, Oliver, 279, 287. 
Wolfe, General, at capture of Louisburg, 

125; against Quebec, 127; death, 127. 
Wood, Leonard, commands Rough Riders, 

795- 
Worcester, Dean C, in the Philippines, 810. 
Wounded, recovery of the, at Santiago, 803. 
Wright, Silas, a Barnburner, 451. 
Wyoming, territory, 678 ; state, 680, 748. 
Wyoming valley, raided, 203. 
X Y Z papers, 280. 
Yates, notes, 243. 
Yazoo claims, 301, 302 
Zeno brothers, 33. 



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History of the United States 

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